New Me!?

[OsoiNA6]

@Shawn96VR-4

Kinda. I was always a “big guy” with a big build. Ironically, I can shoulder press more than I can bench press. It’s odd because no one in my family is built like me. We are Italians so we are generally short, dark haired, etc.
I was always athletic but never really in shape. However, I always out performed my body. Basically, I was able to exceed at any sport even though I was a big guy. I looked similiar to a retarded dinosaur. :lol:
My senior year of high school, I had a very good year and had a chance to use football to get into college. Given I had dog shit grades, I started to change me: went from a 70s student to a 90s student and hit the gym hard.
Between senior year of high school and junior year of college, I got in the best shape of my life. At my peak, I was about 6’ 250lbs but very solid. Then, I blew out my ACL/MCL, dislocated my knee, and tore my miniscus. It was all sorts of fucked. I didn’t run anymore. I didn’t work out anymore. I rehabbed for 15 months. But, I ate the same and started to eat more as I had nothing to do. I turned into a piece of shit.
It’s astonishing that I met Crystal on my way down and she still stayed with me. It disgusts me to even say what my peak weight was but the worst was the muscle disappeared. About a 2 years ago, I tried to go back to the gym and work out the same way but I just couldn’t do it with my knee. I had it re-scoped to clean it out and see if I could avoid another ACL reconstruction. My surgeon said I still need another reconstruction but I would be able to run again if I could deal with the pain. About a year ago, I started back in the gym. I went off and on. I made a little gain. Around late fall last year, Crystal saw a picture of me when I was a freshman (100% peak) and said jokingly: “Can I have that?”. It was funny but it really did hurt. I was a different person. While, I don’t give a shit what people think, it bothered me. After that, I started to jog again and change my diet. I started to notice change. I felt better again. I could deal with pain with pills and just sucking it up. About 5 months later, I am back in the gym 2-3 days and on the runner 2-3 days a week. I cut back on food. I didn’t make a TON of changes but I did cut down, go back to the gym, and made better choices. I still have MUCH more to go. It is still hard to find time with work but I am making a change. I have a goal and I am about 50-75LBS away which I can and will make by wedding.
But, here’s my jeans about 1.5-2 years ago:

I can relate to this post… My wife saw a pic of me in HS (when I was 5’8", 160 and 5% BF, six pack, 37" vert, etc) and said something to that effect after I ballooned up close to 200…

I’ve always struggled with a bad diet (as a result of upbringing, we never ate a lot of veggies, and lots of fried stuff in our household), then college and all you can eat cafeteria meals just killed me. It was more like the freshman 35 for me. Was probably in the worst shape of my life during my Masters, just 6 years after graduating HS…

Long story short, I’ve seesawed, hitting around 200 then bringing it down to 170 then gaining it all back before my own wedding thanks to stress/job travel/lots of wining and dining clients paid for by “the man”.

I didn’t have a debilitating injury like what you experienced, so I’m sure this is even tougher on you. But keep at it.

To make a life change, I’m doing something very similar- back in the gym for over a year now and doing 85% cardio… Not counting calories strictly but just making better choices. Thanks to that and some discipline, although I started as a couch potato (my definition: could not run one mile in 10 min) now I can easily do a 5K run. Also try to play tennis as much as I can and just added rowing to my cardio.

As for the time thing, I tell myself there is no excuse. I used to tell myself “oh I travel a lot” etc but I just packed sneaks and shorts with every trip and work out in Hampton Inns or whatever, so I’ve managed to pull at least 8 miles a week out of my a$$ whether I’m at home or 5000 miles away. Case in point: This has been an exceptionally busy week, considering we have a two day old at home and there is a 19 month old running around, plus a recovering mommy busting my a$$ left and right.

In the midst of like 8 nappy changes / all-hours feedings, though it’s the ONLY thing I’ve done for myself the past two days, I managed to hit the “Y” twice already and clocked 8 miles on the erg.

Great progress, good luck, and keep at it man… :thumb

I can definitely relate.