For the first part of my childhood I was raised by my mother/four “loving” sisters. I was always extremely hyper as a child, so I’m told, so my mother was constantly modifying my diet to avoid whatever foods seemed to set me off. She always seemed to be intuitive in the ways of nutrition. I was diagnosed very early on with ADHD but rather than medicate me my mother chose to treat me with diet. She would treat the flare ups with black coffee rather than prescribed stimulants like Ritalin. For this part of my life I was slim and fit and in general good health even though I was not overly active and played no type of sport.
I went to live with my father, the truck driver, at age 12 and if anyone has ever seen a truck driver eat, you would know that they don’t have the best habits. I lived with him for 9 months and decided I wanted to be home again. When I got home and went back to my old school, things were different. My friends were treating me different. Making fun of me even. I hadn’t even realized it but I had gained a huge amount of weight and was now what you would consider overweight. This was difficult for me as I was always fit and had never encountered being made fun of. The people who were my best friends were really cruel to me. My mother tried to get me back on track but by this time most of my sisters were moved out of the house and not around to help. Working fulltime to support me and my remaining sisters she was unable to keep track of me well enough. I stuck this out for a couple years but I was very depressed. I moved back with my father for high school. It was a small town and people didn’t seem to care that I was not exactly the picture of fitness. I was happier but continued to hold the weight. I did become more active with snowboarding and skateboarding so that may have helped me from getting bigger.
After high school I did what most do and ate, drank, and partied. Eventually I found a good woman and settled down. One year we decided to have a family photo taken. When we got the pictures back I didn’t even recognize the face I was seeing. How could I have gotten this way? I instantly started thinking of my overweight, diabetic father. I was starting to look just like him. I franticly started trying to find out how to lose weight. I got a scale and weighed in at 297lbs. I started out with Atkins. This worked great, no exercise and all the bacon I could eat. I lost 80lbs in 3 months. I got a little complacent with this and floated around between 200 and 250lbs for the next couple years. Next I thought a treadmill and simply for life was the way to go. I started going for 2+ hours a day on the treadmill and following simply for life. I ended up at 176 lbs, looking like someone had sucked the fat out of my face with a vacuum, zero muscle tone and still a bunch of belly fat.
I tried various workouts and gyms trying to get fit and stay at the ideal 176ish lbs. I did manage to put on some muscle but my weight was back up in the 200’s again and still had all the belly fat. I heard of this CrossFit thing and thought it may be an answer. I went in with Brigitte and tried a class with Kevin. I was hooked. I convinced Brigitte to tag along and my obsession was born. Today with Paleo and CrossFit I sit at, and easily maintain, a healthy weight and bodyfat percentage. I have gone from not active at all and never having competed in anything to doing a Tough Mudder, coming in second place in a CrossFit competition, finishing a 10k in 43 minutes and a half marathon in 1 hour and 40 minutes. My friends don’t make fun of me anymore about being fat but sometimes they do make fun of me for walking funny after a WOD with any kind of squats in it.
Strength - 5RM Front Squats
3 rounds
20 Double Unders
20 Front Squats (95/65# or 50%)
20 Double Unders
20 Push Press (same)
*15 min cap
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Jack's before and after[/caption]
