How Cory Sanden's Weightloss Changed His Life
Cadre Cory Sanden's Journey
I started my weight loss journey around November 2016 at 300lbs. I was 39 years old and a stay at home Dad of two girls and wanted to get back my life back in terms of fitness, energy, mood and drive!
My wife and I are both former collegiate athletes and I served 10 years in the Army Reserves and have worked in the fitness industry for over 10 years, so you would think I would have all the drive, knowledge and experience to succeed??? Well, for myself I quickly realized how difficult it is to change habits and consistently exercise when you haven’t in years.
The first few months of eating healthier and exercising gave us some minor results with a lot of effort and meal prepping/planning. The progress was very slow and hard to maintain focus and determination. There were many "stop" and "restart" periods where we would lose a few pounds and gain back a few, rinse and repeat. It was frustrating at times, but progress was still made and in a little over a year I had lost 35 lbs.
Around December of 2017 I had seen an advertisement for an ad for pilot participants for a upcoming military/first responders fitness protocol. I quickly dove into this new idea and protocol for our fighting forces. I remember messaging Stephanie Lincoln about this opportunity and learning more and more each week about the opportunity to be a pilot participant and being able to use my own journey to help promote FTW.
As the weeks went on and I continued my fitness journey, I quickly became involved with the upcoming first round participants to engage in the program in January 2018. The protocol was to last 30 days and include a Ketogenic diet with HIIT style workouts for 30 minutes. My wife and I were beyond excited to start this new and unknown chapter in our life. We quickly found out the first week traveling that this plan was very doable, flexible, and had great accountability. Daily weight check-ins and workouts were very powerful and held us in check to build a strong routine and consistency.
Thirty days had flown by and I had lost 22 lbs! My personal goal was to lose 15 lbs and fit into my Army BDU pants from 1999. I smashed my goals and had been at my lowest weight in over 8 years! My wife and I had never found an easier diet routine to stick with her Celiac disease. This was the missing link to our lives and couldn’t be happier. It was, and still is, a great fit for us.