I would first like to say thank you to everyone who is interested in my journey and reading this. I hope I can be the inspiration someone can use to make a healthy lifestyle change to their life. I see myself as a talented DJ who was on the right path to success in music but just with music I was so unhealthy for years. Heart disease, over eating, lack of exercise along with high blood pressure. Majority of these diseases run in my family. If you don’t know I had a son who passed away from heart disease. I understand heart disease is the number one killer in America. Over 65% of America is obese and over 35% of America does not do any type of energetic activity. So I figured I could lead by example because I was once in those categories so here is my story.
I took myself away from social media for one year and noticed when I posted my first picture of the new me a number of people would ask, “how I did it” or say, “you look great”. I went from being 235lbs unhealthy with an enlarged heart and multiple symptoms from a heart disease known as CHF along with high blood pressure. I was taking multiple medications to combat these symptoms to working a diet and workout plan to then becoming healthier and having a doctor remove me from all heart and blood pressure meds and getting to a healthier weight of 165lbs. Although the pictures I take now are lean, tight and cut; before the muscle that I display today, I was flabby even with the initial weight loss. I first lost 50lbs of fat and muscle. I remember all I would do is tell my friends I'm just going to walk this fat off and I was heavily doubted as if I was the underdog. So I was sure to wake up and go walking for an hour, then another hour during mid day, and one more hour after sun down. I was not speed walking or anything that was very strenuous to me, due to the fact I had a bad ankle from surgery and lack of completing my rehab. At the time hard walking would hinder me and put me in pain so I did a slow pace softwalk of about 3 to 3 ½ miles an hour on average that was it. Im not trying to make it seem as if it was easy because I did have to completely change my diet as well. I took bread completely out of my diet and when it came to pasta and rices I tried to take those out too but those being my favorite foods, I would find myself cheating on multiple occasions due to my intensive cravings. So I would continue to add pasta or rice to my dishes but would only have two spoons or two forks full. I took all dressings out and ate a lot of salads with grilled chicken and used diced tomatoes and hot sauce as my new salad flavoring. I eliminated all sweets and did no desserts. For 6 months I stayed focused on this diet. I lost majority of the fat I had set to lose but then I found myself to be flabby but yet content and complacent with where I currently was with my body. I thought to myself Im skinny now I did it. I started to lift weights to build muscle but with my complacent behavior I noticed my body going back and fourth. I would cheat very often putting my body and weight off balance. I noticed that my eating habits was more than just focusing on a routine and following it. Instead I had a way of thinking that I've had since a baby boy. You see as a baby you cry then you get fed. I came to understand the thinking patterns I have practiced since adolescence. So with having an understanding of these thinking patterns I choose to challenge my thinking when it came to my eating habits. There are numerous of times throughout the day where I don’t feel good, don’t agree with something, tired or stressed and I came to realize that those are all eating triggers and I would actually challenge them. I plan on doing speaking engagements and really going in depth with the steps I used to challenge my negative thinking. This negative thinking would also play a part in my work out sessions because the days I didn’t have the motivation to go workout or thought I was good with the progress I’ve made, I had to tell myself not to get comfortable and remember how many times I had lost weight and failed. That was called my positive self talk and challenges there for giving me the data in my head I needed to continue with my work outs. I remember at 175 lbs with a flat stomach I was content telling myself this is the best I’ve ever looked. Even though those mental statements were true I also new I could keep working and do better there for challenging those negative thoughts and keep going. So I used the knowledge I had about myself and kept working daily only taking Sundays off and went from flat belly to working off 10 more lbs and having what some might call an eight pack. Now I have admires that tell me they love my body as I continue to workout and they love how healthy I eat. I’ve been told how although I practice healthy eating habits it is very reasonable to the average person to switch and not get grossed out. I have read psychology and drug treatment books and learned being unhealthy physically or bad eating habits normally stem from the same negative thinking patterns as drug abusers. So I tell myself daily, the same way a mental health Dr. that is focused and determined to change the world one mind at a time I am looking to spread my knowledge as well and hope I can be the motivation for the next person that is looking for a life change. I want to continue to DJ and do music but i would love to DJ in fitness gyms and do turn up workout classes so I can motivate that 37% to make a change. I want to motivate the people to come out to clubs and dance and not stand around come to the gym if you want to run or walk then dance and I want to be that guy and or DJ that motivates you to move.
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