Dateline: Early February 2003.
Location: The 393 Club by Hillsborough Barracks in Sheffield.
I walk into my very first pro wrestling training session – step two of my master plan to go from fat, pasty student to ripped pro-athlete.
Step one had been leaving a potential career in engineering and entering the fitness industry.
Amongst the faces there was another newbie called Matt Wand – hey Matt, you made it to an email 🙂
Matt was looking slim and focussed – but I’d later learn he was in one of his good phases in a long history of yo-yo ing weight.
I was put together with Matt and some other dude who’s name I’ve long since forgotten and shown some bump drills.
Basically where you keep throwing yourself in different ways on to a thinly padded wooden floor over and over and over until you learn how best to land (still hurts like) and you get toughened up.
Fast forward four months and Matt and I faced each other in our very first pro-wrestling match at The Waltheof Leisure Centre in Sheffield.
Johnny Midnight vs. ‘Flawless’ Carter Jay infront of approximately 100 people many of whom were my friends and family 🙂
You can see on picture of that first match and me looking proper skinny in the top right of this article.
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Over a decade later Matt and I have stayed in contact through Facebook primarily and see each other occasionally at wrestling shows.
He’s on this mailing list and the facebook page and group.
He’s spent much of the last decade, by his own admission, going back and forth on the weight front.
I remember his stag do 4 years ago where he was looking great (I couldn’t make the wedding as I moved house that day).
And two and half years ago he started back on the pro-wrestling training at a school in Sheffield that I taught at – he was looking slim and happy again.
And then when baby Gracie-May arrived he got focussed again.
But in-between were periods of weight gain.
Twas the usual story – work and life got in the way.
A shared enjoyment of certain foods with his wife Sarah.
You know the score, right?
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But last Wednesday while exchanging texts about morning snacks, he sent me a message that made me super happy.
It read:
“I don’t know how much I’ve lost as I’ve deliberately not weight myself! This had always felt as a negative obsession! But you can visibly see I’ve lost a lot of weight. I’ve dropped 4 trouser sizes!
I’m doing good. This is my lifestyle now.
I’m not on a diet, I’m not losing weight. I’ve made some life changes and my mind and body are adapting to those changes!”
He then followed up with:
“You can use that quote dude!!!
I always look forward to your emails and videos! J”
Matt reads all the emails and watches and shares the videos, etc.
He’s made a concerted effort to change the way he sees food and his life in general.
And, all of a sudden, it’s become much easier.
That’s what we want people to do.
A healthy lifestyle doesn’t need to be hard work.
We just need to un-do all the conditioning and brain washing that we’ve been fed my well-meaning others, food marketing companies and so on and allow our brains and bodies to function as they have evolved to.
I’m mega please for Matt and his family.
And whatever stage of your journey to a new lifestyle you’re on, I’m pumped for you too – let me know how you’re doing and I’ll see what we can do to help you on your journey.
Tomorrow I’m going to let you know about my whingey kids and how they’ve helped me realise something important about how our minds work and what we need to do to successfully lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle.
Much love,
Jon “I beat him with the Midnight Express by the way” Hall
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