Congratulations to our male CSE Fall Challenge winner, Mike! His testimonial set our souls on FIRE!! We found ourselves nodding and saying “YES!” out loud throughout the entire thing! THIS is what it’s all about, you guys! So many great one liners and analogies in here that create such a great perspective. This guy absolutely killed it - even though in the beginning he was EXTREMELY hesitant to give it a try. “I would then decide once and for all whether I was going to choose to eat what I wanted and accept my fate, or to put in the necessary work to CHANGE MY LIFE.” OHHHH BUDDY! So powerful 👊🏻 Congrats Mike!! Swipe to read his full testimonial - I know it will light a fire under you like it did to us 🔥

Congrats Mike!

When I got married in 2009, I weighed 170 lbs. Two months ago, after years of weight fluctuation and borderline food addiction, I was walking around at 240 lbs, tired, aching, and feeling at age 35 like I would never feel good again. I was just too old, I thought. Not only was I unhappy with myself, but I was disappointing my wife and 3 children with my attitude and my lack of energy. The situation was pretty dire.

But as anyone with a real love for the comfort of junk food will tell you, the decision to change doesn’t always come easy. I wanted to do a full analysis, listing out all the reasons why it might be worth the effort to get in shape. I would then decide once and for all whether I was going to choose to eat what I wanted and accept my fate, or to put in the necessary work to change my life.

I sat down one night and started typing, and before I knew it, it was 1am and I had a list of 213 reasons why I should get in shape. I decided these reasons outweighed my list of cons (1.It’s hard) and I should get to work. Some of my favorite reasons:

25. So I have more energy to play with the kids – I don’t want them to grow up with a father who sat on the couch and watched TV. I don’t want their role model to be lazy, unmotivated, or in the hospital.

69. In case I decide to start CrossFit – The great part is, I didn’t wait until I was in shape. I started immediately.

106. So I don’t raise my kids to be hooked on junk food – I cannot set them up for failure!

147. So I don’t get winded tying my shoes – It’s a very real concern.

209. No regrets – I don’t want to feel like I lived every day sitting around waiting for the day when I was in shape. What better time than now?

The timing of the CSE Challenge was perfect, and lucky for me, my wife had previously convinced me to buy a CSE meal plan. So I bought some brownie batter protein powder and some nut butters, found a great CrossFit community and got to work. After 4 days my sugar cravings started to subside. After 3 weeks they went away completely. I had never made it to that point before. I thought they stayed around forever! I started to feel stronger, more capable, better looking (already?!), more confident, more kind and less moody. It quickly became apparent that this Is not something I wanted to give up after 7 weeks. When my wife asked what I would eat and how I would exercise “when it’s over”, I got annoyed. “It’s never over!”

Why would I go back to feeling like garbage?

I once heard a weight loss journey described as a giant freight train. It takes a tremendous amount of force to get the train moving and gain momentum, but once you’re moving, you can be very hard to stop. I feel a momentum now that I have never felt before. I feel an energy and optimism for life that I thought was gone forever. At 35, I thought I was bound to watch my children grow up from the sidelines, because I had spoiled my shot at a healthy, active lifestyle. I thought I’d turn 50 and start getting sick and just fade into old age overweight and sad. Now I see a future where I’m the cool dad playing football on Thanksgiving and baseball all summer. Then I’ll be the cool grandpa wrestling with the grandkids. The life I envisioned when I got married 10 years ago is becoming possible again. The only people happier about it than I am are my wife and kids.

Get more details on our next challenge.