5 Amazing Years Since I Decided To Change My Life

Happy anniversary to me!!!

Five years ago, I decided it was time to change my life.

It was a difficult time in several areas of my life. I had received multiple surprising updates from my first doctor appointment in fifteen years. I learned forty years of obesity and unhealthy living were catching up with me. Exacerbating the impact of this medical news were several other factors in my life that weren’t going the way I wanted.

On June 15, 2017, I decided it was time for a change. I committed to losing over one hundred pounds and getting healthier in less than a year. I knew it would be difficult, and I had no idea how to do it, but I was going to do it.

Not only was I successful with my original goal, but I was successful with many other goals I didn’t know I wanted. Five years later, I am happier than I thought possible.

Why? Because I decided to try!

In honor of today’s anniversary, I will share a glimpse into where I started with my journey, what I accomplished along the way, where I am today and where I am headed.

It Was Time For A Change

Sometimes the easiest way out, is to accept that you must do what is hard.
Tony Cleaver, A Chain of Flames

An escalating series of events in my life led to my decision to make a change. Many issues were health-related, but that wasn’t the whole story.

As I explain in my book, Operation Melt: How I Used Life-Changing Project Management to Lose Over 100 Pounds in Under a Year, my decision “happened over a two-week period in June of 2017. But, it was a build-up that happened over 40 years. It was a long time coming, but still was not an easy decision.”

I had been overweight for my entire life — at least as far back as I can remember. I was the fat kid in school. Though my weight had its ups and downs, it was never something I was proud of for my entire life. I was embarrassed by my body image, but I kept convincing myself that my personality, my humor, my intellect, my drive and my successes made my weight unimportant.
In 2014, I watched my dad end up in the hospital at age 59. He was in and out of the ICU for six months until he became essentially unresponsive. He was put on a ventilator and ultimately died. The root cause that started this unexpected fading away is still unknown to this day. However, it was likely related to conditions caused or made worse by his lifetime of obesity. I didn’t know it at the time but watching him uncontrollably lose his life was very impactful.
At my doctor’s appointment on June 15, the first in at least fifteen years, my first sobering moment was the new patient intake questionnaire. Without over-sharing, my answers to the health questionnaires painted a terrible picture that I had never seen in one place before.
The nurse called me back for my exam, and the first stop was at the scale. I stepped on the scale and saw a number I would never have expected – 325 pounds! I was devastated when I saw that. But, little did I know, the bad news was just starting.
My discussions with my doctor uncovered many terrible habits in my nutrition, activity and other things.
When asked about working hours and stress, I explained that I had a significant amount of stress but had no idea how many hours I was actually working. We walked through a typical week and discovered that I worked about seventy hours per week.
I had undiagnosed and uncontrolled high blood pressure, and my bloodwork identified a few other areas of concern.

My health was not good. Even worse, I would make jokes about the severity. I would talk about the fact that my dad died at 59 and his mother at 63 and would tell Liz that she should plan for her second husband now. I would say things like, “I am overweight, eat like crap, don’t exercise, drink and have a high stress job, so I am on the right path!” It was mostly a joke, but there was some seriousness built into it for sure.

As bad as my physical health situation was, it was only the tip of the iceberg. I was working in a job where I felt like I was drowning, disrespected and living in a toxic environment. This was despite working seventy-hour weeks. It wasn’t until I looked back with hindsight that I realized just how toxic my work environment was to my mental and physical health.

My career and health issues led to an impact on my mental health as well. For one thing, my self-confidence sucked. As good of a life as I was living in some areas, I was struggling more than I knew. For example, the only goals I was pursuing in my life related to climbing the next step on the corporate ladder.

It was time for a change!

And, Change I Did!

I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
No message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make the change
You gotta get it right, while you got the time
You can’t close your, your mind!”
Michael Jackson, Man in the Mirror

As you undoubtedly know by now, I have made some changes over the past five years.

These changes started with my eighteen-month weight loss journey; I extended my timeline after achieving my original goal in just nine months.

Rather than recapping my journey again, I will simply share the links to my previous two blogs, where I recounted my ten most exciting moments along the way.

By setting a SMART goal with a sold why and building a plan that worked for me, I turned my situation around. My turnaround was so rewarding that I am sometimes frustrated that I waited so long to try.

Some of my key accomplishments through this journey include:

I lost the weight and then some. I lost 131 total pounds over 18 months. Since then, my weight has increased by about twenty-five pounds as I started strength training and muscle building. But, my weight is beginning to fade as a focus area for me; I conquered obesity, and it is never coming back.
I became a runner. I have completed at least ten half marathon runs, four of which were organized races. Beyond that, I have participated in at least fifty organized 5k, four-miler and 10k races. I run about three times per week, averaging 14 miles per week. My pace just keeps getting better.
My strength has increased significantly. I have progressed from only being able to lift the bar in bench press and deadlifts (45 pounds) to at least triple that. Plus, I continue to beat my personal records for leg press and have achieved 600 pounds so far.
My blood pressure is now controlled, and my bloodwork looks great.
My nutrition is much better, and I have tracked everything I have put in my body for five years.
I am very active, routinely getting more than an hour of exercise per day.
Sixty-hour work weeks are a thing of the past. I lost my toxic job in January 2018 and am now working in a position that fits me far better, for forty hours per week and from home. Plus, I am growing my own business on the side.
I became a writer. I continue to publish my OperationMelt.com blog and have published two (kind of three) books… so far.
I have a routine, positive relationship with a doctor. I also have an amazing personal trainer (who is really doubling as a health coach).

And all this progress was without giving up anything I like to consume… beer, pizza, bourbon, barbecue, desserts… it’s all still there. I am just doing it more responsibly!

Those are the big, measurable accomplishments over the past five years, but they are only part of the story. As I explain in my book, I learned a big lesson during this journey:

“It is a mental journey, as much or more, than it is a physical journey. You need to keep your mind in a good place in order to be able to stick with it and make the progress you want to make. There are times where the journey is hard, there are times where it is emotional, and there will be times where the last thing in the world you want to do is go workout. You have to stay focused. There were some times that things happened during the journey that made me want to cry, and there were a couple of times that I did. There were external factors that made me want to put my journey on hold and focus on other things for a while. There were times where I questioned whether I could do it. All of this happened, and it made the victory that much more special.”

I am a different person today than who I was when I started. Not only am I healthier but happier too, more confident and more in touch with myself and the universe around me. I have also discovered my calling or mission in life… how many people can honestly say that?!

These were all areas lacking when I started this journey, and I had no idea how much.

One of the most telling signs of my progress is that I no longer avoid mirrors and cameras… I smile and embrace them!

In short, my new mantra really describes how I feel:

I am better than who I was.
I am happy with who I am.
I am excited about who I'm becoming!

I Did It!

Four years ago today, I was about to walk out the door to participate in my first 5k race to celebrate the first anniversary of kicking off this journey. Before I walked out the door, I wrote the following piece… call it a poem or an affirmation. This was a summary of how I felt when I achieved that one-year mark.

On this fifth anniversary of the decision that changed my life, I thought it only appropriate to share this again.

I Did It!
I didn't come from greatness.
I didn't think I deserved it. 
I didn’t make it a priority because I thought I would fail so I didn’t try. 
I let it get the upper hand and it was trying to kill me. 
Then it all changed!
I was done, embarrassed and ready. 
I made a decision.
I knew why I wanted it.
I made it a priority (obsession?).
I worked my ass off.
I won!
I F**KING DID IT!!! 
Because I am completely amazing! 
Now... I can do anything!

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