“Good morning, Mr. Voakes…this is the wake-up call you did not order”.
~Life
It was a normal, crisp and cold October morning…alarm, bathroom, get dressed. It was that last one…”get dressed” where things went awry. As a high school music teacher, I spent a fair amount of time wearing khaki pants with comfortable button down shirts and cool (at least I thought so), suede shoes. As I pulled on the pants, I realized that they were just not fitting all that well.
My first thought was: “Well, it looks like I’m going to have to go buy size 40 pants this weekend.”
{{sits down on bed}}
My second thought was: “Oh, hell no, I am NOT going to go buy size 40 pants this weekend”.
And so it began…my journey into health, wellness, fitness, and mindset. You see, previous to this moment, my life was a busy, exciting roller-coaster ride. However, it was a ride that seemed never-ending and completely out of my control. There was no intention. There was very little long-term planning. There was not nearly enough rest or reflection. Sure, it was fun (regularly), but it was also overwhelming and exhausting.
What led me to this wake-up call?
When I started teaching high school music, I was 6′ 2″ and about 200lbs. On the morning of my wake-up call, I was still the same height (imagine that!) but my weight was now 305lbs. There are many, many factors that contributed to this incredible gain…long travel times to work in the car, long days/nights of work (17 hours regularly), fast food/football game dinners, stress, lack of time, energy, discipline for workouts, the fact that Kit Kats and Pepsi are super tasty and addictive, and so on.
Of course, the weight gain did not happen overnight, nor was it something I was entirely oblivious to. I had moments of looking in the mirror and thinking it was a good thing that I was tall enough to handle carrying “some” extra weight. In addition, I was getting winded walking up the stadium stairs at football games. I was tired quite often….so tired.
The simple fact is that I was OVERWORKED, OVERSTRESSED, and OVERWHELMED.
So…what next?
It’s long enough ago, that I don’t recall all of the exact details. I do know for sure that I immediately cut out the Kit Kats and Pepsi…just cold turkey stopped. I joined a small local gym and began indoor cycling classes with an incredible instructor, who then also served as my personal trainer (Robin, if you’re reading this, thank you so much for working with me in those early days!) My diet became much more simple and healthy (not the greatest, but it was a good start). In the end – about 18 months – I lost 100 pounds.
- Yes, it took awhile (it didn’t all arrive overnight, so no reasonable expectation to lose it overnight).
- No, it wasn’t always easy (simple, perhaps, but not easy).
- Yes, I have kept the weight off (more accurately, I have kept the fat off and added muscle).
- No, I don’t starve myself or spend endless hours in the gym (real, whole foods in appropriate amounts is never the enemy).
What does this mean for you?
None of us ever ask for a wake-up call (outside of a hotel stay…does anyone even do this anymore?). Some people don’t need one in order to get moving along a better track. Apparently, I did. Perhaps, you are waiting for one in order to make changes in your life. I would suggest, quite simply…DON’T WAIT! Maybe you’ve already had your wake-up call but aren’t sure where to begin. Let me know in the comments…I can help…let’s talk…and, in the meantime, you can read about health coaching here.
Take care of yourSELF,
Edward
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