I have always fought the battle of the bulge. No, I am not one of those history gamers re-fighting a battle from WWII, and the rest of you get your mind out of the gutter. I’m talking waistline and body fat in general. I looked at the cheeseburger and not only ate it, but, I swear, I gained an extra pound. Right then, right there. I didn’t think about it, as I am truly big boned. Like if the door isn’t 3′ wide, I have to angle my way through it. Broad shoulders, yada, yada, yada. So, it didn’t phase me when I tipped the scales at 265 pounds because I could “carry” it. Then life has a way of giving you a swift kick in the cajones, and you wake up and say, my God, what am I doing? In my case, my wife died suddenly. There I was with 11-year-old and 7-year-old daughters to raise by myself. Want to talk about a reality check? There it is. Wake up dude! Time to stop going through the motions and get your butt in gear.

So where do we start? Well with me, let’s start with the legal stuff. I am not a doctor, physical trainer, or licensed dietician. Always check with your physician before starting any physical training routine or sexual activity. If you have a 4 hour. . . wait, don’t need to go that far. Where would we be without those legal disclaimers? Anyway, where do you start? Although I joke about it, I was serious when I started. The first thing I did was make an appointment with a doctor, or in my case, a physician’s assistant. Assistant is really a misnomer, as I have as much respect for Mike, and quite honestly, probably more, as I do for any doctor. By the way, the only thing a PA and APRN can’t do is admit you to the hospital, or so I hear. Now, FYI, this is the first physical that I have had since I got out the Marines 14 years prior. Needless to say, I was overweight. (An understatement. I was FAT.) High blood pressure and cholesterol? Had that, too. All bad and way too high. Basically Mike looked at me and, knowing my situation, gave me the news as tactfully as he could. “So when do you want to die?” he asked. Yup, a reality check for sure. Time to rethink what I was going to do.

The first thing was to figure out a game plan and stick to it. Make a commitment and follow through. Education was the key, learning everything I could so that I could do it myself, as I did not have the money for a personal trainer. So I learned. I read about diets (a word I really don’t like) and weight training. I even subscribed to Men’s Health. I did it all. I learned routines as well as studying about good carbs, bad carbs, calorie intake, and how often to work out. Then came the fun part. How to start. Well, I had done the doctor thing, so I figured, I’ll simply start walking. I quickly learned how far I had fallen from athlete and Marine. I could barely walk two miles! So I kept at it and was soon walking five miles a day. Next, I incorporated all of the nutrition information I had learned, and things got better. Then came the weight training. I fuddled through that, and things went well. How does going from 268 pounds to 208 pounds sound to you? It sounded good to my doctors. It sounded good to me.

So what can I tell you? It’s kind of simple. The biggest mistake I see is that everyone tries to do it all at once. They want to lose 20 pounds in a month. Well, some people can do that because of the amount of extra weight they carry. However, for most, 1–3 pounds a week is more realistic, depending on your size. Think about it. In two months you have lost 8–24 pounds. Start slow, do one thing at a time, and never give up. I use an Ipod since it drowns out the surrounding noise, and if you load up the right music, it really does help. Comfortable clothes and shoes also go a long way. Personally, I train in combat boots, camouflage pants, a tank top and do-rag. Sounds weird and scary. . . and it does kind of keep people at a distance in the gym. But it reminds of the day when I trained really hard, so it’s a motivating factor. It works for me. And that is the key—finding whatever works for you.

Finally, it all comes down to commitment and motivation. Many people come up to me and confess their sins, such as how they haven’t been to the gym in weeks or even months. I never lecture them. I just tell them that when they are ready, they will go back, and if they ever want to work out with me, just call. Everyone needs support every now and then. Commitment comes down to you. We all need to do something. You need to do something. You have to do something.

This is where I think that many people have problems. As in life, when you need to do something, it becomes a task. I hear many people say, “ I need to go to the Gym.” This is often said with a negative tone or followed by a sigh. Me, I want to go to the gym. No matter how hard I work out, I always feel good. That adrenaline and endorphin thing is at work for sure, but the fact is I accomplish something good for myself and am improving myself every day. That’s a big rush. And that’s what you want, a sense of accomplishment.

Finally, a few things. Sometimes you will get to a plateau, and it will seem like you are not making progress. Change your routine, change the order of your exercises, as muscles do have a “memory.” Trick ‘em out. A classic example of muscle memory at it’s best can be seen in Arnold. Before Terminator 3, as he was being a full time governor. There were actually pictures of him with a gut. Then, next thing you know, the movie is out, and he’s as buff as ever. Reason being, he knows how to train. The muscles were all there, he just had to build them up. Another thing is that after a while, the amount of weight you weight lose will decrease, and maybe you may not lose any weight, for a week or two. This causes a lot of people to lose faith. There’s a simple explanation for this. You only have so much fat to lose, and at some point you will also be adding lean muscle mass. Muscle weighs more than fat, so more often than not, this is a good thing. Here is the best way to know how well you are actually doing. Measure yourself. Measure your arms at the biceps, chest, waist, hips, and thighs. This way, as you lose the fat and become leaner, you can actually tell. Or you can get a body fat calculating scale. Even better, get to the point where you have to buy smaller clothes. How’s that for a hidden bonus? And donate the fat clothes to Good Will. That way you will keep working to continue to fit into those new clothes.

So, want to do it, start slow, and build up. Do it to amaze your friends. Do it for yourself. Mostly, do it for your loved ones. They all kind of like you and want to keep you around for a while.

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