I've always been an athletic person. I've been involved in some type of sport since I was a kid. After high school I enlisted into the Marine Corps where again fitness was emphasized. I left the Marine Corps in March of 2007 and immediately began taking college classes in January of 2008.
Once I began taking college classes full time while working full time my health and fitness was forced to take a backseat to everything else. In March of 2009 I was involved in a motor vehicle accident that aggravated a back injury from when I was in the Marine Corps. You would be surprised at how much pain 2 discs in your spine that are both herniated and collapsed can cause.
It was the perfect storm for weight gain. Poor diet, little exercise, lack of sleep and stress. My back pain got worse as the weight piled on.....and piled on...and piled on. It had reached the point where I was unable to play with my children without being put out of commission due to back pain.
May of 2011 I stepped on the scale and I was devastated, disgusted and horrified all at the same time. What was once a 165lb slender fit body had ballooned to a larger than life 219lbs of sloppy fat nastiness. That very moment is where I made the decision that I would not step on that scale and have it say I was 220lbs.
I began watching my diet and forcing myself to exercise. At first the back pain was excruciating but I was determined to get back in shape. I dealt with the pain and slowly the weight began to fall off. First I was under 210..200..190. I was melting away, and the more weight that I lost the more determined I became.
By November of 2011 I was down to 183lbs. I had a small lapse with back pain that a little physical therapy required a stint of physical therapy. I kept to my diet and did my best with exercising. Before I knew it I was not only back to exercising but back in the gym...weight training. Something that I had thought I wouldn't ever get to do again.
I'm now fluctuating between 170-172lbs and looking to start adding some muscle mass and bringing down my body fat percentage down even further.