David

Male

26

Oct, 1996

Obese throughout childhood, I determined to lose weight when my junior high school held their annual carnival. As we meandered between rides, two girls approached my friend Michael and me, laughing and flirting with him. I felt invisible and attributed our differing appeals to our weight disparity. Intrigued by girls and hopeful that one day a girl might find me attractive, I committed to weight loss. I dieted and ran every day, losing 50 pounds that summer and eventually joining the track team. I had become quite skinny, and sophomore year of high school I resolved to shape my physique. I found the nearest gym and developed a passion that would soon become my outlet for stress, field of study, and profession.

I tend to feel detached from my body. The disconnect describes most of my day as I watch the shell of my body go through the motions of life. But when I lift, I fixate on the muscles I train. Bodybuilding connects me with my body, and I feel more alive while training than at any other time.

Bulked up to 212 pounds. Then dieted down to 178 at 4% body fat to proudly display a striated, vascular physique. I've made all of my progress naturally, and spent most of my years lifting as a gluten-intolerant vegetarian. (I was a vegetarian from age 5-20.) And despite scoliosis and a debilitating hockey injury that ruptured the connective tissue that once stabilized my ulner nerve ("funny bone"), I will continue to lift with ferocity until my age hits triple digits.