I will be 45 years ago this May. 12 years ago, my wife and I had been members of a local gym and had done step aerobics and lifted weights. After we started having children (2 boys ages 10 and 6), going to the gym was not practical so we started exercising with videos. We started doing Step Reebok and Karen Voight but after a while became bored with the limited number of routines. We stopped working out for a number of years and became increasingly unfit.
My father had diabetes and high blood pressure when I was younger and had smoked most of his life. He did not follow his doctors advice and eventually had kidney failure and had to have dialysis. In August 1998 my father was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away after surgery to remove a tumor. I had smoked since I was a teenager and had quit and started back many times. I tried to quit again and lose some weight after that but soon fell back into my old habits. I finally was able to quit smoking for good in April 2000 but gained a lot of weight.
During the Christmas holidays of 2001 I had been pigging out on all the goodies that are always available like there was no tomorrow. On New Years day of 2002 I was watching a football game and was running to the bathroom every hour or so but I was very thirsty and drinking a lot of water so I didn’t think much about it. Later that day I noticed that my vision was getting blurry and by nightfall I could barely distinguish the people on the TV. The next day I went to the doctor and he confirmed that I had contracted diabetes like my father. I had ballooned up to 277 lbs and also my blood pressure was extremely high. I began seeing that if I didn’t do anything, I would eventually die just like my father. I was put on several medications and started working out again and after a while began to get bored again with the Step Reebok videos. I found the video fitness board and began reading about this instructor named “CATHE” that all these people were raving about. I was a little skeptical because I had lifted only with guys in the gym and was afraid that this was gonna be a wimpy workout, but since I was feeling desperate, I decided to order the BODYMAX video which was a favorite on the forum. When I got it I was blown away by the complexity and intensity of this woman and her crew. Cathe showed a level of fitness and creativity that I had never seen before. I vowed that I would use her videos to get me out of this hole that I had dug for myself. I setup a home gym in my basement and for weeks I did BODYMAX and eventually ordered more of her videos (converted to DVD’s eventually). I eventually had almost all of them and did a Cathe video almost daily for almost a year. I cleaned up my eating (most of the time ) and have lost a lot of fat since first starting.
I now weigh a hefty 225 but mostly all muscle. I still take medication for diabetes and high blood pressure but at dramatically reduced dosages and my levels are now normal. My goal is to eventually control everything with just diet and exercise. Also, after doing KPC for many weeks, I began TaeKwonDo training and loved it and I am currently training for and hope to receive my Black Belt in December. I pre-ordered some of the hardcore series (LOWMAX,IMAX3 and KICKMAX) and am loving the workouts but struggling with the intensity and choreography but know that if I stick with it, I will be able to do those too. I just have to remember that for me to live, QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION! Sorry to be so wordy but I just wanted to share my experience.
My father had diabetes and high blood pressure when I was younger and had smoked most of his life. He did not follow his doctors advice and eventually had kidney failure and had to have dialysis. In August 1998 my father was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away after surgery to remove a tumor. I had smoked since I was a teenager and had quit and started back many times. I tried to quit again and lose some weight after that but soon fell back into my old habits. I finally was able to quit smoking for good in April 2000 but gained a lot of weight.
During the Christmas holidays of 2001 I had been pigging out on all the goodies that are always available like there was no tomorrow. On New Years day of 2002 I was watching a football game and was running to the bathroom every hour or so but I was very thirsty and drinking a lot of water so I didn’t think much about it. Later that day I noticed that my vision was getting blurry and by nightfall I could barely distinguish the people on the TV. The next day I went to the doctor and he confirmed that I had contracted diabetes like my father. I had ballooned up to 277 lbs and also my blood pressure was extremely high. I began seeing that if I didn’t do anything, I would eventually die just like my father. I was put on several medications and started working out again and after a while began to get bored again with the Step Reebok videos. I found the video fitness board and began reading about this instructor named “CATHE” that all these people were raving about. I was a little skeptical because I had lifted only with guys in the gym and was afraid that this was gonna be a wimpy workout, but since I was feeling desperate, I decided to order the BODYMAX video which was a favorite on the forum. When I got it I was blown away by the complexity and intensity of this woman and her crew. Cathe showed a level of fitness and creativity that I had never seen before. I vowed that I would use her videos to get me out of this hole that I had dug for myself. I setup a home gym in my basement and for weeks I did BODYMAX and eventually ordered more of her videos (converted to DVD’s eventually). I eventually had almost all of them and did a Cathe video almost daily for almost a year. I cleaned up my eating (most of the time ) and have lost a lot of fat since first starting.
I now weigh a hefty 225 but mostly all muscle. I still take medication for diabetes and high blood pressure but at dramatically reduced dosages and my levels are now normal. My goal is to eventually control everything with just diet and exercise. Also, after doing KPC for many weeks, I began TaeKwonDo training and loved it and I am currently training for and hope to receive my Black Belt in December. I pre-ordered some of the hardcore series (LOWMAX,IMAX3 and KICKMAX) and am loving the workouts but struggling with the intensity and choreography but know that if I stick with it, I will be able to do those too. I just have to remember that for me to live, QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION! Sorry to be so wordy but I just wanted to share my experience.
