My Story

My name is Chris Pace. I am a husband, father of two, college educated with a Masters Degree in Business Administration. I work for a hospital consulting firm called AlphaHealth and live in beautiful Gilbert, Arizona. I am an avid golfer, coffee enthusiast, and love to eat!

The journey begins when I started college. After graduating Riverside High School in Greer, South Carolina in 1995, I decided to pack it up and move out west to Arizona. I enrolled at Arizona State University in Tempe in Fall 1995. When I graduated high school at 18 1/2 years old, I was 5’9″ tall, weighed approximately 150 lbs and was what I would consider average health for a teenager. I was never very fast, but I enjoyed playing basketball, tennis, and of course golf.

My freshman year at ASU, I actually maintained a fairly healthy lifestyle.  I exercised every day in some form or fashion, either swimming, sit-ups and push-ups, playing tennis or racquetball, shooting basketball, running occasionally. I ate like a typical college student, a mix of fast food at the Memorial Union, home cooked meals from mom. I also had a parking space which was nearly a full mile from the campus, so that meant a TON of walking. I also grew a few inches to my ultimate height of 5’11″. My weight actually dropped and then popped back up to around 155 lbs by the time I was finished with my freshman year.

Things changed pretty dramatically when my sophomore year began. I moved to an apartment with a friend, and we loved to dine out! We ate at almost every restaurant that the Phoenix metro area had to offer. I still played some tennis, but the bulk of my activity ceased as I took on more classes, and added the stress of self-reliance. By the time I finished my second year at ASU, I had bulked up to about 170 lbs.

Junior and Senior years were a lot of the same, dining out, using the deep fryer in the apartment, less and less activity, and enjoying the benefit of better (closer) parking that the established students would enjoy. My classes by the time I was a Senior were in two adjacent buildings so the campus walking became a thing of the past. My weight at graduation was somewhere around 185 lbs.

Upon graduating in May 1999, I moved back to South Carolina to be closer to family and my girlfriend. In January 2000, I married my best friend Rhonda, and we started a new chapter together. I had a good job at a small hospital consulting firm, we were living in a decent apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, had some pets, etc. However since both of us were working and busy, we ate out a lot, had dinners at our parents house a few times per week, and I was eating lunch out in Downtown Greenville almost every day. At this point I was pushing the 200 lb mark.

Fast forward to April 2001. Rhonda and I decided to pick up and move to Phoenix. Our first year here we lived in an apartment. We had the same lifestyle of work, then dining out. We loved going out to the great Mexican restaurants in the Phoenix area, as well sampling the other variety that exists in this great city. I was working from home for the same company, so I was not getting out much and not walking like I did in Downtown Greenville during lunch. I figure  I was in to the 210s by the time we bought our first house.

Skip to Fall 2002. I decided to go back to school and add an MBA to my portfolio. Soon after we moved to our first house in Gilbert, I enrolled at Arizona State University again and started eating convenience meals again. Work from 5:30-2:30, school from 6-10pm, then studying or work groups on the days off was a lot to take on and still have time for a healthy lifestyle. I was eating whatever I could find at the Memorial Union, or stopping on the way to school. The days off involved a lot of dining out. I graduated in May 2004 and was getting close to 230lbs.

Fast forward again to February 2007.  After four miscarriages, we finally were blessed with our first child Ryan. This excitement came with the newfound stress of managing work, family, being a dad, being a good husband. The crazy scheduled meant eating meals late, and eating out often. Our second child was born December 2008, a daughter named Emma. By summer of 2009, I had maxed out at 243 lbs! That was kind of the wakeup call. I did not want to head north of 250 and I knew some serious changes had to be made.

I had never dieted before, and I knew it would be tough given the two small kids, job, and the stresses of life. One daily habit I had was beverage based. I enjoy coffee, and daily trips to my favorite cafe (The Coffee Shop in Gilbert) meant a large non fat, no whip, iced mocha. On the surface it seemed pretty light, cutting out the whole milk and the calorie laden whipped cream. However there was still one key, fattening component to the drink – the chocolate. Now a small, independent coffee shop doesn’t necessarily post nutritional information. Starbucks on the other hand does.

Starting each day off with 250 calories and 30 fat grams is not really helping my waistline. Top that off with a big breakfast every now and then, and you kind of get the picture.

The second source of liquid calories was the sweet nectar known as Pepsi. Working from home, with a virtual unlimited supply of the sweet soda, made for another big calorie impact. A can of Pepsi is 150 calories, all from carbohydrates. At 3-4 per day, I was looking at a total of 850+ calories of the liquid variety.

In September 2009, I made the choice to cut out the liquid calories completely. I switched away from my favorite espresso based beverage for 12 or so years to the Americano. No sugar added, and a splash of half & half, and I was looking at 35 calories and very little carbs. No more Pepsi either, instead I drink iced tea with splenda. Total calories = 0.

Between September and December, I dropped all the way down to 233 lbs, just by cutting out the liquid beverages. After the holidays though, I had an epiphany, a revelation. 33 years old, father, husband, and plateaued my weight. I needed more changes. I had to alter the one thing that was holding me back…my passion for food. And that’s where the new chapter in my life, and this blog begins…as I create space from the Chris I was, to the Chris I should be…