Today is the photoshoot! What photoshoot? Here read this Next Trip: Traveling to strip in the UK – Out And Abroad (out-abroad.com). It probably seems odd to you that I traveled all the way to Nottingham, UK to do this. So, let me try to explain myself a bit more and how I am feeling about all of this as I am overwhelmed and writing is better than crying right?

Why the UK?

So I met this guy almost 15 years ago as a camp counselor and we stayed in touch.

I remember meeting Dan as my co-counselor, sharing a bunk with him and thinking this guy is like the definition of cool and is absolutely going to hate me as I am the definition of not cool. You know, the fooootball (soccer) playing jock with a British accent in a New York Jewish camp? As you can imagine he was quite popular. However somehow, I fooled him, and we clicked. I mean I was pretty big too (literally) as the fat, closeted Jewish dork, but I digress!

Something I never told him was how he was also a huge comfort to me while at camp. Unfortunately, this was a long time ago and camp was quite a homophobic setting with the word f*g being thrown around all day every day including by members of the owner’s family. I was still very far in the closet, but very awkward so the fact Dan was nice to me and befriended me meant the world to me at the time (please don’t tell him I said that🤢). We stayed close over the years and now he runs a successful large online fitness coaching company. I told him years ago I wanted to do the annual photoshoot with him that his company runs in Nottingham, so here we are! But it took a little while for me to have the courage to call him and begin training with him.

The Journey

3 years ago I was battling depression due to Matt and I attempting (and failing many times) to grow our family and hating my job (students, I promise it had nothing to do with y’all and the fact so many still stay in touch means the world to me, in fact I had a drink with a wonderful former student while here in Nottingham last night). Even though I worked out frequently I saw very little progress as I was eating and drinking like an idiot. As a result I looked like this;

Thankfully I began a new career with a bit more confidence and finally reached out to Dan for help as clearly I had no idea how to use a gym properly or how eat normally. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but Dan had a history of making me feel good about myself and I enjoyed watching him grow his fitness empire that I wanted to give it a shot. Dan has been offering me free help for years, but it was time to get real help and pay the man. Money well spent;

I was never the fitness guru. I was bullied growing up because I couldn’t do pull-ups and I played Right Field in Little League which meant I was the worst player on the team (sorry fellow little league right fielders, you know it is true)! However, in my first year working with Dan I started seeing results pretty quickly. What was crazy was I still ate pizza, drank plenty and went out frequently. Once I lost 20 lbs a year in I approached Dan about doing the next photoshoot. Like so many other goals, Covid came along and crushed that. Working out from home wasn’t the same but by having a coach I still continued to lose weight slowly during the pandemic.

Once vaccinated and I was able to use the gym again I told Dan I was ready and to push me. I lost another 20 lbs or so while gaining some muscle. No more pizza and nights out and drinking water wasn’t fun, but I did look and feel a lot better One year later I am sitting in my hotel room in the UK about to get ready to go to the photo studio….

Conclusion

I am not sure what the purpose of this post is outside of calming my anxiety about today. To be honest I feel like a fraud and should just go back to sleep. But I trekked all the way here so I might as well get a few photos taken. Maybe I will surprise myself and feel like I belong today but I still look in the mirror and see this;

Life is full of surprises! Lessons I learned on my fitness journey;

• When you need help, ask for it! I went to the gym 3x a week and ‘dieted’ and still gained weight. Paying a professional was necessary.
• Marry someone who loves and supports you. Thank you Matt for being so supportive during this journey and sending me to the UK (in coach…)
• It really requires a lot of self-control. Going to the gym several days a week and not eating pizza and drinking booze requires self-discipline and while friends are of course supportive they still invite you out!
• If your job makes you miserable, quit!

I will post more about today’s shoot and may even include a pic or 2 😊. Until then, London was nice and Nottingham is very cute and I got to see this guy for the first time in almost 15 years;

Bon Voyage (and wish me luck),

Andrew