mike the mountain

January 1st of this year I was 218 pounds, heaviest I’ve ever been. 28.7% body fat; cheap bathroom scale measurement, but close enough to know I was way out of line. My waist was 42 inches, again by FAR the fattest I’ve ever been. For the past year I hadn’t been able to do up the waist on most of my suits, or the top button of my dress shirts. Makes life uncomfortable when I live in the suit-and-tie world most days.

I used to sit at my desk with my belt, waist button, and fly wide open (just so I could sit), chair pulled up close to my desk so if someone walked in they wouldn’t see me doing my Al Bundy impression. Not exactly brimming with confidence and pride.

Three years of injuries. First a torn rotator cuff, then a slipped disk and torn back tissue. Inactivity, self-pity, total loss of discipline, all added up to a nice little death-spiral of sloth and expanding gut.

Fast-forward three months. As of yesterday, I am 202 pounds (lightest I’ve been since university!), and 24.1% body fat. That’s after a week-long vacation food bender in Fernie. Phase one of Operation: Rebuild the Mountain complete.

Big thanks to Tim Ferriss and his book “The 4-Hour Body“; the diet protocol of which I credit the majority of my success.

Now that I’ve lost the “dead weight” (so to speak), I plan to spend the next three months establishing a strong physical foundation to help make sure I never lose so much of my life to “recovery” again. I’ll be using Ferriss’ “Pre-Hab” training protocols, based off Gray Cook’s Functional Movement Systems program. My focus will be on flexibility (the genesis of nearly every physical problem I’ve ever had), symmetry (making sure both sides of my body are equally functional), and stability (building up my core muscles to handle the next phase).

I haven’t felt this physically good in a long time. It’s nice. It’s natural. I’m a big believer that we’re all meant to move, to work, to be active, it’s just life that gets in our way.

One other big side benefit: Since I’ve enjoyed so much success, and been quite openly proud of it, I’ve now got my girlfriend, my father, and at least one co-worker following the 4-Hour Body diet. I’m confident that if they stick to it, it’ll work just as well for them as it did for me.

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(Wow, doesn’t matter how many times I re-write this, it comes off sounding like an infomercial. If it matters to you, I’m not making any referral money from Ferriss’ book or anything like that. I am just genuinely grateful for his help in achieving my goal. First time I’ve ever honestly tried to follow any kind of structured diet program, and fortunately I really like Tim’s methodologies.)