Weight Loss

Matt Behling

Last summer I got the idea of doing P90X from my brother.  My goals were to improve my health, gain some muscle and reduce my body fat percentage.  I had the mindset when beginning the program that I would do all of the workouts, and I would strictly watch my diet according to the P90X nutrition guide.  After three months, I noticed serious improvements in my cholesterol levels and blood pressure.  I had lost some weight and had improved my body fat percentage.  I was feeling much healthier and better about myself.

Once school started up in the fall, I got caught up eating whatever I wanted and letting up on my workouts.  The workouts became less consistent and I noticed the gains I had made were slowly slipping away.  During the wrestling season I turned most of my attention toward our athletes and much less attention on my health.  At the end of the season this spring, Matt Boland came to me and asked me if I would be on a team with him for the Culver Fitness Center weight loss competition.  Right away I agreed to the challenge.  I am always up for a challenge and I felt this would be a great way for me to get motivated to get back into shape. 

I came to the realization that in order to lose the weight I would have to solely focus on my diet and commit to working out daily.  The first thing I did was to modify my breakfast.  I passed up the donuts and went with a grapefruit, two hard-boiled eggs and some oatmeal each day. Then I began eating from the salad bar for lunch.  In between meals I would eat non-salted almonds and other sources of protein.  In the evening I let my wife prepare our meals.  My wife Jill has always been a very health conscious person and has truly helped me develop good eating habits.   I dropped nearly 10 pounds right away for our first weigh in during the competition.  After the initial 10 pounds, I felt like I hit a plateau.  My food choices were good, but they weren’t perfect.  If I felt I had worked out hard enough, I would eat a calzone or treat myself to numerous pieces of pizza.  While in Dr. John Yeager’s class Thinking Smart, Living Well, I learned that this mindset represented moral licensing which was counter-productive to my ultimate goal.  We discussed the struggles of the mind in regards to short term gratification versus long term gratification.  At this point I made the decision to fight the short term urges and use food to fuel my body.  I was not going to give into the short term dopamine fix the brain responds to when we crave sweets and such.  I stayed focused on my long term goals and simply made the decision to resist the cravings. 

By mixing cardio workouts with circuit training and adding bits and pieces of the P90X program I was able to drop another 16 pounds.  In total I lost 26 pounds.  I have much better eating habits.  I feel stronger, leaner and healthier than I have in a long time.  There are so many benefits to committing to a healthy lifestyle.  All you have to do is make the choice and commit to it.