Growing up I was always athletic, but I ate like a horse.  Although I was always big, I carried my weight well and earned a college football scholarship to play offensive line at Saint Mary's College from 1992-1995.  At 6'0, 250 pounds, during the four years that I started on the offensive line I was always by far the smallest and most athletic lineman on the team.  I was in incredible shape with a body fat level that was as low as the running backs on the team.  I was convinced that once I was done playing football that I would have no problem maintaining or even losing my weight.

Unfortunately, reality had other plans.  Somewhere between the age of 22-25 a benign tumor grew on my pituitary gland.  It reeked havoc on my endocrine system and basically shut down most of the testosterone in my body.  At the same time I developed into a workaholic and was leading a very sedentary lifestyle.  I quickly lost energy and put on weight.  I assumed that my energy loss was associated with my weight (which it certainly partially was).  For 10 years I worked 60-hour weeks, teaching high school and coaching football.  It wasn't until my wife and I try to conceive that I became aware of my hormonal imbalance.  Due to a testosterone level that was lower than that of a pregnant woman, my body ceased to produce sperm.

After about six months of taking pills to shrink my benign pituitary tumor, testosterone began to flood back into my body.  I noticed a slight up tick in my energy level and most importantly my wife and I were able to conceive our twin girls.  However, at that point I was 330 pounds and my body was already strongly attached to its weight.  I realized that the only way that I could possibly get in shape again was if I made a massive change in my lifestyle.  So, in the winter of 2007 I stepped down from being a head football coach and cut my 60-hour workweek into a 40-hour workweek.

Next came the hard part.  I had tried all the fad diets--the Atkins plan, Nutrisystem, etc...However, I hadn't had a shred of luck.  So rather than try a generic plan, I decided to design a plan that worked specifically for me.  To do this I spent one afternoon locked in a room by myself writing down all of my pitfalls when it came to eating and exercise and designing a method to overcome them.  I finally was able to focus on one key ingredient--pain.  In order to lose weight I knew that I had to inflict pain upon myself in the form of exercise, and that only through weightloss would my pain be negated.  Specifically, I decided that I would bike to work to lose weight.

Now this may not seem like a big deal for some, but for me this was huge.  I live 20 miles away from my work and to get there I have to cycle up a 2.4 mile hill that has an elevation change of 1200 feet.  The first time that I tried to bike to work it took me 3.5 hours and I had to stop 12 times.  At one point I lay down on the side of the road and stared up at the clouds, breathing so heavily I could hardly hear myself think.  I was convinced that I might die right where I lay.  Fortunately I didn't and what I realized that day was that the only way that I would be able to make it to work without feeling like I was going to die was if I started losing weight.

From that moment forward everything that I ate was consumed with the understanding that it was going to make my ride to work that much more difficult.  Suddenly chocolate cake didn't look so good.  Doughnuts looked even worse.  Six months later I had dropped 100 pounds.  The ride to work that first took me 3.5 hours?  I could do it in less than 65 minutes and I actually found myself looking forward to it.

From there I decided to challenge myself even further and I began to compete in triathlons.  I started with short distances and worked my way up.  Although I had lost 100 pounds, when I competed in triathlons I was still 230 pounds.  This may sound like a lot of weight for some, but the reality is that I am big boned and naturally muscular.  At 230 pounds the BMI charts say that I am obese, however, bodyfat tests, which chart me at about 11% say otherwise.

Last year I swept all of the triathlons for my division--called Clydesdales--for men that weigh over 198 pounds.  My best finish was a 4th place overall in a short distance triathlon.  (205 people competed in the triathlon).  In August of 2009 I completed my first ever Ironman triathlon and I am currently spending this year training on finishing a half-Ironman in under 5 hours.

The best part of all of this is that I use up huge amounts of energy with my triathlon training.  On an intense day of training I burn approximately 5000 calories.  Ultimately this means that on those days, I get to eat as much, if not more, than I did when I was 330 pounds.

So when it comes to weightloss I guess that there is more than one way to skin a cat.