https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/qmmunity/2009-06-26/799726/

Andy Gets a Facial!

By Andy Campbell, June 26, 2009, 3:25pm, Qmmunity

It's over! The Anytime Fitness Media Challenge is over! Six weeks of every day at the gym, three times a week personal training, is finally (and sadly) over.

And we won!

And by we, I mean me.

I mean, we're all winners, but I apparently won harder. 11 lbs. and 4 points off of my BMI! Inches off of practically every measurement of my body! Austin Chronicle, I did you proud! Now give me a raise.

Weird for me, I usually don't win competitions. What did I win? An hour long facial, microdermabrasion, a shave, and a haircut. Two Bits! All this from the lovely Waterstone Aesthetics. Messer got a mani/pedi from Buff. Fellow competitor Oliver Everette (from the L Style G Style) won some goodies from Belvedere Men's Salon.

Alex Tapp from the Austin Aztex came out to present the awards, and after doing a bit of research, I (not being much of a sportie) found that one of my neighborhood friends growing up plays for the Aztex too! Hillrise Dr. represent! Maybe I should go to more games…

In a day filled with sadness and woe (Farrah! MJ!) I feel glee and giddiness. Is that so wrong? Well, almost.

But seriously, this process would have been completely different without the daily encouragement and carpools with XMess. I hope we're gym buddies at Anytime together for years to come. It has done both of us a shit-ton of good, and I feel committed to my gym buddy and my gym. Anytime Fitness is my gym.

And my body is my body again. For the past two years I haven't felt that, and it has affected everything. Practically decimated a past relationship. I spent so much time thinking about it, worrying about it, getting depressed about it, and I kept hearing "you should" instead of "you can." Thinking "fat fuck" when I could have thought "sexy Jewboy." My weight gain was a lot of things – my metabolism slowing down, the stress of grad school, and having four jobs at one point to support my schooling, etc. Weight loss wasn't mine to own, and I wouldn't have been doing it for me a year ago, but today was for me. It is me. And in the past few weeks I've felt taller, thinner, better.

Relief.

And let's be clear, I don't have to be rail thin – the goal is not to wear mesh shirts – but to feel in control of my body in a positive way. Ah, the emotional rollercoaster of weightloss.

Excuse… I need to go schedule my facial. And then, if I feel it, go to the gym.