Meet Dave, A Be Fit SURVIVOR

Hi, my name is Dave, and I’ve been a Be Fit survivor for 6+ months now. Let me tell you a little about myself.

I’ve been working at MGH for almost 4 years. I’ve been a member of CCRP for the entire time. I believe I used the gym for about 4 months last year then gave up, because I wasn't seeing the results I wanted to see in the time frame I wanted to see them.

In March of '06 I joined a Be Fit team and that was the beginning of a wonderful transformation in more ways than one. Through Be Fit, I learned that diet is, of course, just as important as exercise. When I started Be Fit, I weighed 291 lbs and was 34% fat with a 51 inch waist and 53" hips. During the 10-week program I utilized my trainer once a week, faithfully, which was a tremendous help, as it gave me at least 8 different routines to do to keep me from getting bored.

Also during this program I made my first attempt at quitting smoking, which lasted approximately 4 weeks, not too bad considering I was changing my eating and exercise habits at the same time.

At the end of 10 weeks I had lost about 25 lbs, and approx. 6" off my waist and 7" from my hips. I felt that I had a "pool worthy" body and went to the pool at CCRP for my first time this past summer.

After the pool closed, I fell off the wagon for a little bit of time and started back to the gym in October and have been going strong ever since - whether at CCRP, at my partner's gym, or at the outdoor workout station on Memorial Drive in Cambridge by Magazine beach - a wonderful place to get a good outdoor workout on a nice day when I just don't want to be indoors.

I no longer weigh myself; I go by how my clothes feel on my body. I don't weigh myself due to the fact that muscle weighs more than fat - fact not myth - thank goodness for that one, and the scale never really moved. I workout at least 6 times a week doing 40-minutes of cardio and alternating between an upper and lower body strength training regimen. So I have lost a lot of fat and gained a lot of muscle.

I just got back from a long weekend in P-Town, celebrating my partner's 40th b'day, and I got up at 6 AM everyday there and went for a jog and then to the gym they have down there for $5 a day. I tried very hard to eat right, and when it wasn't possible I cut the portions down quite a bit, so as to not take in many calories, a new word in my vocabulary. I also ate a huge salad before every meal to limit my bad caloric intake. When I went out to "party" I would limit myself to 2 drinks, as booze is very high in calories :-(

By the way, I quit smoking on October 7, 2006 and to date have not had even one cigarette, and that was my final step toward getting fit. Since quitting smoking I feel so much more energized, and feel I could run more than the 50 yards I used to be able to, which is good. My next step is to train for the Boston Marathon in 2008, that is my goal and my challenge to myself.

The whole idea behind getting fit is to remember to show up FOR YOURSELF!!!! We show up to work everyday for our boss and colleagues, home for our families and where ever else for whom ever else, don't forget to show up FOR YOURSELF, the most important person in your life.

Good luck to all Be Fitters, past, present and future. If you ever need a workout partner I'm at the gym at about 12 or 12:30 most days.