Looking for answers, to questions that bothered him so. ” With a hat tip to Jimmy, I want to introduce this blog, where I’m at today, and how I got there. This is probably somewhere in the middle of the Book on Bryce, but…we gotta start somewhere, and starting at the beginning is entirely too much to unpack. What does that even look like? I am…I wear a lot of hats. I’m a Son, and a son. I’m a spouse. A boy Dad. A girl Dad. A father-in-law. A mentor to some, self-righteous jerk to others. I love God, but…I’m messy.
Intro to CrossFit
I found CrossFit in 2016. It was a wonderful experience. Life changing. It was at a time when I was desperate for change. And, if you do not know, desperate times bring on desperate reactions. And at the time, at over 500 pounds, desperation was needed. I can’t say I enjoyed CrossFit the first year or so, but…it saved my life. And, above all, there was community. If I didn’t show, I could count on a phone call or text. There was no dodging it. They were relentless.
I passed on the Murph the first year, but I did a very scaled Murph the next. I did experience growth, as a man, as a human, as an everything. Dropped 130 pounds, got down to my current weight…and then my world crashed down upon itself. I lost my Mom in July of 2018, and, it shook me in ways I am still trying to figure out. Mainly, it put me in a position where I could not do much more than put a week or two of steady attendance at a time. And the same could be said for food. In this, the gym transitioned from 116 to Flight, and with that transition and my Mom’s death, I lost buy in.
I went from there to CrossFit Watauga. It kept me sane, and I have nothing negative to say. In fact, I received gifts from every box I have been a part of. Every box has a different culture, with different standards. I was not ready, truth be known. I checked out, and before long, we were two weeks away from flattening the curve…
COVID and Weight Loss
COVID was not good. I did what I could, but mostly that consisted of squats and walking, and bad eating. Maybe not BAD eating, but excessive eating. Would you believe that lasted till January of 2023? It did. And that ‘s really where this story starts. In January of 2023, and this may be where some of you check out…but I had a dream where the Lord and Yeshua appeared to me and said, (paraphrasing) that my window for health protection was gonna close soon if I didn’t figure it out in the next two years.
I started researching CrossFit boxes again, and the next week I was at CrossFit Gallant. CFG was great. Drew was a phenomenal box owner. It was rough. Making it three times a week, however, due to my own scheduling and life, was pretty challenging. I did lose SOME weight, and I got some health back but…I had a setback. My first old person injury: tendinitis. Standing and watching fireworks, in cheap flip flops. Unfortunately, that pretty much closed out my 2023. I made effort, certainly. But I could not get past the pain. I couldn’t walk, so I decided that I would try to loop in my nutrition, and we were quickly back to that crappy cycle.
Now in all of this, there was good news. I had still lost and kept off 100 pounds, for 6 years. And I had some fundamentals but even so, there was still some serious cognitive dissonance. So if you understand his, you probably understand the guilt that goes with it. I guess I had some pretty strong memories and concern about the dream from the previous year. I made a decision in December that, come January 8, there was no more time for tenonitis.
Crossfit OYL
That’s the advantage here: I have always been able to flip the switch. So I was pretty confident that I could do it again and, fortunately, I was able to. It worked out…well, I really do feel like God planted me there. I found them in December one night, and the next day made an appointment to meet with Mike, the owner of the box. That same night, before I met with Mike, I actually ended up driving by OYL that same night while looking at Christmas lights. And that is probably when I knew this was “the one.”
I met with Mike a few days later, and immediately said yes. The only point of contention was 2x a week or unlimited, and, after a few texts I was sold on whatever they had to offer. Not in a salesman kind of way, but in a, “This is the one” kinda way. And it was a wise move. I quickly moved from 3 times a week for the first two weeks, to 4 times the next two weeks, and sometimes, 5 times a week. I went enough times in February to qualify for something called “Committed Club,” and I even participated in the CrossFit Open. CrossFit HQ would define me as a CrossFit Athlete. I’m not sure I’m ready to add that to my bio, but that’s OK.
I’m currently back at my weight when my Mom passed. Truly, the years the locusts carried away have been restored. I’ve dropped 131 pounds since the beginning of this journey. Probably 30 pounds this year. My eating is on point, and I’m back on supplements.
Goals
Without goals, people perish. At least their good intentions do.
January
- 3 times a week ✅
- Begin Intermittent Fasting ✅
February
- 4 times a week✅
- Committed Club ✅
- Reduce portion sizes ✅
- Hit 30 check ins by month’s end ✅
March
- Maintain Committed Club While travelling
- Dial nutrition in
- Continue weight loss.
