Now this post can go on for ages, so I will just try and do a brief explanation of a few things and leave it there for now… (that failed)

It’s quite obvious that I should be fat. My mother’s side is morbidly obese to a severe extent that most of them are classed as disabled due to being obese (I know that’s a touchy subject, but just take my word for it) My mother is obese and my sister is obese. My dads side has all obese members in it, although they are more to an overweight obese rather than medically obese.( 12-19 stone)

So, growing up for me was junk food. My breakfast had tablespoons full of sugar, my diet was just sweets and chocolate and I don’t think I ever ate a vegetable or anything nutritious till I was in my late teens. Now I won’t blame my parents for this as I was a nightmare  growing up and I simply refused anything good and always got my own way.

All through school I was lazy. I loved my computer games and whilst others were out playing football, I was stuck in the computer room drinking and eating junk. I hated Physical Education, I even took up a sponsored walk once as I didn’t want to jog or run. I never got to a massively obese size in my life though, although I have always been quite overweight and got called the usual names that fat kids get called. (I always blamed my fat on an inhaler as I pretended to have asthma to get out of things at school. Obviously I wasn’t fat because of that. I just needed an excuse though to justify the facts)

There was one stage from my teenage years when I got into aggressive skating. This was probably the only time I actually enjoyed something physical. I dropped a lot of fat and ended up getting quite fit, although skating was the only thing I wanted to do. I always had a little play with weights from a teenage age and owned a little second hand gym which was in the garden. (I never forget my best mate saying it was a waste of time and when he’s 18 he’s joining a gym and doing it right, he’s now about 18 and that’s stone. Think he said he was 17 stone last time I spoke to him. Obese and never did join a gym)

Hitting the alcohol at a young age was another one of my downfalls. Drinking excessive beer on a daily basis and eating junk food such as kebabs and pizzas etc was definitely another massive downfall of mine. I did join a gym at Aldersley Leisure Center as a teenager, but never understood how it all worked. I also joined the school gym, but again, never knew, even the basic principles.

Basically, I abused my body with food, smoking, beer, lack of exercise and so on. (Typical teenager I guess)

It wasn’t till I met the wife that I started to take a little bit of pride in myself and started eating a little better, although I still ate some horrible junk food daily. My typical sandwich during work would be from the cafe. Bacon, sausage, egg, black pudding, red sauce, triple door step bread and a slice of fried bread. Did I mention that was breakfast?  Once we got settled and had our first child, moved house and so on, I started to get my act together… slowly.

When my wife became pregnant with our second child. We found out that the baby had something medically wrong and it was a very stressful time in our life. So what did I do to help the stress? Turn to food and that was when I noticed myself get too obese.

3 years ago my my wife got chatting to a chap on a game and eventually we went on the camera with him and his daughter. As soon as I saw how huge/fit he was, I wanted to be just like him. The moment the chat stopped, I invented the weights below. Since that day, I started to fill my brain with information and went on the hunt for some weights. I have never gone a week without lifting weights since that day.

My first year at home working out was a disaster. I didn’t know anything about nutrition and nothing about how to perform exercises or how intense I could push myself. It’s now coming up to 2 years that I have been at the gym and in that 2 years I have given up alcohol, educated myself on a better nutritious diet, put on some muscle and gained some strength.

I guess that starting the gym a few weeks before my son was born was a bad idea though, as sleep was a no go until 3-4 weeks ago and he still wakes up most nights now. The thing is though, I started then and not now. I had already wasted too much of my life messing around getting drunk, eating bad etc and so I’m glad I just went for it. The gym is a standard part of my life now, although the nutrition is by far the biggest challenge I have ever came across in my life to do with myself. Even giving up beer was easy compared to eating right.

Anyway, I’ve babbled enough and also gone off topic a little. I never thought I would be able to do what I can do with my body and I’m still at a beginners stage. I will keep pushing hard and I will accomplish something one day that will prove that if you want to do it, you can. It’s just about changing your life for the better. I have never looked back to the way I was in my younger years, but I now always work harder yesterday ready to be stronger tomorrow. I’ve spent too much time dreaming about what I would like to look like, now I’m doing it and giving it my all.

For the first time in my life, I can actually say that I am starting to be proud of myself. I also hope that me and the wife both being healthy will set a good example to our children and they will follow what we started.

Don’t dream it, do it…