First Time
Started working out in 1999 when i was finishing up college. At the time I was 23 and didn't have any issues with putting on weight yet. I weighed roughly 165 lbs with a layer of flab that I had always had since grade school. I had watched many people run miles and what seemed to be unlimited laps around the track at college. I had only run extended distances in high school gym class and that was 1 mile. It finally clicked one evening when i was in the gym at college during a storm. I learned all about pacing myself for longer runs. My pace was obviously slower than most others but I was able to build on that, improving to eventually running 3 or 4 miles. I wasn't very consistent and eventually stopped running after a couple months.

Second Time
In 2004 (five years later) I started running with my brother and going to the PARC gym with my wife. My weight had increased to approximately 175 lbs, nothing that I was worried about but still had the layer of fat. This time I really got into the groove with running consistently for approximately 3 months. My main purpose for exercising this time wasn't to loose weight as much as it was to see what I could accomplish. For the first month, i was running 3 times a week for 3 miles. Then just to see how far I could push it and to get my times down, I started increasing distance averaging 6 to 8 miles 4 and 5 times a week eventually completing a few 10 mile runs. On top of this I started lifting using primarily the machines. I dropped down to just at 150. I lost quite a bit of my fat layer but never saw any muscle definition and I'm sure I lost quite a bit of muscle too. I never focused on nutrition other than just not eating a bunch of sweets. This lasted for about 12 to 14 weeks before things at work kept me up all hours of the night. My workout time was 4:30am so that was over when i didn't get home until 1 or 2 in the morning.

Third Time
In 2009 (another five years later) I now had a two year old and seemed to just be getting back to a normal sleep pattern. At this point i had packed on quite a bit more weight and was roughly 195 lbs. My wife and I decided to start working out to loose the extra fat. After about a month or so of Cardio the fat just wasn't coming off. This was the first time that I really took a strong look at how many calories I was eating as well as my macro nutrient balance. For the next month I held my calories to 1400 50 percent carbohydrates, about 40% Protein and about 10% fat. This was back when fat was all bad bad bad. Anyway we really made changes at this point. My wife got down to the smallest she'd been since high school, and I was down to roughly 160 pounds. I got the closest I've ever been to seeing that six pack but still no luck. We stuck with it for about 3 months total and then Thanksgiving and Christmas came.

Fourth Time
Here it is 2014 and another five years have passed. I don't know about you but I'm picking up on a pattern here. We have just gotten through the miserable part of sleep deprivation with our second child who is almost two years old. This time I tipped the scale just over 200 pounds. However one of my biggest motivating reasons for working out this time around is because I have no energy to spend with my kids. I'm always making excuses for not going to the park or playing outside with my oldest and it makes me feel horrible, like I'm depriving them of a childhood.

This time I splurged and bought the Insanity workout DVD set. I put in a week and quickly learned that I wasn't going to be able to make any progress because i couldn't pace myself correctly with the videos. I have set those aside and went back to running and cycling. Also, I have again started closely scrutinizing my nutrition. This time I am looking at 1,450 calories broken down as 35%Carbohydrates, 45% Protein and 20% Fats. At this point I am 2 months into the process and now 22 plus pounds at 178.

This time especially, I have had more obstacles to overcome and setbacks. Since I have started I have had the stomach virus twice and a major sinus issue lasting over 2 weeks. I'm hoping that will soon turn around.

Since I started running in 1999, that has been my fitness mainstay. I can see progress the quickest but more importantly I feel awesome after running.

I really want to get into lifting but haven't been able to get in a groove that I can use to build momentum.