Well, here we are and it’s the end
of the 5 month journey that I have been blogging about. Having said that, I
guess it’s time to let the cat out of the bag as to what this whole 5 month
journey was all about and what it was for. When I started it, I was attempting
to go from 177 lbs down to 160 lbs. Why try and lose 17 lbs in 5 months?
Because that would have been exactly 150 lbs lost since the date of my surgery,
and would have been a total of 200 lbs lost since I started even thinking about
having my surgery.I wanted to see if I could in fact accomplish that.
So how did I do? Well, to be
honest, I gained 7 lbs throughout the whole 5 months. I tried cardio, strict diet, meal plans, etc etc. No matter what I tried, my body just didn't want to let go of the unwanted 17 lbs. I finally stopped being so hard nosed about losing the weight, and changed my mindset to trying to tone up. However, I truly think
that the added extra weight is muscle as I have been training for my next adventure, and I’ve been
training hard, and I haven’t been doing any cardio either.
This expirience has been amazing. I've learned quite a bit, done a lot of reading, and asking questions of people, and seeing what I'm truly capable of doing. I will definately be using a lot of what I've learned as a foundation for myself for years to come. I only hope that I will be able to pass on my knowledge to others when the time comes up for it.
However, during these past 5
months, I have gained not only in the gym, but as a person too. I have had the
honor and pleasure of getting to know some very wonderful people, and get
re-acquainted with old friends from my youth.
I’ve been blessed by a few people who have made wonderful transitions in their life and have chosen to live a healthier lifestyle. To say that I am proud
of them for their successes would be such an understatement. They have pushed themselves harder than they
imagined they could, or ever dreamed of, and they are seeing the benefits from
doing so. The mere fact and notion that they have chosen to share their
successes and trials with me is very humbling and appreciated.
These people are just some of the few
reasons that I decided to create the Lazarus page on Facebook. Some of you are
familiar with why I made the page, and what it’s for. If you are unsure, you
can either contact me or go look at it for yourself. Also, I am working on building a website for the whole Lazarus project as well. When that is all accomplished, I will be making it known.
About mid December this past year,
as I was working out in the gym, I came up with some major goals and plans for this year.
One of them is to be able to help others more, and try to inspire them and
motivate them to better their own lives to live a healthier lifestyle. If THEY
so want it. As an obese and out of shape individual for most of my life, I
know how I felt when people would automatically offer suggestions when it was
unsolicited on how I could be skinnier. Understanding what that feeling and emotion is like, I decided
right then and there, that I would make a conscious effort to not do that to
others. However, if people ask me questions, I will do everything I can to
answer them honestly and truthfully, and if I didn’t know, I would make every
effort to find out.
Another goal/plan that I came up for
this year is to get bigger. Not only in muscle, but in helping spread the word
of companies that have helped me be so successful during my journey. Whether it
was right before/ right after my surgery up to current day or whether I started to use / believe in a particular product just a few short days
ago. The companies that have truly helped me out to get where not only I am
now, but where I want to be by the end of this year are Nutrex Research,
FatGripz, and Savage Sports Performance.
My whole reasoning why I did what I did,
have done what I have done, and do what I continue to do and try to do on a
daily basis is to show people that there is hope. That there is a way to better your life
health wise and prove to them that anything and everything is possible. You
just have to put the work in and go get it. These companies have just helped
push me further than I ever thought possible.
Nutrex Research will always be
given notice from me for a lot of my success in my weight loss. I’ve said this
time and time again, YES I did have Gastric Bypass Surgery. YES I still would
have lost weight regardless. HOWEVER, I know in my heart that not only do the
Nutrex products help push me further in my weight loss, escalated it
really, but they have also helped me supplement my daily protein needs that I
could not have otherwise consumed due largely in part because of my surgery. Mr. David Waggoner is the pilot of Nutrex’s
Facebook fan page. He is an amazing
representative of and for Nutrex. In my opinion, and from what I’ve seen, his
job is very taxing, and extremely time consuming. Not only is he
communicating with the fans of Nutrex, and answering their questions about the
products, but he is also doing give-aways EVERY DAY, except for on Sunday's. To whit, that is ok, because even God himself rested on Sunday. On top of all of that, he
also is doing his normal workload for his job in the office that he has to deal with, plus
replying to emails, plus getting the free products out to the fans that have
won, plus getting his gym time in, quietly motivating others with motivational
images or sayings, and on and on. I often wonder how he ever has time to eat,
let alone take care of any other business. I know for a fact that because of the Nutrex products that I use, they will be instrumental in fueling the inner fire to accomplish my 2 major plans for this year. Just as they have been for over the past 3 years now. So to you Mr. Nutrex guy, I say thank you for starting where I am at now in my knowledge of Nutrex products all because of a Hemo Rage UC Orange Creamation give-away.
FatGripz is a product that is unparalleled in design, effectiveness, and feasibility. Franco and Matt not only
work on promoting their product, but they do give aways as well. One thing that I have
especially noticed is that they don’t try and sell the product. They let other
customers who daily; DAILY, post comments about their appreciation of the
product and its effectiveness, speak for the product. To me, they are using the “
hey, don’t take our word for it, see what others have to say about it “ thought. The product truly does speak for itself. I will admit, I was skeptical at first when I got mine back at the end of
December. Then I used them. All Skepticism was gone, and I was overtaken with
belief and pain. Yes, I hurt for the first few days after using these, but that
is what happens when you use muscles you didn’t even realize you had. So to
Franco and Matt, thank you as well for replying to my emails, my thoughts, my
comments, and allowing me to post a video review of the product.
Now we have Savage Sports
Performance. Now, I am still newly associated with these wonderful people. They
offer a wide variety of services of training ranging from new to the gym all the way to
training specialized towards Strongman competitions. They are both
motivationally driven and mentally tough people. However, they are extremely kind
hearted. They revel in the success of others. I am so thankful to my
good friend Chris Pluhacek for mentioning them and suggesting this business to
his Iron Spartan nation. It is my prayer that others will realize and UTILIZE
this business.
There have been so many people that
have been the backbone of the support that has been given towards me throughout
this entire journey. Not only these past 5 months, but these past 2 years as well. I honestly think I could do a whole blog just dedicated to
nothing but naming all of those that have been so instrumental as a voice of
support and strength that have helped push me. My wife is and has to be first
and foremost. She has to deal with my everyday moans and groans, my dietary
gripes, and other complaints that I have. But she has also been there in my
successes and my happy moments. Next
would have to be an individual I'd consider a dear friend, mentor, and whom I’d call my trainer. Chris
Pluhacek. He’s been there to offer advice, suggestions, critiques and words of
encouragement, and he pushes me that extra bit because he knows it’s what I
need, and that I can do it. Thank you Chris. Forever I am in your debt. I also want to give an added extra thank you to David Waggoner for his support and strength as a friend on a personal level, not just a professional level. Next
would have to be a few friends from our high school days. Cimmaron, Jennifer,
Selena, Kelly, Christina, Tony, and Gaby. These friends have been there, supporting me with words of encouragment day in and day out. How could I ever think to not thank them? Now, I would be ungrateful
if I didn’t take a moment to mention Phil Sandeen, Denise Cechini, and Brian
Hendricks. These 3 people are just absolutely amazing. They are diamonds in the rough. Precious metals unfounded in the humdrum of the daily grind. Thank you for being there.
I know I have thanked these people
a million times over, and I’ll continue to thank each of these people a million
times more. Without these individuals, and many others, I would never have
achieved the success that I have gained thus far, and continue to gain.
So, what’s in store now that this 5
month journey is over? Well, I have 2 major plans for this year. One of them I will tell you about, the other, well I'm just not ready to let the cat out of the bag on that one yet. So, the first one is I have a goal to accomplish a 300/300/300 this year. A 300 lb bench press, a 300 lb deadlift, and a 300 lb squat. The second plan is more so a journey than a plan. It's a goal. It's a journey with a new path
that I have yet to pave, but many others have paved before me. The training is going to be intense. The
training is not going to be easy, but the rewards will be monumental; at least
to me they will be.
As I stated earlier in this blog, I
came up with an idea this past December that I wanted to go bigger. In so
doing, and in order to accomplish that, I know that I must surround myself
around those that have the same kind of goals in life that I have, and that I
need to learn from them, and then get to work. I feel that I am on the correct
path thus far in doing so.
In closing, I want to leave each
and everyone of you with the idea to do the same for yourself. Surround
yourself around people who help you to want to better yourself. If you have
people who promote negativity or drama, either control their influence in your
life, or just simply remove them from your life. Don’t let people hold you back from bettering
your life. We each deserve better than that.
I love each and everyone of you,
and each of you have and play an influential part in my life, whether you know
it or not.
