I love Chocolate Milk!

It was the summer of 2012. Everybody that loved me, gently but firmly said, “Steve you need to lose some weight!” And they were right.  At 5’3” and 217 pounds I WAS overweight! I was endangering my health, and my future. Something had to change. I knew I needed help.  I couldn’t do this alone. I had done this before, only to gain my weight back, rather rapidly, and I had tried everything, gimmicks, tricks, with money included, for all of the easy fixes.  All to no avail.

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In my new determination and renewed efforts, among other things, I signed up for a “Co-Ed” morning Bootcamp class that advertised fun and activity to help get healthy, (again). Sarah McGaha, of whom I had only heard of, was to lead this morning exercise class.  When I first showed up and saw Sarah McGaha I thought she looked like the epitome of fitness and health! Sarah was a lucky that I joined the class… because I put the “CO” in that Co-Ed class.  Yep, I was the only guy that signed up for the class!  At first I felt a little out of place or that maybe I had the wrong day. “I was looking for the Co-Ed class,” I inquired of Coach Sarah?
 
“This is it… Good morning, and welcome to Bootcamp,” she said sweetly as she smiled at me.  Hmmm, was that a deceiving smile or what?

​What was I in for? There I was, with a dozen or so, very athletic looking, 30-something year old women who had come to work out together.  They all knew each other.  I didn’t know any of them. I was in my late-50’s. I was old enough to be their father. In fact, I knew most of their fathers!
 
I never doubted that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them.  Boy, was I wrong about that!  The out-ran, out-jumped, and out-lasted me on everything we did. But they 

took me into their fold and treated me with fun and encouragement!  They became my Bootcamp Buddies!

​On the very first day of class, in that pre-dawn twilight, I heard the words that we all knew, “Most of you are here because you want to lose weight and get healthy,” Coach Sarah said. But then she uttered the words I did NOT want to hear.  “Losing weight is 80% of what you eat and 20% of what you do. But, you have to do both to make either method work properly!” 

​For the next few days, weeks, months, and more I worked out with my Bootcamp Buddies trying to keep up with those 30 somethings as best I could. While we were working out we heard words of wisdom about exercise, diet and lifestyle changes.  All were great tidbits of wisdom and encouragement.  The one that surprised me the most was, "never drink Gatorade or fruits juices again!"  Coach Sarah said, “If you love orange juice, eat an orange.”  For many years, I had always consumed Gatorade as a replacement fuel for my body after working out.  Drink water she said. Not surprising. What was surprising, was the body replenishment drink of Coach Sarah’s choice… Chocolate Milk!

​I LOVE chocolate milk, but never thought of it as particularly healthy. After reading and doing a little research on the virtues of chocolate milk and now believing it would be good for me, (it didn’t take much to convince me), I set off to the store to acquire that “delicious nectar of brown cows!” As my wife I wandered toward the dairy section I saw a brand for which I have never heard of before, FAIRLIFE Chocolate Milk.

​Hmm, I said, as I picked it up and read the package copy… It was different, but was it just sales copy, or really different?  I’m a

professor of advertising so naturally I wanted to believe the written words on the package.  I added it to my cart and went home. 
 
As we were putting our groceries away I cracked open the sealed cap to the FairLife Chocolate milk brand and poured what looked like, not regular chocolate milk, but a milk shake consistency drink…  My mouth watered with anticipation as I slowly brought it to my mouth.  I stopped to smell it, and then took a gulp!  O-M-G!  An explosion of stars went off in my head, the sun rose and set all within two-nano-seconds. The taste-bud rivers of my mouth were opened, and I thought I had died and gone to Chocolate Milk Heaven!  It was THE BEST CHOCOLATE MILK I had ever tasted!
 
After regaining my composure, I wondered aloud, how can this be healthy? Can I really lose weight while drinking this wonderful drink of the Gods? It was, and it is!
 
15 months after starting Sarah’s Bootcamp, along with the better diet my wife helped to prepare for me, and walking my dog Addy every day, I LOST 60 pounds! I don’t know how much the FairLife Chocolate milk help me lose, maybe nothing, but it kept my hunger and desire for more in check while I worked to reach my goals. I became an evangelist for the brand.
 
Thank you Donna for helping me eat better.  Thank you Addy (my Labrador Retriever) for walking me every day.  Thank you Coach Sarah for letting me crash your Bootcamp session with some wonderful Bootcamp Buddies, and thank you FairLife Chocolate Milk for giving me something to look forward to when I got home for breakfast each day after Bootcamp!

Here's a video of a typical workout from Sarah McGaha's Bootcamp.

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