Getting Back on the Saddle

Wow, it has been a long time. The last time I updated here was in 2018, I had just started to workout with DDPY and I was pumped. But of course I didn't stick with it. That has been my problem since gaining all my weight back and then some. 

Since that last post a lot has happened and changed in the world and with my personal life. We had Covid-19, I got married, I got a house, built a home gym, gained a crap-ton of weight, was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea, Had eye surgery and found out I have fatty liver. When I started dating my wife I was 332 LBS, and by the end of 2023 I had hit 402 LBS. We tried dieting before we got married, and I was pretty successful with carnivore, then keto, but our friend fell off quickly, then my wife fell off, and I couldn't continue without the support. My wife also likes to show that she loves me by buying me snacks and food that I love. 

Over the last few years I have also realized that I am a binge eater. I guess I have always known that, but never really put two and two together. So I had to rehaul everything with food. Over the last year I have been mostly watching my portions, making sure when we go out to eat that I bring at least half of my food home. I stop eating now before I am full, which has helped out a ton with how I feel in the evenings.

Last year when I finally decided that I have to do  something to change, I was at 386 LBS. That was October 28, 2023. Since then I have been losing weight, just not as quickly as I had hoped. I hit my lowest last week at 338.6 LBS, but have since gained 3 LBS back. But where the old me would see that as a complete fail and go back to binge eating and forgetting about my health, the new me see's this as just a minor set back and just refocuses on my diet and exercise. Oh yeah, I am working out again. I have a home gym that isn't great, but it helps me get the job done. I would love to be able to upgrade it and have a full rack in there, a nice treadmill and stepmill, but right now those are not options due to budget. I am working out about 3 - 5 days a week for 30 - 60 minutes and I have been feeling great. 

I look forward to the next year to see where I go from here. I am hoping by my birthday in June that I am finally below 300 LBS for the first time in 10 years. I hope you will follow my journey and provide support in the way of cheering me on. 

Working out with DDP......Yoga

It was a few years ago that I picked up DDPYoga for the very first time. Why wouldn't I? Diamond Dallas Page was always one of my favorite professional wrestlers. He was the one that re-ignited my passion to want to be a professional wrestler. So when I heard he had a Yoga program, I had to jump on it! But I wasn't quite ready for it.

At the time my weight was already nearly all the way back from poor eating choices and just not caring. I was trying to date, and really just gave up on my health. I was also used to doing more body building style workouts. So when I did DDPYoga for the first time, I thought it was OK, but my back didn't really love it. Then the next workout was the same workout, and I wanted more variety. I did a total of two sessions with DDPY before dropping it out of my routine. I didn't give it a fair shake.

Flash forward to just a couple of weeks ago, and I decided to take the plunge and sign up for DDP Yoga Now! The online steaming version of DDP Yoga. Sure, it's the same workouts I already have, but come on, how many of us actually use DVD players any more? So I signed up and decided to give DDP another shot. Today I finished my 6th workout with DDP Yoga and I am feeling really good. I know what you are thinking, "Corey, you said you have been doing it for two weeks but have only done 6 sessions" true, but DDP Yoga isn't a 6 day a week program, it starts you off at just 3 days a week. I did skip ahead and do an extra workout, but I am doing the program as it is laid out right now.

Before I didn't give DDP Yoga a fair shake, but now I am following through. With my low back disorder, I have to be selective on what I do when I workout. The days of being able to do heavy squats and deadlifts are far behind me. But DDPY gives me the chance to get a good workout in, and get a good resistance workout in. The intensity is different than what I usually like, but it also keeps me safe. At the end of every workout, I am dripping sweat and feel that I have actually done something. I am working with the intermediate program which is 13 weeks long and will get progressively more difficult, and I cannot wait to see the full results. My back is already feeling better and different.

So stay tuned, something awesome is coming.

What was different before.

It was eight years ago that I was on my first part of my first weight loss journey. I had struggled for years with my weight, but for the first time I started actually seeing results. I had just come off 10 months of my back being out and barely able to walk, and I knew with me being point where I could move with limited pain, that it was time to start being serious. My first 30 days I lost 30 LBS, my body was feeling much better. Over the course of 10 months I continued dropping weight until I had gotten down to 197 LBS. But I was in my twenties then, things were different.

So that brings us to now. Over the past couple of years, I have tried to restart my weight loss journey, but keep hitting roadblocks. The first road block came when my uncle had passed away. I had to come off of my workout schedule to attend the funeral and slowly started losing motivation. When I was able to start back up, my back went out again, causing me unbearable pain for months. After that got resolved, I moved. When I moved I thought that everything was going to change, that I was going to work out all the time and get back to where I was. But workouts were few and far between, and then my back went out again.

So I have been thinking recently why am I hitting so many hiccups in this weight loss journey? What is different now than back the first time? I know I'm older, and with age weight loss becomes for difficult, but I should still be losing some. Sure, my back is still bothering me, but that isn't stopping me much from doing light cardio and workouts. I've even been in the apartment fitness center a couple of times a week. But my halt in weight loss and motivation, I believe is from one thing. Distractions.

When I first embarked on initial weight loss in 2010, I had zero distractions. Sure, I had to have a job and work, but that job was a part time job and I had a ton of time to workout and prepare food every day. I also wasn't dating or trying to date, and I stopped hanging out with friends. I had zero distractions in my life. I was selfish, I did everything for myself. My food was for me, my choices were for me, I worked out every single day. Now my life seems full of distractions. While I am single, I have been trying to date more, I am trying to be more social, I work a full time job that has a much higher stress level, and when I come home from work I turn on the TV and get lost in YouTube.

Distractions are part of life, but I need to work on minimizing them as much as possible. I am getting older, and while some will say 36 isn't old, my body doesn't agree. I need to make choices for food for me. I need to not binge when there is food that I really want. I need to make healthy habits into permanent habits. It's time to put the distractions that I can control out of the my sight, and focus one me. Only with this focus, can I truly change.

It's time to take life back again.

It's been a while since I have posted anything on this blog. Last time I tried to keep up with posts was when I was starting my fitness journey over again. Well, obviously that didn't last long. Shortly after I started changing things in my life, my life started changing again. My uncle passed away, then I received a throat injury that kept me from working out, then my back hit issues again. So it seemed like I was back on the road to getting nothing done with my weight. In fact that was true. Over the last year I have tried to work out, but haven't had the best of luck as everything I work out, it caused my back to flare up again.

Last Summer when I got into my apartment, I got my weight down to 302 LBS. I was sure this time was going to be when I finally made it back into the 200's. However, like clockwork, my back started giving me issues. I look at the scale today and it reads 323 LBS. It's my fault, I currently have no self control over what I put in my body. When I lost weight the first time, my self control was one of the things that I prided myself in. Sure it was hard at first to change, but after a couple of weeks it was easy. But all that was in 2010, there were less convenient things online. We didn't have a ton of food delivery options. I was strict with my diet and only put food in that my body could use as fuel. Now however, that is not the case. Now I use DoorDash several times a week, I get Shakeology, but rarely drink it out of the convenience of my work cafeteria. But that is all going to change.

I've neglected my body for too long now. I remember when I got down to 197 LBS, I vowed to never get fat again. I let myself down. In the last few years I have been sick a lot (Something that my mom likes to point out). So now I am starting to workout again, starting with light workouts and hopefully easing back into serious workouts. I have to start retraining my back and strengthening my back. When I can I am going to walk more and do more cardio. I am starting back up on my supplement regimen to make sure I am getting all the nutrients that my body needs.

I am also working on being super transparent on my Instagram and IGTV page. I want people to see my successes, but I also want to show the real struggles and failures. There will be failures, and that is ok. I am looking for support too. When I lost weight the first time, I had the Brightkite community to cheer me on. We were a close community and I made several friends on there, but after Brightkite changed and ultimately sold off, that closeness diminished and spread out amongst the normal social media world.

I am going to work on posting updates here, but be sure to follow me on Instagram @LargetoinCharge for up to the minute updates, and feel free to DM me and have a conversation.  

Taking Ownership

How many times in your life have you made an excuse as to why you can't do something? Or putting the blame on someone or something else? Maybe this is at home, work or school. It's easy to do, I mean we all have things come up or get busy, or maybe don't even want to face the consequences of our decisions.

Honestly, taking ownership of something that you did or didn't do is difficult and nerve racking. But if you want to grow in your personal life and professional life, you have to learn to take ownership. But what is taking ownership? Let's think back to when you were just a child. Maybe when mom or dad wasn't watching you, you knocked a lamp off of the table. What did you do? How did your parents react? I don't want to assume anything, but I can bet your answer to your parents was "I didn't do it", or "it was the cat/dog".  We have all done it. You are there, there is a reaction to what you did, and you go into panic mode or you just don't want to get into trouble, so you blame someone or something else. I get it, who wants to get yelled at or disciplined. But what would have happened if you would have taken ownership of the situation? You will never know. Would you have been yelled at? Maybe, but maybe it would have been a learning experience for you.

How about another example. You are working your day to day job. You work requires you to juggle multiple tasks throughout your day. Things are getting crazy busy, maybe your team is short handed, so the burden has fallen on you and other team members. Now some of your normal job duties are starting to suffer because maybe time management isn't quite an area that you excel at. When you are approached about it, instead of telling your boss that you know that it has been suffering and you will work on it, you just say "well I just don't have time". What would have happened if you had taken ownership? Would you have been written up? Unlikely. Most likely your boss would work with you or make suggestions on how to improve your time management.

But let's take this into your fitness journey. So many people when they are on their journey, starting or have ended it and lost their way do not take ownership when they mess up. Maybe you start, and something comes up just one day. You miss one workout, and don't workout again until you decide to start over. Why did you stop in the first place? I often hear "well something came up". Yeah, something came up on a single day, that didn't stop you from working out the day after or eating healthy. What about the time issue? I have heard this so much, "I don't have time" but you have time for your shows? When you are on a journey, you have to take ownership for everything that happens. You make time, you get back on after a rough day or a day off due to whatever. Let's use me for an example. I went from 336 LBS down to 197 LBS in just 10 months. Things were pretty great. Then I started gaining the weight back and by August 2016 I was back to 326 LBS. Now I wanted to use every excuse in the book, from I was in a relationship for a time, I was comfortable with my life, I needed it for body building and the list goes on. It wasn't until August 2016 that I took ownership of what happened for me to get back where I was. I had gotten lazy, I didn't care as much any more. I wasn't watching my diet. Sure I was meal prepping, but I was over eating and way over snacking. But when I took ownership, I was able to start that ball rolling to change.

When you take ownership, you are empowering yourself to make changes. So think about that next time you are given the option to blame something/someone or to take ownership of the situation.

Double workout? well....

Time for a Challenge

I have been spending that last 7 weeks workout out with 22 Minute Hard Corps, and have had amazing success thus far. Now I want you to join me in boot camp and start making changes.

October 3^rd, 2016 my 22 Minute Hard Corps Challenge starts. All you have to do is head over to the challenge page and purchase the challenge pack. You will get everything you need to complete this challenge.

Each challenge pack comes with the 22 Minute Hard Corps DVD set, workout calendar, Meal guide and bonus Battle Buddy DVD. For a limited time you also receive the meal portion containers to make sure you are getting the exact nutrients that you need, and a PT Sandbag, which holds 20 LBS of sand! Also included in the challenge pack is your choice of Shakeology flavor and a 30 day trial to Beachbody on Demand.

All of this for the price of $140.00.

In just 7 weeks I am down 19 LBS and nearly 20 inches, so come join me and make a change. Plus, when you participate in the Challenge, you have the opportunity to win Cash Prizes. Honestly, who doesn’t like money. So what are you waiting for? Come on and get some!