Growing up I was exposed to distance running as a freshman in high school and ran Cross-Country and Track. During high school I raced in the Bix 7 run as well as many 5k and 10k runs in the area. I was in good shape and left high school at 135 lbs. Went on to Western Illinois University and got involved with the music program, Involved with the Marching Band kept me in decent shape but I did put on the “freshman 15” as they put it. Through college I pretty much maintained the weight and graduated around 150-155.

The working world did a number on me as the stress of the engineering and construction business as well as the pace of projects added stress and overtime which distracted from a decent diet and lifestyle. I was approached in December of 2012 by Doug Dennison wondering if I was interested in getting involved with this thing called The 90 Day Challenge. I was curious but didn’t immediately decide to do anything about it. During this time I came to the realization that I was floating around 200 lbs, and my oldest son was just finishing up what was probably one of his toughest physical challenges that he had been through, Army Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training. To me that meant that once he came home he would want to wrestle and show how much better of shape he was in compared to his “Old Man” dad.

I began to evaluate my condition, considering my height, my BMI would calculate out at 30.3 by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute chart with a normal BMI being around 18.5 to 24.9, I was considered obese. Even though I didn’t feel bad, other than being winded when climbing too many stairs, I still had a positive attitude towards life. I decided though that I wanted to be in a position of being a role model for my kids and be in a position that if my oldest did want to wrestle or even just work out together I would be able to perform to a standard that I would want and not look totally foolish.

I started the 90 Day Challenge by enrolling and selecting the Shape Kit, which equates to two shakes a day and comes with a number of flavor packets from Chocolate to Strawberry to Orange just to name a few. As I started I also reviewed a number of different recipes that I could find through Facebook, the guide that you can download from Body By Vi, and Pinterest and found that the ones I enjoy the most are Café Mocha to start out my mornings with which I have gotten in a rut but I still enjoy it. Butterfinger, Banana Cream Pie, Amaretto and Banana Split are some of the favorites that I use for lunchtime. I also experiment every once in a while with different ones that I find intriguing, Oh, and I cannot forget the Shamrock Shake recipe as well. Doing shakes for a few months and when the weather began to cooperate, I started cycling in the mornings before work just to add another aspect to the lifestyle change that comes with a program like this.

As I mentioned before I started out at 199 but in the first week I actually broke into the 200’s but that didn’t last long. I have completed three full challenges now and through the first one I lost 22 lbs with about 5 inches off my waist, hips and neck. The second challenge saw me lose about 6 lbs but at this time I was also cycling so the inches kept coming off even though I wasn’t as regimented in tracking those I could feel it and others could see it through my clothes. The third Challenge I added other easy exercises like pushups, situps, plank, etc. so I could develop some strength and continued to lose about 4 lbs.

My ultimate goal for this is to reach 155 lbs. which would put me in the middle of the normal BMI weight range. The lifestyle change that has occurred due to joining Body By Vi has been amazing and I am looking forward to reaching my goal. I hope that by reading this maybe you will be inspired as I was when I first heard the stories associated with those involved with The Challenge. We have had many people within our Body By Vi family who have achieved great results through the Challenge just in the time I have been involved. I would recommend that one commit to at least one cycle of the 90 Day Challenge to see what results you could achieve.