Bringing on the Burgers

I've always LOVED food. Growing up, nothing sounded better to me than an evening at home, grilling out and watching movies in the den, or going out to eat larger-than-life seafood portions after church on Sundays. And as I got older, the trend continued. My high school years were not spent doing school work (much to my regret when applying for college), but stuffing my face on Casa Blanca, Olive Garden, Soul Burger, Cheeburger Cheeburger, Aroma's, King's Buffet and Greenbrier's. I really, really enjoyed spending time with friends over a big bowl of cheese, basket of onion rings, or sipping coffee and milkshakes. Life was good when I was nomming down on a Sonic BLT and sipping a fresh, raspberry iced tea. Just thinking about it makes me start salivating. So, it probably comes as no surprise that all of that food would eventually start coming back to me in the form of a large muffin sitting atop my skinny jeans.

It was my sophomore year of college when I really started noticing my weight gain. I had always been a bit heavier in middle school (mainly due to the fact that I was about 5 feet tall and sat on my butt all day), but when high school came and I started growing and becoming more active, I lost most of the excess, always keeping a little gut and love handles. But this was different. Instead of gaining weight in the love handles and gut, I was starting to gain in my face. My cheeks were beginning to become more full, and I grew a beard just to hide how round my face had become. I mean, most people wouldn't have called me fat, but tight shirts and days out at the pool seemed a bit intimidating and embarassing for me.

I wouldn't say that most of my issues with this weight gain had to do with asthetics. I just felt tired, couldn't really focus on tasks at hand and was a bit more irritable than I had been in years prior. I hadn't felt that way before. At first, I attributed these changes to entering college, a demanding courseload and the stressors of being away from home, but soon, when the semester was over and I was back at home for Christmas, I realized that these feelings of irritability were not going away.

When I went away to England last summer to study at Cambridge, I really let myself go. Beer and I had become best friends (since I was legal overseas), and I drank a few every night to suppliment my high-fat British meals of Fish and Chips and Yorkshire Pudding. I hit my all time high weight of 185 in the middle of the trip, and had the hardest time staying awake through all my classes (even though the professors were world renowned!).

When I got back, I felt like Free Willy. Pants that I had left at home no longer fit, I had to move from small shirts to medium (which were tight), and I had to use an ice pick to poke new holes in my belts. This was humiliating.

About a month after my return, I decided to start cutting back on my food intake. I made a commitment to myself to lose ten pounds before the wedding, and to walk to class every day instead of driving (at least until winter, where it often gets below zero). Needless to say, this took a while, but on November 22, the day of my wedding, I was down to 175.

The honeymoon came and went, and my wife and I were celebrating our new lives together by lots of queso, margaritas and nights eating out. Before Christmas, I had gained a few pounds, and after the belly-stretching holidays, I was back up to 179 while my wife stayed thin as ever!

This was so discouraging! Thankfully, my wife's brother gave us a gift certificate to a local vegetarian store, where we loaded up on healthy foods. This prompted us to give the vegetarian lifestyle a bit of a try. While weight loss came slower for my wife (whose weight is pretty stable), I dropped about 15 pounds in a two month period, bringing me back down to 165, my pre-college level.

Unfortunately, my energy was still down. I looked into the mirror, and I didn't see that same guy I saw when I came to college. There was no muscle, no definition. Just flab, and lots of it.

This brings us to now. My wife and I have decided that this is not how we want to live. We not only want to eat healthier, but we want to be in the best shape we can be in. After all, are we not just managers for these bodies that God has given us? It's so interesting to me that some people will spend countless hours working on building up their finances or fixing their cars, but have no regard for their own bodies! We say things like: "It's not in my family genetics", or "God made me this way", and completely disregard that we have the power and the duty to take what we've been dealt and do wise things with it. Remember the parable of the talents (Matthew 25: 14-30, Luke 19:12-28)? The master entrusted his slaves with money, and was proud of those who did smart things with it to come out better than when they started, and rewarded them appropriately. On the other hand, the slave who hid it in the ground and gave it back to the master saying: "This is what you gave me." was punished and was stripped of all he had. I think the same thing can be said about our bodies. God is the master, giving us possession of our bodies for a temporary time. Should we do nothing, returning to God (at our deaths) what he gave us to work with, or should we invest in ourselves and work to create a body that is better suited to do his work?

The truth is this: losing weight and getting in shape doesn't just change the way you look; it changes the way you feel. And when you've restored your energy by exercising, your body and mind become better suited to do the things that matter most, including serving the Lord.

All this behind us, I would like to take this time to put on paper a few of my personal fitness goals, as well as where I'm coming from. And, of course, I'll keep you posted every step of the way.

8th Grade- 5'1"- 160lbs.
9th Grade, Semester 1- 5'2"- 165lbs.
9th Grade, Semester 2- 5'7"-145lbs
10th Grade- 5'9"- 145lbs.
11th Grade- 5'10"- 150lbs.
12th Grade- 5'10- 155lbs.
Summer after 12th grade (working out)- 5'10"-175lbs.
Freshman College, Semester 1- 5'10"- 170lbs.
Freshman College, Semester 2- 5'10"- 160lbs.
Sophomore College- 5'10"-165lbs.
Summer Abroad- 5'10"- 185lbs.
Junior in College, Semester 1- 5'10"- 175lbs.
Junior in College, Semester 2- 5'10"-170lbs.
Summer- NOW- 5'11"- 163lbs.

Goal Weights- December 2009- 155lbs.
May 2010- 170lbs. (maybe some muscle again!)