Welcome, aka The Backstory

Hello! My is Paul and I am a new camper to Step It Up Fitness' morning Smyrna Boot Camp. Ryan Byers is my class' fearless leader, up bright and early at 5:30am each morning, at Campbell High School each and every weekday. I am a 23 year old IT Consultant that graduated from the University of Georgia last December who lives and works downtown. I'd like to take a minute to explain a little about me so you all know my motivations for joining SIU's boot camp.

I always grew up a big kid, and I jokingly blame my dad for it because when I was an infant he would make my bottle and just throw it in my crib whenever I cried for it. Needless to say, he was probably waking up frequently. It didn't help matters much when I was diagnosed with Legg Perthes Disease in first grade and treatment included restricted activity. All things considered, my childhood consisted of overeating without as much exercise as normal kids have.

This all changed when my doctor cleared me to play football in high school. The year round work outs and practices melted the pounds away and I packed on muscle. Responsibility to my teammates and coaches were a big reason for hitting the gym each day. [Un?]Fortunately, I burned so many calories each day that it didn't matter what I ate, and I took full advantage and never learned to curb my food intake. At my lightest I weighed 220 pounds and was pretty strong. The transformation to my body was really incredible.

After high school, I enrolled at UGA and tried to keep getting in the gym, but it is now clear that holding myself accountable wasn't as much of an incentive as I hoped. I joined a fraternity and did what most college kids do: drink beer. A lot of beer. Again [un?]fortunately, I still did well in my academic pursuits, graduating with two degrees. I was having the time of my life and didn't see many negative consequences (at the time) for my actions. So for the past 4-5 years of my life, I partied, ate whatever I want, and only infrequently exercised during things like intramurals pick up games. It's not rocket science to know that what I was doing to my body was not sustainable and going to have pretty huge ramifications.

In the middle of October, I learned about Step It Up through the Groupon they ran. It always nagged at me how I'd let myself go. I was worried about my weight and blood pressure but hadn't stepped on a scale in months. I debated all day whether or not to do it until I went out with some friends for beers after work and hesitantly brought it up. They were all supportive, and I made it home with enough liquid courage to click the "Buy" button and give this boot camp thing a try. A week or two later I decided to register for the camp that started on November 29th, thinking I would have a month to gradually build up basic endurance. Instead of that happening, I sat around for a month. Oh well.

That leads me to, "Where are you today?" On November 18th, I went to the doctor for my first full physical since football some 5 years ago. I am only 5'8''and had ballooned to 366lbs! Blood work showed all three of my cholesterol levels were on the wrong side of healthy, and my blood pressure was high, though I forgot to get my exact numbers. We both agreed that weight loss and nutrition would cure most of what ailed me. When I mentioned boot camp to the doctor, he prescribed a light blood pressure prescription to prevent me from stroking out but cleared me to start the boot camp.

Ryan (our instructor) and I got to talking after a few days of working out after he saw that I was committed to turning my life around. He approached me with the notion of blogging about my experiences clawing back into shape and I loved the idea for a few reasons. One, of all the approaches that I've used to lose weight in the past, responsibilities to others has been a success factor. So now in addition to being held accountable to my boot camp-mates, now I will be held accountable to the entire internet! Second, my writing skills have gotten stale. I read some early college papers and think, "Where did that writer go?".

My apologies for the long-winded introduction, but I hope you come back to track my progress. I have a few more posts planned out discussing my goals for the weeks to come and showing you what it really is like to Step It Up, so check back often and comment!