The Insight-2-Health Fitness Challenge is killing me … and because of that, it’s saving my life.
This time last year I weighed 162 pounds. During my weigh-in for the Insight-2-Health Fitness Challenge at the F.I.T. Lab, 1583 Hamline Ave., Falcon Heights, the scale flashed 180 pounds… 180 pounds. I wasn’t shocked, I was disheartened. How on earth had I packed on 18 pounds of fat in 12 months? More importantly, how am I going to lose it … or transform it in to muscle?
To look at me, most would think I’m in pretty good health. At 5’7” I have what most would call an athletic build. I work out regularly with weights, bench pressing three to four times a week.
OK, scratch that.
I used to work out regularly. Now it’s here and there. I’ve got a lot going on. New promotion, one year into a new relationship, the illness and loss of my father … life just got in the way of living. At the end of the day, those are just excuses. But the excuses pacified me … told me it was OK that I was letting my body go to hell.
And another point of clarification, when I say I would workout, that workout would last all of 20 minutes and was strictly upper-body weight training. My chest looks pretty darn good and my arms are right. But I was exposed for a fraud during the first night of the challenge when at the end I threw up … twice. The second night I was again lightheaded and had to exit the building to pour water all over me and get some additional oxygen. Yep, I need this challenge.
I was proud of my 162 pound frame, but the frame was hiding the real story.
Years ago I ballooned to 187 pounds. I was in poor health and it was visible. My once chiseled college body was nowhere to be found. Then, during one of Minnesota’s brutal winters I came down with strep throat and couldn’t really eat for about a week. In that week I lost between five to seven pounds … and it showed. I could look in the mirror and see the difference that five pounds gone had made. So it hit me. I’d start lifting weights again and cut back on what I was eating. Not eating is what caused the weight loss in the first place. I was lifting weights and taking in fewer than 2,000 calories a day. Some days I would eat half that; and thus my current situation.
When challenged by Tyrone Minor, owner of The F.I.T. Lab, while I wasn’t “winded” or out of breath, I was so under-nourished that I was at the point of passing out just 20 minutes in. So while everyone else seemed to breeze through – OK, nobody breezed through – I was struggling not to bang my head on the ground. Oh, and did I mention the piercing headaches? Well that’s most likely attributed to my lack of water intake.
The wonderful thing about the Insight-2-Health Fitness Challenge is that it isn’t just about looking better, it’s about doing better. With the assistance of nutritionist Julie McMahon and F.I.T. Lab trainer and certified yoga instructor Jamie Minor, I’m adjusting my eating (or not eating) habits. I’m drinking water, which, if you know me, you know is a minor miracle. And no longer do I pump iron for 20 minutes and call it a day.
Funny thing, immediately after I threw up I felt better. I felt better because I knew I started the process of doing better.
Insight-2-Health Fitness Challenge is an award-winning fitness program produced by Insight News in conjunction with The F.I.T. Lab. The 10-week challenge is an “at your own pace” exercise and nutrition program conducted by area fitness and nutrition experts. Partners of the Insight 2 Health Fitness Challenge are NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center, Target Corporation, Southside Community Health Services and Open Cities Health Center.
