Gary Finley

I thought I started this journey because I blew out my left shoulder, TWICE!  And gained a ton of weight because I stopped working out. And  I wanted to be able to be more active with my grand kids, but I think the truth is that I was tired of being fat, tired of getting winded when I tied my shoes or bent over to pick something up. Plus my son told me that I'm getting old, Im 59 years old, and have to take better care of myself. So the reason I did this is somewhere in the middle of all that. Plus I was tired of making excuses for why I can't do something.  When I started , I was at  275.6 lbs with a body fat at 38.3% and  now I am currently at 230 lbs and I weigh in on the 31st to find out my final numbers , so I am down at least 45 lbs and I am excited to find out what the fat % is.  

I feel better, I move better, and  I am definitely more active now compared to before.  My trainer " Carolyn " helped me a ton by giving me a clear and concise schedule of exercises to do, and  slowly increasing the weights each week. So I'm losing fat ( I hope ) and getting stronger.  Plus, I find that when I have to report back to someone else, I try harder.  We are going slow because of my shoulder, I don't want another injury. 

I was able to do this because of a very strict diet, each meal was broken down so I knew the calories, how many carbs,  the amount  of protein, everything,  and I worked out 5 days a week, and walked every day at least 1 mile, on the weekends I would walk a minimum of 5 miles a day. Most importantly was to not  skip a day because I was being tired or lazy, to stick with it!  I wanted to make sure that weight loss was my main concern, so I gave up pasta, bread and cheese , and stuck with  mostly protein, veggies, and a little brown rice.  I go to the gym every morning at 5:15 am, workout for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, plus I have also made some new friends in the process that are trying to improve  themselves as well. Win, loose, or draw, I think I am coming out of this competition way ahead. I feel better, I feel like I look better, my clothes definitely fit better, confidence is up.  

I'm not done with my journey though, I would like to get down to around 210-215 lbs with a body fat % in the low 20% range.  That's the goal and I am going to continue this journey until I get there. Thanks Jordan and Carolyn. This is what I needed.