I have been the fat kid my whole life and not a single day went by that I wasn't reminded of it. I played sports year round for nearly 10 years starting at 5 years old and I hated nearly all aspects of it. The only thing I did well was shot put, catching in baseball, and pulling guard in football. I was mediocre at best and my physical condition had a direct correlation with my poor performance. I had impressive explosive force, but poor endurance and recovery. Then I became a firefighter and not much changed until I enlisted in the Army.
The recruiter said, "Lose some weight and we can get you in." He then gave me a little bit of help, but I cheated by wrapping my midsection in plastic wrap to compress my abdominal fat and sweat off some water weight. I was 270ish lbs lost around 25lbs. The day I graduate basic training — a little over six months later — I weighed 198lbs. Time passed, I thickened up, dropped it and years later (after my discharge for bodyfat and APFT failure) I'm fat again.
My recent highest weight was 245lbs and since November I've been working full time as an EMT doing interfacility transports with a considerable amount of obese patients. I've been lifting again since that time as well. I chose to lift weights only at first because it's what I loved doing before and I fell in love with it again.
In the time between my discharge and starting to be productive again, I somehow developed an aggressive autoimmune disease which is essentially 3 diseases wrapped into 1 — lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and mixed connective tissue disease overlap. Despite the pain and the limited range of motion in the affected joints during flairups, I have built noticeable amounts of muscle, lost roughly 8 inches from by belly, dropped a shirt and belt size, and the little electric bodyfat tester doohickey (I measure before and after a workout to compare for hydration differences) has decreased 10% points in bodyfat.
I am now beginning to try to eat better (the hardest part for me) and I have myfitnesspal. It's been really hard to control my caloric intake. I know that once I get my intake under control, that I'll melt down the rest of the way to my goal weight.
I will also be starting HIIT and burst training soon to improve my cardiovascular performance and health. I walk about 5-6 miles per shift and move patients around that weigh more than I do, but it's not that great for real cardio. My knee health (because of the arthritic autoimmune) had been slowly improving relative to the rest of my body, but I feel like I'm finally ready to get into some more intense use with them.
All of this and I've recently begun studying for the NASM certified personal trainer certificate like I had intended when I was fit the last time before disease and life got in the way.
Like I said, eating is my biggest challenge (hindered by low income) and I dont know how to tell my self no to snacking and binging like before. Maybe it's the disease or the medications, but controlling my calories has become so unbelievably difficult this time around. I really wish I had someone to slap food out of my hand. I feel like I'm going to be stuck at this weight. I live in a limbo, an ambivilant state of desire and frustration.
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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2vDd1X6
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