Today’s guest post is from Matt Wimpree, a member of the CED community sincd 2012. This is his story, in his own words, of how he changed his life. Find inspiration this man’s fight for his life.
As of today March 11, 2015, I currently weigh 217 pounds. This equates to a 263 pound weight loss in 3 years and 3 months. Just writing that this very minute is completely overwhelming, but it’s true and pretty amazing. In its simplest form, this is a story about my weight loss journey. However, after taking a few minutes to reflect on where I am, where I was, and where I am going, I have to say that my story isn’t just a story of weight loss. It is a story of patience, struggles, pains, hurts, joys, and especially love.
Beep, beep, beep, beep…,”Four hundred and eighty pounds,” said the little voice from the scale. This is what I heard on that morning in January 2012 and I will never forget the overwhelming feeling of self-loathing that followed. How in the world does a person get to 480 pounds? Slowly, very slowly.
I have an amazing family; they never judged me and always provided for me and raised me in a loving Christian home. My parents did what they thought was best in trying to get me to eat a well-balanced diet; however, I was pretty darn picky. I didn’t like fruit or vegetables, any vegetables I did eat were coated with cheese or chopped up very small in a casserole of some sorts. My Grandmother once said, “Matt grew up on meat and potatoes.” I loved to eat, food tasted so good. My Mom was a great cook, and I always wanted just a little more food every time we ate. I just loved to eat…and eat I did!
I wasn’t very active as a kid, but towards the end of my freshman year of high school, one of the coaches told me that he came in early every morning to workout, lifting weights. I had never lifted weights before. I decided to take him up on his offer. By the end of my senior year, I was pretty strong. I weighed about 200 pounds and my max bench press was 350 pounds. The fastest I ever ran a mile was 6 minutes and 30 seconds. I could squat over 300 pounds, do 20 unbroken dips holding a 50 pound dumbbell between my legs, do 40 unbroken incline push-ups on my knuckles, and straight bar curl 150 pounds. Needless to say I was pretty strong and in good shape.
After high school, I stopped lifting weights because I didn’t have that outlet anymore; however, I still ate like I was working out twice a day. Sometime between late 2003 and early 2004, I was diagnosed w/hypertension and hypothyroidism. Up to this point I was decently active and really didn’t feel like anything kept me down. In May of 2004, I reached for my cell phone plug and felt the most horrible pop in my lower back, followed by what felt like fire going from my waist down to my toes. I could not walk. I didn’t know how much I weighed, but I suspect I was about 315-330 pounds. I was diagnosed with a herniated disc in my L5-S1, along with spinal stenosis and degenerative disc disease. My doctors stated that some of this was genetic, a freak accident, and because of the pressure from the obesity on my body. My activity level was severely impacted by this accident.
Post College
After college, I moved back to San Antonio for work. Even though my parents were here, I was lonely. I turned to food for comfort. And because of my back issues, I was unable to exercise and the weight continued to go up. By January 2012, I was 480 pounds, had given up on myself, given up on any chance of having a relationship, given up on friends, given up on church…just plain had given up on life. The only things I focused on were my parents and my job. Being overweight is uncomfortable. Everyday activities like walking, putting on shoes, climbing stairs, sleeping, sitting, standing…everything is a challenge.
One day I finally made the conscious decision to start trying to find ways to lose weight. I tried several calorie counting and weight loss programs until I found an application I could use on my cell phone. I was finally able to start gradually losing weight. However, even with the little weight that was coming off, I still wasn’t happy, there was a void. The self-loathing and loneliness was still very much present and not going away any time soon.
Life is about to change.
I needed something more. I needed community. I needed a sense of belonging. God was about to deliver. Towards that end of January 2012, beginning of February 2012, I decided that I needed to try again. I visited First Baptist Church of San Antonio and have continued to be part of the community at FBC San Antonio. That’s where I met Jennifer (JD)…after a church service in January 2013, my friend, Felix, introduced us. Over the next several months we developed a friendship. Little did I know, but JD was beginning to have feelings for me. She would come over and cook dinner for me and we would hang out with friends. JD is a registered dietician and a certified diabetes educator; she understood how important and hard it was for me to lose weight. I told her all about how I had gotten to where I was and where I had come from. She didn’t run away and only drew closer to me. We started dating in July of 2013. She began taking on my weight loss goal herself and pushing me to hang in there and supporting me. She introduced me to all sorts of foods that I had never eaten before nor heard of. She was having a huge impact on my weight loss, my overall health, and my spirit. I was falling in love with this beautiful woman and I was falling hard. We married March 29, 2014.
Then I Met CrossFit.
JD is really into Crossfit and had asked me several times, even before we started dating, to come join her and workout with her at her Box. So, sometime shortly after we started dating I went with her to Bedlam Crossfit to meet her friend and owner, John Austin Emmons. He showed me around the gym and put me through my first WOD : 3 Rounds for Time…200m row, 10 20” Box Step Ups, and 100m FM with 35lb kettlebells. I remember walking out of there thinking, “To hell with this place! I’m never going back! I’ll die!”
About a month later, as I watched Jenn complete her first Crossfit competition, I began to change my mind about Crossfit. I talked with John Austin again about Crossfit and about the Crossfit Community. I join Bedlam Crossfit on September 13, 2013. I weighed 369 pounds. The most unique thing, at least for me, about Crossfit, is not the programming or exercise philosophy behind it, it is the community. I have never been part of a community, outside of my family and church that fight for you and with you as you struggle through those grueling workouts. A year later, I weighed in at 230 pounds and took first place in my first Crossfit competition, under the super scaled division. I can now climb a rope, do 24” box jumps, row 2K meters in 7 minutes and 30 seconds, do 20 burpees without breaking, 30 wall balls without breaking, double unders, toes to bar, and pull-ups. Additionally, my recent blood work tests showed all readings in the normal range, and my blood pressure medication was greatly reduced from 5 medications down to one. I’ve gone from getting out of breath walking up a flight of stairs to running my first 5K race in 31 minutes flat. I’ve gone from eating only fast food, to cooking and experiencing so many different types of foods that contribute, not take away from my health. I’ve gone from sitting at home alone in my rocking chair, crippled by my loneliness, to praying and thanking my God daily for all of my blessings and sharing my life with the most beautiful woman in the world.
So, where do we go from here? Well, only God knows, but my guessing is that the sky’s the limit right now. With God in the driver’s seat and the foundation on which I plant my feet, my greatest love and support anchored to my side (my wife), my friends and my church to lean on, my Crossfit family to continue to encourage and support me, I suspect my cup of life will only continue to overflow. There will always been hard times and struggles, but God has used this experience to strengthen me in every aspect of my life and He will always be there to protect and guide me.
So, where do we go from here? Forward, we just keep moving forward. Amen.
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