A Gentle Giant…
You need something, he’s there. No matter what it is, I can promise you he would do anything in the world for anyone. His size is intimidating. His heart is good as gold. His voice is sometimes bold but full of passion and heartfelt thoughts.
Everyone has a story. This man, as everyone, has had his share of ups and downs. Life, fitness, nutrition, accountability, work, etc.… He has been through it all. As all of us, he is still learning and finding what drives him and what moves him.
When I received a call from him, he said, “my wife said you could help me.” My response was, “when and where do I need to be?” I was determined to get him on board. His sincerity was through the roof. I showed up at his office, with a Whole 30 book in hand. He was ready. We got that credit card out and went shopping, Amazon Prime time. Whole 30 ready within minutes, that was a fun.
Round 1 of Whole 30 was so successful. He was our cheerleader, our 7am Live Feed, our person for pick me ups, and we were his. It was one of the best W30 groups that I have led to date.
He is his own worst enemy, his own worst self-critic, his own leader for success and his voice is powerful. He does nothing half ass. I could not be more proud of his dedication to life and his honesty about his journey.
My friend, Freddy Boy Ruggles…
I love ya Fred.
STRONG. Mitzi
FRED’S STORY
Growing up in East Texas football was the sport of choice and as with most things in life, I had great coaches that demanded respect for yourself, your team mate, your elders and of course life itself. Additionally, I had a father that was very tough and discipline was a huge part of my early life. This is what, in my opinion, has given me so much success in life.
In 1984, I joined the United States Air force and 20 days after Graduation I was off to basic training to become an Air Traffic Controller. I spent the next 9 years in a Control Tower. I met a Louisiana woman named Ashley Ruggles, to which I proposed to in the JC Penny parking lot in Alexandria, Louisiana. Three months after we married Saddam Hussein decided to invade Kuwait and I was the 1st military member to deploy from Louisiana. Ashley thought it was a joke, until I walked out the door. I spent 286 days of our 1st year of marriage in the desert. The only great thing about it was I came back very tan and very in shape, not much to do over there.
1994 rolled around, our first child Grayson was born. I had coached baseball and football teams since 1985 so having my own son to coach was a big thing to this ole country boy. I was the guy that would go to the gym maybe 4 times a month. I could even, at 30, run a sub 6 mile. In high school my teammates said I didn’t have a heart because I would run the mile so fast after practice with pads. Reality was, I just hated to be beat by anyone.
Fast forward ahead to 2010, I had coached football with Roger Herrington at Menard High School. He kept asking me to go to this gym on Texas Avenue called Cross fit, said I would love it. Finally one morning at 5:30 am, I showed up! A gentleman by the name of William Albritton had me do like 1 or 3 or 7 mins of burpees. I had 9 years in the military and had never done a burpee. It was tough but I did it. Over the next 9 months I had become the fittest I had ever been in my life. I was strong, confident, and looking good, at least I thought so. You must love yourself before you can truly love others. There is lots that say it but few that do.
Being one to always be the best, I had gotten my pilots license and wanted to judge the cross fit games. I proceeded to get my level 1 certification and judged 2 regional competitions in San Antonio, Texas.
I had tweaked my lower back sleeping a weird way. That pain caused me to stop going to cross fit, around mid-2014. My lovely wife would apply emotional pressure by saying “hey you need to go work out”, I had turned 49 and weighing around 245. I was self-conscious and always worried about my belly, being tall most people never even notice my weight.
In 2016, I had heard of this, I don’t want to call it diet, but at that point that is what it was to me. I had done Atkins many years earlier, only to lose a few pounds but not keep it off, then paleo, or the cave man diet, I had done during my 1st 9 months of crossfit. This really helped my growth there.
I am not truly sure who the person was that opened my mind and attitude towards whole 30. I do know it was Mitzi Fairbanks who dropped a book by to me and requested I read the 1st 33 pages. This was like early July 2016. She had made the comment there was a group starting Aug 1. I read the pages and what I got out of it was a life change that would increase your fitness but also make you a better person. Now I have a problem in life, I cannot do anything half assed, so with Freddie boy Ruggles, you get 110%. I told Mitzi I was in. She showed up to my office one day and showed me Amazon prime. I think that day we bought over $300 worth of Whole 30 compliant condiments and food. I was excited for this new journey. I had the rules down. Steve and Trish Deville were going to have a pre-whole 30 pot luck at their house that following Friday. I was nervous and didn’t know what to expect. It was an awesome introduction to the game of whole 30. Steve told of losing 26 lbs. and not even trying but what I noticed most was his confidence in the program and it was shining through him. That night when me and Ashley left, I told her I wanted to do this challenge.
MY JOURNEY STARTS
I was so excited as I weighed myself and took pictures of myself in the bathroom, I could feel the excitement of the challenge and the life change. You see, it’s not a diet. It is a LIFE CHANGE and it creates an attitude inside yourself that makes you better. I like to say nicer person, more aware, truly more in touch with yourself. I had to make myself accountable so I weighed in at 268 lbs. It was the largest number ever I had seen on a scale. I thought to myself, damn I am heavy. Day 1 I get up and I hate eating breakfast but with this being new I made me a beautiful breakfast. I was fixing to eat it and my iPad was there, I looked on Facebook and was doing a scan of post when I saw that LIVE button. I thought hell lets announce to the world what I am doing and I will tell them at the end what I did. This started something that truly changed my way of thinking. I now know what viral meant. My first video had over 1000 views so I said, hell by doing those it is exciting and I will be accountable to the audience. Every morning I posted a video and if I went to a restaurant, I posted and in the evening, so everyone was on my journey with me.
Mitzi had started a “Group Me” chat for our group to stay in contact with and to check in on Sundays. I didn’t realize it but that group was such a key piece of the puzzle to the success. You see, as I explain it, I can let myself down but it’s hard to let others down. So, every day I read out of the book about what I was supposed to feel and then spoke of what I was feeling. Also, I had to add a message, whether it was hug someone day or high five day. I wanted people to change other people’s life, emotionally that was very important to me. It didn’t take long. I was getting private messages from people I didn’t even know about my journey. I am a sharer so I wanted everyone to feel the excitement I felt and as I went to our Friday night pot lucks, I wanted to share my group because they were my group and they were special. The fellowship and comradery made this all so much easier.
As days rolled off, I could feel the difference in my body then I started a boot camp with Mitzi and I knew a few in the class but they all knew me it felt like. One special young lady, Jennifer Peach, gave me a “hug me” shirt that just made my heart melt. You ever notice when someone gives you a gift out of the blue how awesome it feels. My 14 year old son Myer wears that shirt and it makes me smile.
About day 23, I started wondering what is next. My mother and sister had already rallied up a group of ladies in East Texas and they wanted to feel what they saw every morning on my video. Day 30 arrives I had made the comment, “on day 30, I would take my shirt off and show” but Ashley put a stop to that so I bought a shirt that had muscles on it and showed that but I did weigh in and had lost 26 lbs. and 6 inches in my belly!!! WOW ! I felt good confidence through the roof. I had realized it wasn’t a diet it was a lifestyle, but now what am I going to do?
The 1st thing I introduced back into my life was milk, then lunch with pizza. It was terrible and I felt so fricken guilty. I did not maintain. Two months go by and my mom is a serious diabetic. She wanted to do it, so one Saturday I loaded up and met 8 women in Jasper Texas. I explained to them what I had gone through. They were in, so round 2 started. On day 13, I got food poisoning and was too weak to continue. I had to drop out of the group but they continued on. It was tough with them all in Texas and me here no potluck and no one to be accountable to.
Move forward to Feb 2017, Caleb Stark, a good friend of mine, calls me. He has a group that wants to eat better and feel better. We meet and go over the rules which are simple don’t cheat, be true to the group, check in on Sundays and try to participate in the pot lucks, partake in the group me chats as much as possible and be the support for each other. We started March 6th. I did my videos again and we chatted, I did the 1st pot luck and as with any group in life you must have someone that is the guiding light. My 1st round that was Mitzi. On round 2, I didn’t have one. Round 3, It was Karen Vaughn. You see someone must be the lead by example person that everyone else strives to be like. Well let me cut to the chase, I dropped out at day 14. I AM WEAK.
Let’s explore why??
You see round 1 was exciting. It was a new great group and a good time of year.
Round 2 – It was hard to be committed when you’re not in contact with the group. Illness played a big part in my opinion
Round 3 – I was doing it for the wrong reason. I was doing it for Caleb and not for Fred. I learned a very valuable lesson this round. You see I am not a quitter. I am a winner. I carry a can-do attitude with me all the time, the only thing holding me back is myself. Attitude is such a determining factor in our lives. I have coached so many youth and they will all tell you he is tough, disciplined, over-bearing, but that he has a passion and love for each of us.
You see it goes back to yourself. You must love yourself before you can share yourself with others. Some will call it arrogance, maybe cockiness. I call it confidence. Confidence in who you are, where you are and when you get there. No matter what comes down the pipe there are tons of us in the same struggle, we are all a part of the group. We just need to lean on each other to get through each day and to hopefully wake up better tomorrow than we were today.
You see whole 30 is a lifestyle change, not a diet. It makes you a better father, co-worker, employee, friend, a better person all around. I completed 1 whole 30 and my self-worth was through the roof. I failed the next 2 but guess what, I am still as great as I will ever be. It’s all about the choice in life. I choose to be better. Currently, I am doing Whole 5, so for 5 days at a time, 100%, whole 30 compliant. It may turn into 10, 20 or even 30, but I am not putting restricting walls up. I just want to be better today.
