My Story

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Hello my name is Kevin Fentress and this is my story.

I grew up in Keithville Louisiana, a small town just south of Shreveport where we played outside sunup to sundown. We were either fishing, hunting, playing basketball, baseball, football, and whatever we could do to have fun.  We had an acre of land so we had a lot to mow, raking leaves and picking up sticks felt like it was done every day. My parents had a garden and it was country living to us.

 Our parents provided everything we needed and made personal sacrifices to make sure that we had every opportunity to succeed in life.  We where in church every chance we got and where raised to serve God and to serve others.  Growing up going to kids and youth camps, and family vacations where always the highlights of each year.  Having Godly leaders in our youth group ( JIA's - Juniors in Action - ) gave us the strength to take a stand for what we believed and gave us the ammo to fight the Devil.

I grew up playing many sports, but basketball was my favorite.  I played high school and college ball in the late 80's and early 90's.  I left college basketball because I felt that I need to get a job, earn a living and start a career. I got a job working in the TV business and enjoyed a lot, made a minimum amount of money but made new and lasting friendships, meet and worked with some famous people and even met my beautiful wife there, so I considered my time there a success. Early on in my TV career, I started smoking and drinking, thinking that because that was how most everybody handled the stress and relaxed after days and sometimes weeks of covering major sporting events, national and local tragedies and attacks on our country.  

This time in my life is where I met the love of my life and we had our 1st child, but also where I gained most of my unhealthy weight and was slowly but surely systematically killing myself with my lack of healthy choices.  I honestly thought that I was invincible and would live forever.   
I left the TV business after 15 years and started working from home with a company as a computer service tech. 10 plus hours a day sitting made my health worse. Still smoking, because I was addicted and sitting all day, eating whatever I wanted was a recipe for an early death.

On February 26th, 2008 I felt pain in both of my shoulders and thought it was stress and even went outside and fired up a smoke, took 1 drag, put it out and went inside and told my wife that I did not feel well and was going to lay down.  I laid my head on the pillow for about a half a second and popped up, went back in the den and told her that something was not right and to please take me to the hospital.  My wife and our 2 and 1/2 year son loaded up and took me to the emergency room.

When we arrived at the emergency room, I asked to be dropped off at the door.  I entered the ER and went straight to the triage nurse and said that I had pain in my chest. They  immediately opened the ER doors and said to lay down on the stretcher to the right.  They gave me the news that I never thought I would hear.  I was having a HEART ATTACK!!!  My right coronary artery was completely blocked.  I had to have a medicated stent put in.  My wife had to sign the consent forms to have the procedure done while holding our 2 year old son.  She was told the procedure was dangerous and I could die during it, but that I would definitely die if I did not have it.  With that stent I was given a second chance at life.  I completed Cardiac Rehab and got down 10 lbs to 260.

Later that year, after eating better and doing some treadmill walking, previous lower back issues got worse and I had a bulging disc (L5, S1), so my exercise became more and more difficult.  Even though my cholesterol was excellent, I got away from exercise and got up to 288 lbs!!!  One of the reasons I couldn't lose weight was because I have Empty Sella Syndrome.  Basically, my pituitary gland is flat and that caused me to have several symptoms including fatigue, low testosterone, and low energy.  But, I was extremely motivated to overcome the syndrome when I was told that I was beginning to develop Type II Diabetes!!!  That is when I decided that if I did not do something now I would surely die at an earlier age than I felt I should.

Day 1 (December 25th, 2010) Decision Day,  Walking and Eating Healthier.

Day 197 (July 10th, 2011) I was 288 pounds and started the original Power 90 and have never looked back.  I have completed 27 Beachbody programs from beginning to end and have the t-shirts and a Challenge coin to prove it.  Through Beachbody programs, Shakeology, and proper nutrition I got down to 161 pounds.  Since then, I have put on roughly 25 pounds of muscle thanks to Body Beast. I am a Beachbody Coach, P90X Certified Live Instructor and a 2B Mindset Mentor.  I do whatever it takes and I stand in my power.

I'm here to help you. Send me a message. Call me. Whatever. Just take the step, I PROMISE you it will be the best decision you have made.
 

Standing In My Power,

Kevin Fentress