But first, a little about myself. My name is Doug Collins. I live in Dayton, OH with my wife, Amanda and my stepson, Reese. I work at a bank during the week as a teller. It's a good job, but it provides me with a steady paycheck and insurance. It's not my passion. My other job is as a professional nightclub DJ. You can find me every Saturday night at Atmosphere Nightclub in Centerville, OH. I've been DJ'ing in one way or another since I was around 15. Music is my passion. Nothing invokes raw emotion quite like music, in my opinion. It's not just a beat, it's a feeling, a way of life. Which is why throughout this blog, I'm going to provide you with music downloads that you can put on your MP3 players and listen to while you're working out!!
So, on the point of why I'm here and why you're reading this. I used to be big. Really big. I'm 6'5" and have a large frame. But I had plenty of fat to go along with it. This is me in 2005 at 310 pounds (about 10 pounds lighter than my heaviest):
I was heavy, unhappy, and definitely unhealthy as you can see. Then, on New Year's Day, 2005, I got my wake-up call. My grandfather, one of the people I most valued in my life passed away unexpectedly. They didn't perform an autopsy, but it was most likely due to a heart attack. He had a bad heart since I was a little boy, and I can recall visiting him in the hospital after a few scares and a couple pacemaker operations. He was 87 when he passed away, which is obviously a long life. However, seeing that happen made me realize where I was heading. As big as I was, I would never make it to 87, let alone 57.
So shortly after he passed away, my journey of losing weight began. As any of you have dieted before know, losing weight is HARD!! Temptation is everywhere, counting calories is difficult when you have a full plate (work, school, social life..), and quite frankly your body is fighting you every step of the way. I was eating an easy 6,000 calories a day looking back, and 80% of it was empty calories. I was filling my body with fast food, donuts, and literally gallons of soda every week.
I explored my diet options. There's Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig (yes, it's for men too), NutraSystem, even just the regular 2,000 calorie a day diet. However, I wound up doing the Atkins Diet. After all, what is easier than eating all the fatty meats and cheeses and proteins you can, right?! I'll tell you right now what's hard about it. No more caffeine. No more sugar. No more late night fast food runs. Basically, I turned my diet upside down. I opened up my fridge, threw EVERYTHING out, and refilled it with all the basics of low carb dieting.
This blog is not a pro-Atkins blog, however, so I'll skip the complicated details of how it all works. Basically, you cut out all bad carbs from your diet, up your protein intake a huge amount, and watch the weight fall off. And I'll tell you right now. It worked. This is me in August of 2005 after about 8 months of low carb dieting:
I make it to 250 pounds in less than a year. And I felt AMAZING!! I was smaller than I was in high school, had my confidence back, and felt ready to take on the world. Which, coincidentally, is when I met my future wife. This is my Amanda and I:
Anyway, as the story goes with many diets, people inevitably can't do them forever. I hit 250 pounds, but I was ultra-strict with my diet in every single way. I can honestly say I didn't cheat a single time in 8 months. And it was hard!! After I got to where I wanted, I basically relaxed on my discipline and gained 25 or so pounds back over the next few years. I have never gotten close to reaching the 320 pound mark again, but I have been as high as 285. As I write this, I weigh 276 pounds. I'm not completely unhappy as I know at least some of the weight I gained back was in muscle.
You see, I never worked out a single time when I was dieting. It is the one thing I regret the most. I played a lot of sports when I was younger, but have been very inactive in my adult years. Sure, I stand up a lot at both jobs I have and got on the treadmill every once in a while. But I had never had a strict fitness regimen. I finally broke down and joined Fitworks in July, 2007. Even then, I didn't go to the gym nearly enough until summer of 2008 right before Amanda and I got married. I was 285 on my wedding day, and I regret that. I wanted to look good for our wedding pictures, but I didn't feel nearly as good about myself as I wanted to.
I've found that once you start a gym routine, however, it's very easy to get into. So easy in fact, I go to the gym at least 4 times a week now for going on a year now. I wouldn't call it an addiction, but it's close! There really is nothing quite like seeing and feeling gains, and being able to put that extra weight on a barbell or a machine. I'm going to be posting my workout routines at least once a week for you to read, so definitely check those out.
I know this is a long introduction, so I'm going to wrap it up. Basically, this is me as I look today:
I'm 276 pounds, and most definitely a work in progress. I have more muscle than I've had in my entire life, and also about 30-40 pounds of fat on top of it that I'm working on getting off my frame. So I'm in the difficult position of building muscle and losing fat, which kind of go hand in hand, but has also made things more difficult. I'm only now starting to get my nutrition and my fitness routines fine tuned, and I plan on sharing these with all of you.
If you've read all this, I appreciate it. I promise none of the posts to come will be nearly this long. But I hope all of them are informative to you and provide you with some ideas for yourself and maybe a bit of inspiration. We all need inspiration to achieve our goals. I've had mine, and I want to be able to give you a bit of yours. Tomorrow, I'm going to run you through a bit about my diet, my workout routine, and post a couple songs for you to enjoy. I hope everyone has had a good long weekend, and I hope you continue to follow me on my never-ending to good health!!
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