*80 Day #IWANTABZ*
3RD PLACE
Joseph Toler
Down 42 pounds!
“Sometimes you just have to remind yourself who you really are. When I started January 2nd, I’d just come off of a dirty bulk, welcoming our 2nd beautiful daughter to our family, coaching softball and working. I had to do some self reflecting. I’ve always struggled with food and creating a good relationship with it was key to my success. Realizing that I wasn’t truly hungry, but I had a feeling of hunger; realizing and being able to call yourself out when you are about to stress eat.
After Covid, I’ve realized that we were doing everything but taking care of ourselves, and it was to start maintaining our mind, body, and soul. Our minds are so powerful and through this journey I wanted to transform my body. Little did I know what I was doing for my mental health. It seemed for every right decision I made, I had a lot of negative thoughts that followed. Doing the right things will always be more challenging. I’ve seen what years and years of bad food decisions and a bad relationship with the gym looks like. I’m truly ready to see what years and years of good habits will do for my mind and body.
The learning materials helped mold my mindset to be positive and to push past breaking points. Flipping the script, for me, was key. Perspective changes helped me transition from a dominant athlete to being a better husband, better father, better coach, and a better friend all because I wanted to give myself and others the best me possible. I never would’ve thought I would be in the best shape of my life at the age of 35. It was cool at one point to have the dad bod lol, but my family needed much more from me. My household has benefited from this and being able to show what it takes to be great to my family is priceless. I’ve learned that consistency is the key to success, if you don’t show up, you’ll never put yourself into a winning situation.
Making sure to thank and inspire myself has become a new habit I’ve adopted. Learning that leading by example will always speak for itself, and that to inspire others, I had to inspire myself . It’s not easy to explain the feelings I have, so I’ve gone back to my roots which is leading by example. Working out before work has been a game changer for me. I hate to take time away from my family, so while they’re sleeping I’m able to humble myself in the gym, which makes me more present in my their lives.
My mindset has been that if I can get up and workout at 4am, which is something my mind really doesn’t want to do, then the rest of my day seems to be pretty easy because I’ve already started my day out by doing something I didn’t want to do. My 80 days are up and now it’s time to enjoy all this hard work, but at the same time it’s important for me to put another date on the calendar. I will be continuing my cut and getting my body prepared for a hot dad summer, lol.”
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