Hello Daniel and Kelli,
In September of 2005 my 3 sons came to live with me full time and we moved from NY to North Carolina. A full time single parent and a full time retail manager lead to little sleep, lots of stress, horrible eating habits, an injured back, and other joint pain that I just simply ignored, and denied my ever growing weight.
In 2009 as the economy was turning for the worst, my job of 11 years was gone. Yet another huge upturn came about and the stress, depression and bad eating habits escalated. New pains in my back, hips and knees started to show up and made daily life random as to good days and bad days. Doctors were all over the map trying to find out the cause of my back pain but they did discover degenerative hip joints. Soon after in January 2012 a hernia that had been repaired in 1999 re-ruptured as a direct result of my massive belly. An MRI showed not only the size of the hernia but osteoporosis had set in on my lower back which was the cause of my back pain. After the surgery The Dr warned me to lose 50 pounds (though he didn't tell me how) or I was to be put on a liquid diet to prevent the hernia from happening again.. His words stayed with me but I didn't act until December of that year when at a holiday party I stepped on a scale and it said 260 pounds and at that moment I said...... My God I'm closer to 300 pounds than I am 200. I'm gonna be 50 and over 300 pounds. It was then that I said I'm gonna lose this weight, I'm gonna loose 50 pounds.
A gym was out of the question because I just couldn't afford it and had no way to get to one if I could. I just decided to walk, at first 2 miles a day. Every day when I got done walking I'd go online and learn about my BMI and my BMR, what my body needed as far as nutrition and calories, and so on. Well 2 miles quickly rose to 6 miles a day, 5 days a week and then In April I had lost close to 40 pounds and learned that with my weight loss I needed to start thinking about building my body back up. It was then I did simple things like after my walk I'd jump on and off my front step, and push ups off the same step since my back didn't allow me to get in the plank position at that point. Then I was reading about strength and cardio exercise and how import they were even if just for 15-20 minutes a day and read that for men anyway, if you feel stupid doing an exercise, the chances were you wouldn't stick with it, so find a starting exercise that you feel comfortable doing. It then lead into the effectiveness of kettelbells as far as diversity in exercises and that most men wont feel silly swinging around a ball of steel.
So the next day I went to the store and got a 10 pound weight. I went home and looked at the tag witch gave me a WWW. address that required a paid membership so that was out of the question on my budget. A life changing moment came for me when I got my first 10 pound kettelbell and didn't have a clue how to use it but a physical therapist told me with the weight I was loosing I need to be concerned with muscle loss at my age so i Googled "Kettelbell work out" and the first like that popped up was a YouTube video with Daniel in it. I had no clue what a level 1-5 work out was I just listened to this guy who was talking like I was a person. He didn't have his shirt off or 4 people behind him that looked like greek gods. Just a guy reminding me to breath and watch my back. From there I found more videos with this couple.. They smiled and laughed and they lost count of reps, they forgot sets, they told me it was ok to back down on weight and to change form so things were easier. They shared moments of their personal life to show they are just as real as I am. All the time I had know idea that the truth was that they just loved to help and through that I was and still am discovering things about me that I never new. At 45 I feel like a kid. Daniel and Kelli Thank you and I love you for helping me be a better version of me....I can't wait to unlock new things about me That I don't even know are there....The rest is history..lol 60 pounds dropped, making a hundred total. From a 42 inch waist to a 29 inch waist. From walking 6 miles to running 3, from a 10 pound kettelbell to a 15, 25 and 35 plus dumbbells. Learning how to eat real food and learning that it's about being happy in finding out what I can do. All in my own home with no gym, just my small set of weight, my Nike free runs and Fitnessblender. Thank you so much.
Daniel G.