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Growing up as a kid, fitness and nutrition was never an issue for me. In fact, unlike most people, I had the opposite problem growing up and that was the ability to gain any type of weight what so ever. Sure, I played several sports as a kid and even swam for the varsity team in my high school, but never was it easy for me to gain weight. My metabolism was working at such a high rate that I was always the scrawny, boney and awkward kid in school that always got picked on (though I did manage to avoid that most of the time).

That being said, my problem with weight was always lurking in the back of my mind, and I was constantly eating things that I thought would make me pack on pounds but never did. McDonald's, Taco Bell, Burger King, and any other chain you could think of were staples of my diet, and I always had a stash of junk food to munch on. Still, nothing happened, and all I wanted was to be an average sized kid.

At towards the end of my sophmore year in high school, I thought to myself that if I couldn't gain weight by eating the way I was, then there was no other option but to lift weights. Now, this was not my ideal plan since my awkwardness always left me self conscious of my boney frame, so I begged my dad to help me spend the money on a personal gym and he agreed. However, after only a few days working out on it, the wieght bench began collecting dust.

Why? Because I didn't know what I was doing. Sure I looked at the posters the bench came with, and did the moves but I still wasn't sure of myself. Add to this, that I lacked the inner motivation and discipline and I was a recipe for muscle fitness failure. This even continued through my college years, and eventually I began to accept that I would never make any gains in muscle build and fitness. So I gave up.

Gave up, until that is I joined the military. Right out of college, I was struggling to find work. It was 2002, the economy had taken a dive and where I was living at the time didn't have any livable jobs open. I was short on rent and patience, so I turned to the Marines for help.

During my time with them, I was a changed young man. My outlook changed in regards to fitness and eating, and I quickly jumped back into the routine of staying in shape. I even noticed that I was gaining weight, and that the weight was mostly muscle (and this was only bootcamp). I was so thrilled that I pushed hard each and every day to get myself into the condition that I desired, and then something happened.

Towards the end of my time in bootcamp, my left leg began to get sore near my hip. At first I thought it was a muscle, and then a pinched nerve as the pain grew in intensity. However, no matter what I did to try and help it, the pain only got worse. Two weeks before graduation I was limping so bad and wincing in pain that I finally made the decision to go see the Corpsman (medic) about the pain. He sent me to the medical facility on the base, gave me an X-ray, and my life changed in a direction I never wanted it to go. I suffered a stress fracture in the joint of my left hip and that was the end of my military career. After a few months of rehab, I waited pateintly for my discharge papers while I helped the Support Battalion at the Recruit Depot process recruits in and out of bootcamp. Pushing papers and sitting down were the only activities I did, and the doctors said that I would no longer be able to do strenious activities or lift weights due to the location of the fracture. I went home broken and discouraged.

For the next six years, I worked a variety of sales jobs. Bouncing from place to place and eating with the same nasty habits I picked up as a youth. Eventually, my metabolism did change. After all, I was no longer a boy, but a grown adult and with that came the slowing of my metabolic rate. Soon, I began to look a little plump around the middle and I wasn't very happy with that either. But since I was told I couldn't do anything about it, I didn't care. I just thought that this was going to be the way things were and that was that - after all, I should be happy that I had gained the weight and not look like the boney kid I was several years ago, right?

Fast forward to today, and I am a totally different man. During the month of my thirtieth birthday, my wife and I were flipping through the channels when we saw this loud, energetic personality on t.v named, Tony Horton, talking up a big game about P90X and how it could change lives. I looked at him and the program in amazement, and told my wife how awesome it would be if I could do that again. Several weeks later, on my birthday, it arrived in the mail.

My wife knew about my injury and knew what the doctors had said, but she told me she saw the look on my face when I saw the infomercial for P90X. She said it was that moment that told her I needed something to get my confidence back in who I was. One month later I committed myself to the program and haven't looked back.

Surprisingly, my old injury never became an issue. In fact, my hip benefitted from the yoga and stretching routines in the program, and I have made great gains in areas of fitness I never thought I could have. To date, I have lost 16 lbs and have gained a new lease on life. The nutrition guide has taught me so much about how important it is to watch the things you eat in order to help propel your body's fitness ability, and the program - well, P90X is the most excellent, intense, and motivating workout I have ever done. Each day is a challenge, but now I am finally getting the body, discipline, and confidence I always wanted.