Michael's Story.
In August of 2021, I had just had bicep surgery to repair a torn bicep and needed to make changes. At the time, I was well over 300 pounds. I was sick of looking and feeling this way. While I was making some gradual changes, I knew I needed to do more, I just didn’t know what.
My wife and young boys were active, but I wasn’t active like I once had been. As retired military, during my 20 years of service I was always moving. I was even a fitness instructor. I got caught up in my pride though, taking some down time that went from just a short stint of 6 months to 6 years of inactivity.
That bicep surgery was my catalyst, and I used it as a place for change. It was hard to come to terms with though since I had gained so much weight. Instead of looking at the smaller steps I needed to take, I wanted to jump to the top.
When I looked at myself in the mirror, I realized how bad I let things get. I wanted to hide my head in the sand and pretend it didn’t happen or I could fix it later. It only got worse. I needed something and I didn’t know what it was, until I found the 1% Fitness challenge.
The Journey
After my surgery, I needed physical therapy, and I think that was what set it all off. It was what started the change. Then I followed with intermittent fasting so I didn’t have to change what I ate, only when I ate it.
But I soon found out that wasn’t what was going to get me to where I needed to be. I had to learn how to eat right and eat better. With the 1% Fitness challenge, I started walking a little bit each day and eating foods that were truly delicious. The meals were what surprised me most since they tasted so fresh.
This is different from meal prep because with that, you make food for 5 days in a big batch and it’s the same thing every day. The 1% Fitness meals tasted great with fresh flavors and sauces I liked. I could choose from the prepared meals and see what I felt like rather than suffering through something I didn’t feel like eating.
I was really surprised by that great variety and flavor, that I could treat myself to the hamburger patty I loved so much or eat something else.
But what was really great was I was doing the keto diet and 1% Fitness made that much easier. They do all the macros so I didn’t even need to think about any of it. I could just eat these delicious meals and stay in ketosis.
Michael’s New Life
Before the first challenge, I had lost some weight after the bicep surgery so I went in at 302lbs. When I retired from the military, I weighed 260lbs and I wanted to be back to that at least because at that time, I felt really good.
This was my goal and I blew it out of the water. After just 6 weeks, I weighed in at 252lbs, which was almost a full 50lbs of weight lost.
My new goal for the second challenge is that I want to lose 100lbs total. I want to be the 100-pound loser. Thanks to 1% Fitness and all the changes I made to my life, I’ve come this far and I’m going to keep going on my journey.