CONGRATS JON!

"You don't know what you got till it's gone!" That really rings true here. When I started this journey, I was really doing it because my wife wants to go to Hawaii so bad! I figured, if I supported her in the challenge, maybe she could win a trip! I knew that I was sporting the "Dad Bod", but I didn't feel like I had really let myself go that bad. Then I saw my before pictures and had a bit of a wake up call! It was time to get serious.

I have started other Clean Simple Eats' challenges in the past, but I've never been this dedicated. I've normally cut calories, done a bit of exercise, lost a few pounds, and called it good after a couple weeks. This time was way different and the results show.

In the past 7 weeks, I have lost 10.4% of my body weight. This is really amazing to me, but it's not the most important thing. My first day I decided to see how quickly I could run a mile. I made it in 11 minutes and felt like I was going to die! After seven weeks in the challenge, I am down to a 7 minute mile! I know this is slow for some, but I have never been a distance runner and I am thrilled to be where I am at. Apart from this, I have noticed my recovery time after a workout is much quicker which tells me that my body is thanking me!

As I look back, I am realizing how my poor physical condition was robbing me of some of my passions in life. I love mountain biking! About a year ago I went biking with a buddy of mine... It wasn't fun. It was painful! I was so embarrassed at how slow and out of shape I was, I didn't mountain bike again for about a year. Last week I went twice with him. It was awesome! I remembered why I loved biking so much. I can't wait for ski season!

Life is way more enjoyable when you are in shape! Thank you to Clean Simple Eats for giving me the motivation to get me back to a point that I can enjoy my life at a higher level!

"You don't know what you got till it's gone"? I usually think of this saying when I have lost something I wish I had back. In this case, I had 17 extra pounds and I didn't realize how they were affecting me. All I can say is, "GOOD RIDDANCE!"

I worked out 5-6 days a week, with the exception of one week where I strained a muscle in my back and could only work out 3 days. I have a hard time making it to the gym so I was limited to the equipment that I had at home which was a treadmill and a body tower for push-ups, pull-ups, dips, etc.

I have used the excuse of not having time to go to the gym too often in my life, so I decided to see what I could really accomplish by doing bodyweight only workouts. I would do one day heavy cardio, and the next light cardio with strength workouts using some of your bodyweight workout suggestions. I did not incorporate any weights into my workouts. I never had a "casual" workout. I pushed myself every time. My daughter always commented how gross it was that I was sweating so much! The good news is, it really worked. The bad news is I have no more "can't make it to the gym" excuses!

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