Wholistic Fitness

Post edited 12:04 pm – April 11, 2013 by Aaron Grogan

     Greetings from beautiful and quite yellow NC! Spring has sprung, and with it, pollen now dominates the landscape. My name is Aaron Grogan, and you may have seen the photo of me and my annual "pool party" floating around Coach's teachings lately. I came across Coach in 2005 and followed Total Body Transformation for a few months and did fairly well with it. I do not know why I stopped using the book, as it was too long ago for me to remember. I slowly got further out of shape and gained weight over the next several years, especially after losing my job in March of 2012 and getting Plantar Fasciitis in my right foot.

     On January 23,2013 (My Birthday) I woke up in a 38 year old body that was 300 pounds and could not gracefully climb a set of stairs. I wore a 4X size shirt, and size 46 pants, though my waist was really closer to 57 inches or so. I had no health insurance or a job and could not go to the doctor. I knew that I was fighting a prediabetic condition, but had no idea where I was with that. My relationship was struggling, I hadn't played my guitar seriously in years (a huge deal to me), and had severed ties with my family (background of physical, mental, sexual abuse from dysfunctional and alcoholic parents and sister). Poor me, right? WRONG!!! I feel that I have not taken advantage of the gifts given to me in life, and that's on me. I live in a great new house, have a girlfriend who loves me and wants it to work, a big smile, and – to quote one of my favorite songs – "nothing up my sleeve, except this heart and a chip on my shoulder".

     Not to mention the fact that it was my birthday! So, I was unpacking at the new place and found my old copy of TBT and as I flipped through the pages, I felt that little voice telling me to give it one more go. I got up, walked to the computer and decided that I was going to be giving out presents for my birthday. I went to my Facebook account and proceeded to contact all of my friends, to tell them what they meant to me, and how great I thought they were. When I got to Coach, I sent him the email that he posted in the teachings. That next week, I started Green Tara from the program in TBT.

     Ive since completed the program twice for a total of 10 weeks under Coach's guidance. Ive lost one pants size, one shirt size, twelve pounds, and one BMI point. I got a job, and started working on my savings and retirement from scratch, (as it was depleted while unemployed) and I have been working hard on my relationship and it has improved. Im playing my guitar, have a better family life, and feel a lot better than I have in a long time. I did get the news that I am now a full blown Type II diabetic this week, and have little to no Testosterone production. Challenges both, but as my good friends with G.I. Joe would say – knowing is half the battle!!! I embrace this change with an empty heart and wry smile of defiance. Oh yeah, diabetes??? Intervals on Friday, baby!!!

     I finally found the money to join this site as a member, a goal I set with Coach in the beginning. I am a man of very simple means, and though I may never be able to attend a retreat, take an HP yoga class in person, or have online instruction from Coach, I'll be here as a member for the long haul. Thank you all for reading my updates and for thinking of me when you have a minute. I have felt the love and the encouragement – something sorely missing in my life for a very long time.

     Who knows…one day, one of you might be getting ready to start a race somewhere and see a faintly familiar smile next to you on the starting line :-)

Grogan