When Kevin O’Connor was about 12 years old, his mother sent him to the corner store near their home in London to buy bread and milk. When he walked in, a row of magazines caught his eye, especially one fitness magazine in particular that touted a huge headline: “Even at 39, You Can Still Have Six-Pack Abs!”
Although a seemingly random memory, that headline stuck with him through his teenage and young adult years. Every birthday, he used that phrase as a future goal he didn’t need to hit until his 39th birthday.
“看起来奇怪,但它让我思考that I had years left to go until I changed my ways,” he says. “I thought 39 was the magic number for doing something about my health habits and my weight.”
O’Connor knew he had plenty to change. At 5-foot-8, he was 220 pounds, a heavy drinker and frequent junk food eater. As he navigated his 30s, O’Connor did make some large changes on the path to his ultimate “six-pack” goal — most notably, he quit drinking and became a vegetarian, two major shifts that still apply today.
这些努力促使体重减轻，但直到他38岁时才想起童年的承诺最狗万体育买球万博彩票下载安卓大，并意识到他的时间已经用完了。他意识到，他需要做更多的事情才能真正走上更健康的赛道 - 当然，要获得六包。
“I was going to the gym, but I wasn’t eating right, so I just ended up being a fat guy at the gym,” he recalls. “I’d work out, then go home and have a massive amount of calories, as if I’d burned off that much. My daughter was born in 2017, when I was about to turn 39, and I realized I hadn’t kept my childhood promise to be healthy at 39. I was so disappointed in myself, so I said enough is enough.”
O’Connor didn’t want his daughter to grow up with a dad who was out of shape and got winded easily while they were playing. He poured himself into his renewed efforts toward total health — and those shredded abs as an added benefit.
他开始使用MyFitnessPal跟踪食物，并努力学习他所吃的所有食物。他特别赞赏高级版本随附的广泛数据库，因为这使得该过程变得更加容易。
The biggest shift for O’Connor was finding the true “why” for his goals, he says. That magazine cover wasn’t enough to spark change, but wanting to keep a childhood promise and have enough energy for his daughter were the two motivating forces that kept him focused.
他说：“一旦我知道为什么这样做，就可以轻松去健身房追踪我的食物。”“这使这些东西变成了一种习惯，就像刷牙或穿衣服一样正常。如果您没有“为什么”，那么您只是在节食，而那些很少有效。您的“为什么”为您带来了动力和行动。”
It also led to finally getting those six-pack abs he’d dreamed about since he was a kid — a goal he achieved before the end of his 39th year.
His wife, Emma, joined the effort as well, being just as diligent about tracking her food through MyFitnessPal. They each lost about 70 pounds, and doing it as a family was another big boost, he says.
These days, he’s still tracking food through MyFitnessPal and is focusing more on keeping his macros balanced the way he likes. Because of his success, he’s eager to help others do the same. He’s started a Facebook group and program calledCalorie Snipers这有助于成员通过使用MyFitnessPal转移心态和增加运动来减轻体重。
“I’ve got the body I wanted,” he says. “But more than that, I’ve got the life I’ve always wanted, too.”
