Richard Peete

My journey to a healthier lifestyle started at the end of April 2010 when I was surprisingly diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I decided to change my sedentary life immediately in order to avoid having to take medication for the rest of my life, lose 160 pounds, and thereby avoid any of the dangerous complications that can come with diabetes.So I immediately started following Weight Watchers guidelines and adding walking to my daily routine. By January, 2011 I was walking 45-50 minutes a day. 5 days a week. In February I started Strength Training with a Personal Trainer at LifeTime Fitness two days a week.It was then that I got my first Polar watch.... an FT7. I wanted to start paying attention to my heart rate. In March, I graduated from walking to running. So I got some nice running shoes and upgraded to the RS200 and got an S1 FootPod so I could track my distance and pacing in addition to my heart zones.Since then, I have run in four 5K races and will be running my first 10K this weekend. Last Saturday, I reached an important weight loss milestone: I have lost 102 pounds since May 2010! I am feeling the best I have ever felt!This fall I will be running in three more 5K races, one 10K race, and one 15K race. All leading up to my first Half Marathon at Disney World in January 2011!Polar has been a constant companion in my health journey. It helps me to manage my effort during my training runs and races so that I can maximize my fat burn, keep my heart rate in safe zones, and track my pacing and overall progress. The PolarPersonalTraining web site is awesome and I love the ease in which I can upload my workouts and get informative analysis and reports to help me gauge my progress over time.I am still on my 'getting healthier' journey. I still have 56 pounds to lose and I still have running goals to accomplish. Today, my diabetes is under control and managed through diet and exercise rather than medications. And I have no doubt that Polar will continue to be an important part of the tools I will be using to get there!