Running holds you accountable
I’m Jose from Austin, TX. My wife loves to take pictures; back in 2010 when I saw pictures of myself I couldn’t believe what I saw. I’ve always been heavy, but I didn’t think I was that big. At my heaviest I was 300 pounds. One day I decided to go around for a “jog”, that was a reality check. I thought I would be able to at least be about to go once around the track. I couldn’t even jog for 30 seconds without getting tired and having to stop. I’m not exactly sure why I kept up it, but if I had to choose I would say it was a combination of having a GPS app that tracked how many miles I was putting in and trying out new running gear. At first I was really shy so I would just stick to the old treadmill at my parents house. Even after I moved out, I would drive over to my their house 3-4 times a week and use that treadmill. Eventually I started running the roads around where I lived and never looked back. I changed my eating habits by making my favorite fast food items at home. It took me almost 2 years to drop about 95 pounds and it’s been about a year of me keeping the weight off. I never went on any type fad diet or “magic” weight loss pill. I started making my meals at home and eventually became pretty good at cooking and meal prep. It wasn’t easy to exercise, at first I would get push back from my family members about why I wouldn’t go out with them and go run instead. It took some time for them to come around, but now they see that I like to do it. 2 years ago I met a friend who was doing the opposite of what I was doing. He hits the gym hard and packs on the muscle, I wanted to put on a little muscle without it interfering with my running. He put me up on some good information to where I could put together my routine. We eventually started talking because people would always ask us what “we” are doing to lose weight or put on muscle. We got together with some friends and started a blog and Facebook page to put the information out there that helps up and maybe it can help someone. We started to get together on Sunday morning to do exercise circuit. When we started it was only the 5 of us and mid summer we were up to around 25 people. Now it’s more around 10, and the progress I see is amazing. Everyone has added muscle and lost weight. I’ve gotten stronger for my runs and it’s helped, a teammate and I ran 27 miles for my 27th birthday. I’ve raced in a few half marathons. I’m not perfect and I have had setbacks, I would be lying it I say that I always eat clean. I just try to find a balance that works for me. That’s what our goal at CheFit is, to find a balance and make a lifestyle change. I see the people around me making changes and loving it, so that pushes me to go harder and keep going. I don’t have a lot of progression pictures because I really didn’t know where my journey was leading. It has taken me 3 years to get to where I am now and sometimes even now it’s a struggle with motivation, eating habits, and self doubt. You have to push through it as best as you can. I went from eating whatever I wanted and not doing any exercise to trying my best to eat as best as I can and running 135 miles per month. I love to run now; I get out as much as I can. Even if it’s a 15 minute short recovery run, I love the fact that running make you pay for what you have done, whether is was binge eating or going out the night before and having too much to drink. Running holds you accountable.
