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My Beachbody story starts in Dec. 04. I was at my heaviest: 222 lbs & 31% body fat, eating fast food 2-3 meals per day and drinking gallons of soda every week. Additionally, I was smoking almost 2 packs of cigarettes per day and getting no exercise. I was mentally tired & physically lethargic, unmotivated at work and feeling disconnected from my own family. Every night after work, I would go home and eat a huge dinner and then munch sugary, fatty snacks all evening, finally struggling to fall asleep late at night with my joints & back aching and my shoulders in knots from stress & frustration. I was killing myself day by day and dragging my family down with me. I knew that some things had to change but I felt powerless. Where and how do you start?!? Like millions of others, I was doing the same things every day & hoping for better results. Of course things were not improving for me, they seemed to be getting worse.

Fast forward to Feb 05… I had managed to lose 5 lbs by switching to diet soda but nothing else had changed. My brief weight loss had stalled and I felt worse than in December! Insomnia had me flipping through infomercials night after sleepless night. On one of those nights, I heard a voice on the TV that made me stop, sit up & take notice: it was Tony Horton’s voice and the program was Power 90. He struck me as earnest & open, no gimmicks or gadgets. The message was simple and clear: “Eat right & exercise every day for 90 days & you will change yourself”. It was up to me to stick with the routine. “I think I can do that” I thought. I taped a few minutes of the show to show my wife and then went off to bed.

Lying in bed, the self-doubt crept in. I didn’t want to fail & feel worse! When I woke up in the morning, I wanted to speak to my wife about it but my fear kept me silent. A few days later, I finally did mention it to her and showed her the recording I had made of the program. She was excited by it and even though she was a little nervous, she said that she wanted to do it together! “Wow” I thought, “something to work on and accomplish together!” It had been years since we partnered on something important. Power 90 had already started to change my life & the box didn’t even arrive for another week. Talk about “power”!

When the program arrived, we followed it to the letter. The unhealthy foods in the house were replaced with whole foods. We used a scale to measure our portions & lived by Michi’s Ladder. We did the exercises every night rather than watching TV & pushed each other as we pushed play. It wasn’t easy & old habits die hard but with each other and the Beachbody website for support, we kept going day after day. Our results were just incredible:

• I lost more than 15lbs in the first 30 days! People at work started asking me what I was doing.
• I lost another 12lbs in the second 30 days. A woman I had not seen for almost a year stopped by my work & she asked what had happened to me because I was so lean!

It was incredible! My self-esteem grew steadily as my waistline shrank by more than 5”! By the end of the program, I lost 37lbs & 15% body fat! I was a different person with a different outlook on life!

Day 45, the midpoint of the program, coincided with my daughter’s birthday and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to give her and the family a huge gift. All of my children had asked for years that I quit smoking but it was especially important to my little girl. I channeled the confidence and discipline I had gained through Power 90 to quit smoking. My final cigarette was on May 23, 2005 and I have remained SMOKE-FREE to this day! As much as I had wanted to in the past, I never was able to quit. Beachbody, Tony Horton, and Power 90 truly saved my life! I shall always be grateful for that gift.

After finishing Power 90, I bought P90X, a chin-up bar, recovery drink, supplements & kept driving toward better results. The routines were tough but I was getting in the best shape of my life. I had played a lot of sports from childhood through my early twenties was an multi-sport high-school athlete but when I was done with P90X, I truly was in the best shape ever. My kids also became involved & started doing some of the exercises with me. We began to have “Family Kenpo-X” sessions every Saturday. It was great!

Fitness & health transformed our lifestyle & our family bond became stronger because of it. We had achieved a higher quality of life because of the changes. There was still one problem & it was a big one! My new focus on fitness and wellness caused me to question myself about my job: managing a fast food restaurant. While ordering up fatty sandwiches, fried foods, giant sodas & shakes, my customers would compliment me on my new fit self! It was crazy! Most of the people who worked for me were overweight because they ate the food we served & drank gallons of soda every week. The real struggle for me was a moral dilemma: being so health-oriented in my own life yet I was serving up slow death from the fryers and soda fountains every day. I didn’t know what to do! I had to support my family but it was tearing me apart inside to feel like I was trading my integrity for a paycheck.

I kept talking about health & fitness to everyone at work and began searching for a new job that helped rather than hurt people. I looked for something else the entire year in 2006 but I didn’t find a new job that could support my family. I felt like I was killing people just to pay my bills and it hurt a lot. Just when I was about to give up I received an email from Carl, the CEO of Beachbody. He said he was starting a new “division” that relied on personal coaching. My wife & I were ecstatic to be invited to be founding coaches. Even better for me, there was light at the end of the fast food tunnel! I realized that being a coach with TBB would allow me to quit feeding fat to people & focus on getting them healthy instead.

As soon as the TBB store opened in late March 07, I tendered my resignation and left fast food behind. It felt great! People were blown away that I quit my job but it felt right. I took a strong stand against the epidemic of obesity in our society. I now do something I am passionate about, something I believe in 100% and I feel proud to represent Team Beachbody wherever I go. Being a coach has helped me to maintain and improve my own results as well as overcome some tough injuries during the past couple of years. It has helped me to rehab and recover rather than give up and give in. I am the role model for my children and my peers that I always wished to be. I LOVE to tell people that I am a fitness coach because I promote a healthy lifestyle and lead by example.

Since my original transformation in 2005, I have used almost every program and product that Beachbody sells with success. I have added pounds of lean muscle back onto my body and, at 41 years old, I am stronger than I have ever been in my life. I play basketball, tennis, soccer, ski, wakeboard, and rip-stick with my kids. I golf every chance I get (and never ride in a cart!), and work out at least 5 times per week. I am fit, active, and embody the spirit and values of the Beachbody company and community. Because of Beachbody, I am not getting older so much as I am getting better… day by day. Thanks Beachbody!