It has been almost 4 years since I started exercising regularly. Getting back into decent shape after high school was not the easiest thing to do. Everyone has heard of the ‘Freshman 15′, but in my case it was a little more. From August 2007 to late January 2008 I managed to gain about 21 pounds, going from a reasonable 177 to an unbelievable 198. Seeing as how I’m only around 5’8″, being this heavy was not healthy, especially when most of it was goo. For some reason, I really didn’t want to start working out, but I knew eating less wasn’t the answer to my problem. I’m not a nutritionist, but I know this is bad for you, so don’t do it.

My first semester in college basically consisted of me eating fast food for at least one of my three main meals each day. What was so upsetting about it was that I had the time to exercise and eat right, but I was just lazy. It wasn’t until late January of 2008 that I realized I needed to change something, because bad hearts, bad lungs and diabetes plague my family. Not to mention, I’m built like a pear.

Getting back into working out regularly wasn’t really that big of an issue. The difficulty was having a proper diet. The only thing I really knew about what I needed to eat was what I shouldn’t eat. As I got back into working out regularly, I was still not eating very well. It wasn’t until recently, a certified fitness nut-job and friend of mine, Gabe Perez, helped me out.  He gave me this awesome outline on what to eat in order to get your body the nutrition it needs to function at its peak. You don’t need to read too much into it; Gabe is awesome. If you want to be super-fitness awesome, like Gabe, eat this and do Crossfit everyday. It’s difficult.

After sucking it up, working out and eating much better, I currently weigh about 160 pounds. I started working out simply to be more attractive to the young ladies (I didn’t really need to, I’m adorable), but then I thought, “That’s a stupid reason to start doing something,” so making the decision to do this for myself was pretty awesome.

That’s it. Don’t be a wuss. Go to bed early, get up early, workout regularly, eat right and hey, be fantastic!