Hi, Nate here, and I want to tell you a rather… Personal story, starting, oh, around four months ago. As some of my friends may know, I’ve been on the job hunt lately. That fact is neither here nor there, but prospect I found interesting in a number of ways was as a Special Agent with the FBI. In January of this year, I applied and passed its Phase I testing — a written test for aspiring agents — and was promptly greeted with a rather sobering piece of information:

“To ensure that FBI Special Agents are fully prepared to meet their responsibilities as leaders in the law enforcement community, applicants must pass a standardized Physical Fitness Test. The test consists of four mandatory events that are administered in the following order:

1. Maximum number of sit-ups in one minute
2. Timed 300-meter sprint
3. Maximum number of push-ups (untimed)
4. Timed one and one-half mile (1.5 mile) run”

[Source]

Thus, my application to the FBI was officially put on hold, pending my submission of a Self Assessment demonstrating my ability to pass the official Physical Fitness Test. The next morning, for the first time in years, I got on the bathroom scale, and did not like what I saw (see the Starting Weight at the top). As if to reaffirm that number, my initial attempts at “self assessment” saw absolutely dismal results. If I wanted to have a shot at ever becoming a Special Agent, I needed to get to work, pronto.

I decided standing there and then that everything would change, and I would shed 50 pounds of ugly fat. Four months later, and half of that is lying in the dustbin of my former life. It hasn’t been easy, and it’s not about to become a breeze for the second half. But I figure that along the way, I have found a few things here and there that have helped me eat better, exercise more, manage my intake/output, etc. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, and I could definitely do things better, but what I’ve been doing so far has worked for me.

Some of the things I hope to discuss on this newly inaugurated F.I.T. blog:

• Motivators
• Difficulties
• Gadgets & Apps
• Recipes
• Exercises
• Apparel
• And much much more!

I have no idea who reads this blog anymore, or who might in the future. But I want to hear from people! If you have suggestions, questions, words of encouragement or otherwise, I’d love to hear all of it. Hopefully these posts will show up in my Facebook feed, but if you’d like to arrive here more directly for one reason or another, feel free to come back to http://blog.nathanmallory.com/, or http://blog.nathanmallory.com/?cat=14 if you’re only interested in fitness-related posts. Even if all this writing is ultimately nothing more than my own personal monologue about my progress, I hope it serves as a reminder and motivator to me never to give up.

Now… back to work!

DISCLAIMER: I am not a licensed physical fitness instructor or personal trainer, and anything I say on this blog is intended solely as my personal opinion and what I feel has worked for me. I would strongly encourage anyone planning to start a fitness or weight loss regimen of his or her own to consult his or her physician.