6 Month Transformation Pt 1

Month 1 (August 2021)

Time will pass, we can’t do anything to stop that, how well we use it is up to us. When we are goal oriented and disciplined, we can really benefit from strategies to reach our goals, thus making life more meaningful and satisfactory. My name is Juan, and this is my fitness journey from day 1.

(Photo taken Aug 8, 2021 at South Padre Island. I wasn't kidding when I said life was better at the beach. 😂)

Growing up in a Hispanic household, I can say that nutrition and fitness weren’t a priority. As my great grandma used to say: “pansa llena, corazon contento”, which literally translates to “full belly, happy heart.” Now, who doesn’t love food? In its expansive variety, with all its colors and flavors. However, when it comes to nutrition, certain foods and ingredients land on the not so healthy side of the spectrum. Tortillas, tamales, guizados (stews), manteca (lard), you name it! (Ok Dora lol) So as expected, with the continuous intake of certain foods, getting fat was bound to happen. It was a normal thing in our family for weight gain to take effect during the puberty phase of our life. Then hopefully bloom before graduating high school. But how? This wasn’t easy and not knowing absolutely anything about nutrition or fitness made it harder.

I don’t blame my family for not knowing how to incorporate this into our lives because I appreciate the tradition they were following and I knew that my parents were simply providing for us. Being a first-generation college graduate in my family really opened my eyes to the importance of exercise and nutrition. Being studious made me realize of all the information out there regarding this topic and how easy it is to attain it. This was the biggest tool I had to change my life for the better and it was so worth it.

Now, when I was little, I was anemic, I was scrawny and was never hungry. One time in Matamaros I recall nearly fainting from the heat at a city park. My blood sugar was way low and it took an ice cream popsicle to help me feel better. I also got frequent nose bleeds for sometime.

Here are some photos:

(Age 3-6 Photos taken both in Matamoros and Brownsville between 1994-1996)

Due to this nutritional deficiency, my pediatrician recommended taking vitamins and iron to fill the gap not obtained from food itself. As a little kid, I loved vegetables, yet the serving my stomach could handle was not enough. Hence the need for supplements. I remember those Flintstones chewable flavored pills, they were good. This however, created hunger in me that I had never experienced before. From grades 2nd to 8th, my eating increased gradually. I consumed less fruits and vegetables as the years went by, creating bad eating habits. Such as eating junk food, drinking soda, eating late, and of course: the summer vacation food intake was the worst.

Here's a picture of myself in 3rd grade:

(Picture from 1999 at Yturria Elementary. No fashion, I know.)

Even in these later years in elementary, my anemia was still present. I remember our P.E. class was right before lunch and I fainted multiple times out in the heat. I would tell my coach I was feeling like I was going to faint and seeing chubby me, they thought I was evading physical exertion. I wasn't kidding though and I would wake up in the floor, at the nurse's office as they tried to cool my body temperature so I would recover. Soon enough my coach realized this wasn't a lie and would tell me to go drink water. I would do so, but on certain occasions I had to wait in line. I remember this one time that makes me laugh because as I was in line, I would ask my classmates to let me through so I could drink water because I was going to faint and they just thought I was cutting in line. So, yup, I woke up in the nurse's office floor, yet again. Fortunately as the years passed, although I was not in good physical shape, these instances of fainting ceased. Middle school passed by, then high school and health was still not a priority. Finally when I was 15 I realized that I was overweight and it wasn't until age 16 that I took decisive action.

Usually there is a trigger to this change of mentality, it's an awareness to your physical condition and well, it not always starts in a good way. Mine started with bullying and comments that would fire my determination to lose weight then later a rejection in love would push me to stick to this new journey.

Stay tuned in September for a physical update and continuation to this story.