The Importance of Health

I fell in love with programming at a fairly early age. Taking a class in Pascal back in high-school, I was opened to this world of making things digitally. I had a passion for it and I soon pursued it as a career. I spent the next 15 years or so strapped to my desk and honing my craft. Spending countless nights just trying to understand and solve the next problem.

What I failed to realize was that while I was being inactive and eating a very poor diet, I was also negatively affecting my mental abilities. I commonly found myself needing to take power naps through the day. Any bit of stress at work would spike my anxiety, making it hard to focus. Whenever I had brain fog I would use stimulates like sugar and caffeine to boost me out of it temporarily.

All of this added up to where I found my low point. Christmas eve of 2018, at 370 pounds, I found myself in the ER with pneumonia. Being this big I commonly got sick, and just thought this was how it was. But after this experience, seeing these medical professionals truly concerned about the current state I was in, I knew I had to make a change.

So I got my act together and I joined a gym. I found people that had common goals and would keep me accountable. It worked. Present day I have lost 120 pounds and have kept it off. I can do pushups, pull-ups, and run miles. My wife and daughter followed in my steps shortly after, and as a family of three, we have lost a combined 400 pounds!

I don't get sick anymore, and every part of my day is just so much more fluid. My mental focus has never been sharper. Stressful situations don't shake me like they used to and I find that I can speak with confidence among my peers.

I exercise 5 to 6 times a week doing a mixture of HIIT, strength training, and cardio. My diet is very regimented, based on macro counting with a priority to protein. Doing this consistently has helped me in a couple different ways.

First is the obvious chemical impact this has. Because I train my body and give it what it needs, things like dopamine, serotonin, and cortisol are regulated much better. This leads to less up and downs. No more need for power naps. I find myself calm in stressful situations.

And second, doing hard things at the gym has given me the confidence that I can do hard things elsewhere. Struggling to find that bug that randomly causes the production CD to drop? Try doing 300 Burpees in a row! In fact, while you are doing those 300 Burpees, you just might figure out the production CD bug! I've been known to stop mid workout at the gym, just to write something on the corner of the workout board to help visualize the issue I'm battling in my head at that moment.

Changing my health like this has been one of the best decisions I have ever made for my family and my career. I highly recommend!