Hi, my name is Josh.
That’s me in the picture, pardon the fish but I do a lot of fishing and so a lot of my pics are of me holding various fish (and yes I eat them, they’re delicious). But I digress, that WAS me prior to January of last year. At the time I had high cholesterol, high triglycerides and was 250-255lbs. I was out of shape and even though I had quit smoking a few years ago I still would get out of breath. I was a hot mess.
Then, around February of 2015 I decided to make a change. I changed my diet, quit drinking soda, started using my fitness pal, taking the stairs, walking etc. I even bought a fitbit. What happened over the next few months and over the past year, to me, was nothing short of amazing. In March I joined a gym, I went 5 days a week and worked my way from the bike, to the elliptical, and finally to the treadmill. At first an hour of walking on the highest incline would leave me out of breath and a sweaty mess. Eventually I was jogging and even running. All the while the weight was coming off.
This was me in june
by then I had dropped 45lbs. I was 205, down from 250. I was still doing nothing but cardio and was, to be honest, tired of it. So I decided to begin weight lifting. I found a great program and routine to follow and while I still wanted to lose some more weight, I also wanted to build muscle. So I kept at it. By October 2015 I was down to 195lbs.. I went and got my annual physical, my cholesterol was perfect and so were my triglycerides. My doctor asked what I had done and I told him and his exact words were “I wish all my patients would do that.”
By then I had decided I had lost enough weight. It was time to put some on but in the form of
muscle. As I said I had been following a weight training program, putting in the time and effort now I needed to eat again since gaining muscle meant putting on weight.
I adjusted my diet and by November of 2015 this was me:
I’m still a work in progress. I still work out every morning and still count every calorie (it’s second nature at this point). Some may wonder what’s the point of this and am I just bragging. I guess maybe I am to some extent but I wanted to share my story with everyone. I was cynical about losing weight, building muscle, getting healthy and all of that other stuff. I was part of team Fat And Happy and loving it. Now I can’t imagine going back. If I can do it then anyone can. Thanks for reading.