This has been an up and down battle for me these past years when it comes to my health. My weight was as high as 326 lbs. and a size 50 waist. I was not very happy with my body. How did I ever get to this point in my life that I was so out of shape and was not eating what I should be eating.

The funny thing is that I have the knowledge about nutrition and exercise as I was a Pro boxer up until 2009 and still boxing at age 45. I was in great shape for my age, but it all changed when I got divorced that year. Later in April of 2010, I lost my best friend, my mom who died, 3 days before my birthday, of cancer which has still left an emptiness in my heart until this very day. I know that she would be worried about me not taking care of myself.

Shortly after my mom’s passing, I retired from boxing and I put my life on hold. I soon started putting on the weight and I never really got it off. My health may have not improved but my life has as I am blessed with two great kids and the new love of my life, which is my partner in crime, my fiancé Cindy who had convinced me to join Life Time. She was worried about my health. She wanted to get back in shape also as we both became too comfortable if you know what I mean…Translation, fat.

So, I joined but, I did not come that much at all. I always had an excuse. Long story short this is where she tricked me along with the help of Jesse, a Life Time personal trainer. She had me tag along with her the day of her first weighing in and getting started for the 60Day. I had talked to Jesse several times over the phone as he was trying to get me to sign up for Alpha with Cindy, but I always had some excuses, not to join. Even that day I met Jesse, I was so not interested at all in the 60Day, I just wanted to hurry up and go to get some greasy food at a restaurant.

Jessie later gave a good speech about doing it as a couple and when I look at her, basically I felt like a turkey being cooked in the oven…Just stick a fork in me, because I am done. So, I signed up with her and I weighed in at 314.5 lbs., which I was not very happy with at all, but Jesse said that my body fat was not bad at 39.5 % and I had lean muscle mass. My thought was, what lean muscle…It must be underneath all that fat. My 60Day began and my life has changed drastically because now I go to the gym 6 days week at 5AM and I work out for 1 hour and then I go home and shower, then go to work and come back to Life Time around 6PM to work out again. No more excuses, just motivation! Every time I get on the scale once a week, I watch my weight go down. My belt has to have another hole in it to fit. No more junk food or pop, just protein shakes, vitamins and healthy eating habits for the both of us.

We went to the nutritional class at Life Time and learned a lot about what to eat and what not to eat. Before we did the 60Day we were always going out to eat and on weekends staying home in front of the tv and eating junk food and drinking pop. I have not had sweets or pop in 60 days and to be honest I don’t miss it at all. I would rather have a smoothie that I made at home or a protein shake. Every week I enjoyed going to our reassessment classes to work out and to see our progress. I was known as the plank champion which I even broke my own record of 4 minutes, which became 5 minutes. My ultimate goal is not just to lose weight but to change my life and eating habits and have fun working out. I had a hard time climbing the stairs every morning going to work out because of my knee, but now I can run up the stairs and no more limping. My final weight at the end of 60Day blew me away! When I got on the scale and the personal trainer told me that I was 247.5 lbs. and my body fat was now 30.4 % from 39.5 % just 60 days ago. My friends and family are shocked and very happy of the change in both of us.

This is just the start of my journey to a better way of living thanks to our trainers at Life Time and all the activities offered there. I love water X and warrior. I am also training boxing again just to add to my regimen of fitness. Life Time has so much to offer to improve your physical well-being if you just use what they have to offer. The trainers are awesome and very knowledgeable and patient when it comes to training an old dog like me new tricks. Thank you, Life Time for getting me back on track and providing me with an open door to a better and healthier way of life, see you soon.