As a former Marine, 42-year-old Tor Peery is no stranger to physical fitness and advanced strength training. However, an unexpected and severe injury during his service led him to gain unhealthy weight, and it was clear he needed to rethink his approach to nutrition and physical activity. To achieve his fitness goals and recommit to his lifelong love of athletics and physical activity, Tor turned to Olde Town Athlete, an Arvada personal training studio.
Tor’s goals were different from some traditional fitness transformations. Tor wanted not just to lose unhealthy pounds but to regain his strength and build up his weight to reach a high body composition of muscle. His story is one of inspiration and triumph, which is relatable to people who have similar long-term fitness goals and lifestyle aspirations.
From Lifelong Athlete to Injured Veteran
Tor has been active throughout his entire life. He was a student-athlete, playing three sports in college, where he studied Exercise Physiology. Tor also did strongman competitions in his youth, weighing in at 365 pounds with approximately 16% body fat before he joined the Marine Corps.
During Tor’s last combat operation as a Marine, he incurred a full-body injury that led to ongoing complications. His health and wellness deteriorated as he underwent treatments, physical therapies, and medications. During this period, he went from his Marine prime of 236 pounds to over 300 pounds in unhealthy weight. Tor was also depressed, craving sugary foods and carbohydrates as a comfort. The pain of the injury led Tor to stop his physical activity, which added to his depressed mindset and further pushed him towards unhealthy eating habits.
The number one motivation for Tor to change his life was his children. His eating habits and lack of physical activity led to an overall unhealthy lifestyle. The injuries, compounded with his body weight, made movement even more painful for Tor, which reduced the amount of time he could spend playing with his kids. As a family man and a loving father, Tor felt guilty for missing out on his children’s best years and knew he needed to drop the weight he gained to enjoy his time with his kids and be the best role model he could be.
Tor’s Challenges
Tor isn’t the only military man who has experienced these health and lifestyle challenges after leaving the service. The sudden lack of required physical training can lead to extended periods of inactivity, just like competitive athletes can experience after retirement. That can mean extra weight gain, overindulging in high-calorie foods, and reduced physical activity.
“I knew what I had to do, and I had the knowledge base,” Tor stated. “But I needed that kind of external motivating factor. Someone holding me accountable for my actions.”
A relatable obstacle Tor faced was the excuses he would make to justify eating poorly. It’s another challenge shared by many, where we explain away a negative choice, which leads to another poor choice, which then leads to another, and so on. Eating comfort foods that are high in sugar and carbs helps us feel good mentally. Overcoming that obstacle was challenging for Tor, but he was dedicated to changing his life and achieving his long-term fitness goals over instant gratification from high-calorie foods.
One of Tor’s fellow Marines was James Clement, Coach Colby’s brother-in-law, who also had an incredible success story at Olde Town Athlete. After seeing some of James’s before and after photos, Tor knew he needed to find out what the secret was and create some before and after moments for himself.
The Solution? Arvada Personal Training – But Remotely.
Tor was highly motivated to change his lifestyle when he reached out to Olde Town Athlete to find an Arvada personal trainer. Even though he lives across the country in Ithaca, New York, Tor’s friendship with James led Coach Colby to offer remote personal training for Tor. The remote training meant that Tor was ultimately responsible for implementing the exercise program and sticking to the eating plan provided by Coach Colby.
The first few months of the program were the most challenging. But Tor says that they weren’t as difficult as he thought they would be.
“When you think about going into a calorie deficit, you’re thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going to have cravings, I’m going to want this or want that’ or ‘I’m going to be hungry all the time, what happens when I get hungry I’m going to be irritable’”
But the plan of 3200–2600 calories worked well for Tor. When you put healthy, filling food into your body, you’re never going to be hungry. Good nutrition helped calm any cravings.
“Calories in, calories out, you hear that all the time,” Tor said. “But they have to be good calories. Just like a high-speed engine, you put crap fuel in you’re going to get crap performance out.”
Once you get into a good lifestyle habit, you can enjoy an occasional indulgence, so long as you know it won’t knock you off the wagon. There are no restrictions in the Olde Town Athlete diet plan, which helps people mentally prepare for their transformation by avoiding any “forbidden fruit” foods that can tempt them into bad decisions.
In the gym, Tor started his program with full-body resistance training to get him back to movement. Single arm and leg movements helped get him out of the satchel plane into the frontal and transverse planes of motion. Tor has rebuilt the strength he once had and is in a much better place, still going to the gym regularly for strength training and workouts.
Tor’s Transformation and Success
After joining Olde Town Athlete, Tor lost a considerable amount of unhealthy weight that he gained over the years after his service in the Marine Corps. He changed his body composition to look entirely different from the start of the 2-year transformation journey to now.
“Energy level is up, pain level is down. Stamina is definitely up. Clothes weren’t fitting, so I needed to get some new ones,” Tor says about his current health level. “Definitely my eating is better than it was before. I used to have to track everything in the app, but now I can look at something and determine the calories, carbs, fat, protein, whatever the case may be.”
Tor has not just lost his unhealthy weight but increased his overall weight with more muscle and healthy body composition. “I think I was like 325 pounds of unhealthy weight,” Tor said. “Then I dropped down to 274 or 275. Then I built back up, I’m 310 right now, but that’s a good weight.”
“I’ll be 43 in a few weeks, and when I go to the gym I’m out lifting and outperforming these young bucks who are half my age,” Tor says proudly, “They touch on my age and are blown away with how old I am compared to where they are, and that makes me feel really great. Old man strong!”
And it’s not just about bragging rights at the gym. Tor’s physical activity has improved so much that he is competing in the Highland Games, taking his physical education and background in competitive sports into the future with him.
Coaching had a significant impact on Tor’s success with his fitness transformation. The external motivation and mentorship from Coach Colby and the staff at Olde Town Athlete helped Tor reach his goals and maintain his new healthy lifestyle. The amount of knowledge they brought to the table helped kickstart the information loop Tor needed to remember his old habits and education around fitness and physical health.
The Best Personal Trainers in Arvada are at Olde Town Athlete
Physical autonomy is about getting clients back into a position where they make their own choices and do what they want with their bodies and not be impeded. It gives them the decision-making tools in their brains to make value-aligned decisions. Tor is a perfect example of this philosophy in practice.
Tor has gone through a long-term commitment to himself, and his physical transformation is evidence that when you take action, you can achieve a positive impact in the gym and your life. If you are looking for a gym in Arvada, reach out to Olde Town Athlete to explore our programs, like the Momentum six-week program with workouts at the gym, an eating skills program, and results coaching to stay motivated and overcome obstacles. Contact us today for a free intro.