RUN YOUR HEALTH my running grp was doing a daily ” tell me your WHY ” for this month… today was my turn. Thought I would share it with you over your morning cuppa….
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Nitin’s Why
I am often asked by my patients as to what changed in me to seek out exercising and eating better. What was my motivation?
“Well” I often start… the journey goes back to when I was 40 years old. which feels like a lifetime ago, but it wasnt. I was overweight, high cholesterol and I could finish half a dozen donuts before you would leave the room. When I would shop at the Big Y I would get my 5 favorite food groups.. soda, Ahoy choc chip cookies, cheese puffs, choc fudge muffins, and lots of icecream. thats it. This would drive the wife bonkers as I would seemingly forget the grocery list but only buy these items. That is all I could “see” as I perused the aisles. I would order desserts and junk food before the meal at restaurants. One day something clicked inside of me. I was tired of feeling exhausted, negative, irritable, and overweight. I had reached my rock bottom. I was fed up. I couldn’t climb a flight of stairs without stopping for air.
I made a conscious decision to change. I was inspired by a friend Tonya Squire who was doing crossfit as I saw her doing challenging workouts. I thought to myself, I want to do that one day. SO i went onto keto diet and went from a 35 inch waist to a 26 inch in 6 weeks. Chicken and veggies only. I Then had the energy to get off the couch and walked into the crossfit gym and joined 15 minutes before closing time on a dark and very stormy friday night with 9 inches of snow on the ground.. If the weather couldnt stop me nothing could.
And so I struggled and pushed and got fitness as a priority into my life. I wanted to learn more about crossfit and so persevered to take courses and eventually got my certifications as level 1, level 2 and kids coaching and then certifications in weight lifting, running and aerobic capacity. But back in 2016 I met a young man Brian J Palazzi about my age at the crossfit gym. I could barely run at the time and so I pushed myself to run short distances round the block.. 100m, 200m.. 400 m then one day 1 mile !!
He encouraged me each time we met and suggested I join RYH ( run your health) and so I met other like minded people exploring their health limitations and breaking them. He and I ran a 10k and then he tells me “lets do a half marathon, it sounds like a horrible idea but I am doing it, join me. “ I thought one day but then I did. That was my first half marathon in 2017. I kept watching him succeed over the years doing ever greater races and our friendship strained as he was actually training and I was just thinking about training while on the couch. Then one jan 1 race I met a fellow athlete Larry Santos and I said to him ” oh I love all these races you do, ironman, and marathons, I cant do anything like that but one day I would like to”
Years went by and then in 2021 in saw a post that he put up “ the journey to 140.6 begins with the decision to TRI”. I replied back in the comments section…. ONEDAY. He replied back “ is that a yes?” I thought deep and hard. I dont know how to swim, bike or run. This will be a huge time commitments. Yet I will learn a lot about myself as I push past my limits spiritually, emotionally, mentally and certainly physically. And I would like to learn how to do a triathlon. It will accelerate my health focus, make me eat cleaner and do more strength training. This was like a lifetime’s worth of conversation that occurred in a split second in my mind, and I said YES.
Since that day, my own journey and my own why to get healthier has inspired tonnes of patients and friends to join in and chase their own health, not with medications but with self empowerment through nutrition and exercise. They took control of their lives like I did.
So in short my WHY is to push me to grow.
My WHY is to help evolve and inspire others, if none other than just my kids to stay healthy.
MY WHY is to see what I can do when everyone says that I cant. My WHY is the version of me that chooses to say yes when all my fears scream to say no. MY WHY is to do something for me.
My WHY is to allow me to be in the company of friends that I would otherwise never have a chance to spend time with.
MY WHY is the magic that propels me each day when I see things are hard.
MY WHY is break any and all limiting beliefs in this lifetime. Sometimes my WHY is not one day but TODAY.
My WHY is prove that in time and space ANYTHING is POSSIBLE.
The motivation you seek is the inspiration within
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I love you
