July 20, 2021

I’m a blessed guy born and raised in Huntsville AL. Life is full, busy, good and loud! My wife and I have eight children, ranging from eleven years old down to little bitty. A blend of biological, foster and adopted kids. My beautiful bride and I have been married for nearly fourteen years.

We love to be outside. Love the outdoors. Fishing, hunting, hiking, kayaking, playing ball, etc. Life is just plain better outside. To me there is nothing better than hanging out on the back patio, grilling something for the family while we’re all hanging out and watching the kids play in the yard on a nice evening.

I work in Purchasing for Brindlee Mountain Fire Apparatus – the best company and work family on the face of planet Earth! I love that I get to serve fire departments and the fire industry.

I have struggled with my health and my weight my entire life. I’ve never been able to consistently put the pieces together. Even during my time in the Marine Corps I struggled with balancing a healthy and sustainable approach to nutrition and exercise. I essentially went in cycles of intense exercise and starving myself, then binging, for years.

It is hard to feel good overall when physically you feel awful. Being so unhealthy was taking a toll on everything – my mood, my work, how I treated my family, etc. I did not like how I felt and felt trapped going through the same unhealthy cycles over and over.

I tried a few different weight loss supplements and random tips. I tried hours and hours of intense work in the gym. Heavy lifting, high intensity cardio, everything. I tried not eating (I don’t recommend that approach). Crashing and burning would lead to eating way, way too much, and I would gain back everything I had lost. I felt miserable. I was just spinning my wheels trying to do the same (failing) things over and over.

With Copper State FIT, my coach (Adam) taught me how to put the pieces together. It isn’t just about logging x number of hours in the gym or hitting misc. calorie/ macro goals; it is the sum parts of healthy living… rest, water, nutrition, exercise, and (most importantly, for me) a healthy understanding and relationship with food.

It wasn’t pounds dropping off that made me a believer in CSF and their process. It was noticing that how I viewed food was and still is changing. Food is necessary, and it is even okay to eat and drink and be merry. There is nothing wrong with enjoying birthday cake or pizza or a beer or two! It is crucial to keep a healthy big picture perspective and enjoy things in moderation. For me, food was a crutch (my “drug of choice”). Seeing pounds fall away has been fun, but learning how to gain a healthy approach to food and nutrition mindset has been the most encouraging part for me.

Now, after 6 months with Copper State FIT, I have a healthy and SUSTAINABLE outlook for my future health. I feel like I can maintain these practices. That is what is so refreshing and encouraging for me. My outlook was bleak before because I knew that I could not sustain what I was doing, and the subsequent crashing left me even worse off than before. That was demoralizing. My entire mindset has shifted 180 degrees!

Today, life just plain feels better; everything feels better! Activities with the kids are so much more fun. Going up and down the stairs and chasing little ones all day doesn’t cause pain. I can (almost) hang with my speedy eleven year old on the soccer field. I can knock out more pullups than I’ve ever been able to do (including during my Marine Corps days). I’m down nearly sixty pounds – lighter now than I have been in a decade!

Of all the things I have accomplished this is my favorite one – My three year old daughter was sitting on my lap at the pool the other day. She looked down at my belly then (stretching her hand way out in front of me), said “Daddy, your tummy used to be allll the way out to here….Now it is GONE!” That made me chuckle.

If I had not decided to work with Copper State FIT, I know I would be repeating the same failed process as described above.

If you’re thinking about hiring CSF, Just do it! I promise you will not regret it. Listen to these folks because they know what they’re talking about. Take it one day at a time. Heck, take it 1/4 of a day at a time. It is a marathon, not a sprint. Give yourself grace. It’s about progress, not perfection.

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