I Drank The Crossfit Kool-Aid

***WARNING*** THIS POST CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT WHICH MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO SOME VIEWERS.

In the summer of 2005 my family was making plans to move to Wilmington to start Lifepoint Church.  I had worked in ministry since graduating college in 1998.  One thing nobody taught me was that ministry can be hazardous to your health.  I had spent years trying to “care” for everyone around me and managed to neglect myself.   As a result, I had no energy.  I would literally come home from work, lay on the floor to play with my kids and wake up an hour later in a room all by myself.  I was spent.  The harsh truth was that I had done it to myself.  I let myself go.  This is a picture of me from 2005.  I was 205 lbs.

Six years later.  Numerous exercise programs:  P90X, Insanity, surfing, running, bicycling, memberships at 3 different gyms, and now CrossFit I feel like a different person.

Please hear me out… what I’m about to say may sound shallow and offensive.  I understand that many people struggle with weight.  Some are probably looking at my picture from 2005 and thinking, “I wish I was that size.”  I understand we are all in different places in life and there are few things more uncomfortable to talk about than weight.

Here’s my point… by neglecting myself, I had less energy to give to my family, less focus toward my work, and less value toward who God had created me to be.  The only area of my life that I had “more” of was the area just above my belt.

SOMETHING HAD TO CHANGE!

I have a friend named Marcos that has been talking to me about this new thing he was doing called CrossFit.  Literally, he talked to me about this for 2 straight years.  I looked into it.  It looked expensive and intimidating.  Long story short, in December I decided to give it a try.

I’VE NEVER EXPERIENCED ANYTHING LIKE IT!

The workouts are ridiculous.  I still remember my first one.

Benchpress your body weight as many times as possible.

Then immediately do as many pull-ups as possible.

Repeat

Repeat

Repeat

Needless to say, that workout didn’t take long.

BUT… I STUCK WITH IT!

Sure I felt like a misfit for awhile.  Half the girls were lifting more than me.  However, following the workouts I had an incredible sense of accomplishment and an insane amount of energy and focus.  Before I knew it, I was going 5 days a week at 6am.

I DRANK THE KOOL-AID!

I was hooked.  I was more sore than I had ever been.  But I loved it!  I love having a trainer that plans the workouts and comes up with some of the most ridiculous WOD’s (Workout Of the Day).  I really enjoyed the people that I was working out with.  Most of all, I loved the progress that I was seeing.

ENTER THE DIET CONTEST

Beginning January 1st I entered a Diet Contest at CrossFit.  I weighed in, got measured, pinched, photo’d, and slightly embarrassed.  Here are my starting pictures.

For six weeks my wife and I held to a very strict Paleo Diet.  I won’t take time to go into the Paleo Diet now but you can read all about it here.  In a nutshell, we ate tons of meats, veggies, fruits, and nuts.  We cut carbs, grains, dairy, sugar, and happiness. (just kidding).  I never would’ve made it without my honey boo boo participating with me.

I WAS SURPRISED TO DISCOVER HOW AMAZING I FELT

Sure I missed some of the sugared goodies but the results I was experiencing were worth it.

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH ARRIVED

February 11th we had to weigh in, get measured, and photo’d.  This time with less embarrassment.   Everyone in the contest voted on the winner based solely on the change in body composition.

Long story short.  I WON!  I was so excited!  Six weeks paid off!  I went from 180lbs and 19.3% Body Fat to 166lbs and 14.4% Body Fat.

What else is cool is that the female winner was none other than Lifepoint’s Rebecca Slagowski!

Oh yeah… we won over $300 bucks a piece!  Woohoo!

I wrote all of this to say, “your health is worth it.” Make the investment today!

In closing, I can’t say enough great stuff about CrossFit and the Paleo Diet.  My wife and I like the Paleo diet so much that we are actually turning it into more of a lifestyle.  I also, want to encourage you to checkout my gym, CROSSFIT CAROLINA BEACH.  If you check it out, be sure to tell them I sent you.  If you join, I get a FREE MONTH!