Overcoming the Odds From Fat to Fit - While getting my MBA!

I have never been considered lucky, in fact amongst my friends I have always been the unlucky one. When I was 11 I survived an encounter with a Portuguese Man-O-War, the 30 Ft. - 50 ft. variety. Usually attacks/encounters in which venom travels to the lymph nodes can be fatal, and I had a reaction and was hospitalized. Later I actually required corrective plastic surgery on my chest. In college I developed a non-cancerous spinal tumor that contributed to a sedentary life style and weight gain. After college I suffered an injury that caused 5 herniated discs, but with exercise and these events, I am overcome the odds and reached where I am today. I tend to think of myself as unlucky for being one of the few to deal with these issues, in fact my friends used to joke that one day I will get hit by lightning, and win the lottery same day! Or that if there was 1,000 people at the beach and 1 shark, I would be the one to get bitten. I have never won any contests in my life, however, overcoming all these events has made me who I am today, has built my character, testing me every step of the way and without them, I may not have become the person I am today, so I can't be that unlucky right? Are we unlucky to be attacked or lucky to come out stronger? Below is my story of my weight loss and fitness journey that makes me a lucky person!

I spent my entire life overweight, always the chubby kid. My family always gave me a hard time, sweets were everywhere for my brother and sister who seemed to be thin and athletic with no effort, but not me. When Birthday's came around it was always "You sure you should have a slice?"

My family pressured me my whole life, so much that I worked on convincing them and myself that I was happy being the fat kid. I even believed it myself at one point. Eventually when I moved away for college they stopped pressuring me, and my acceptance of being the fat kid simply served to a downward spiral of a sedentary life style coupled with horrible eating habits and smoking cigarettes.

When I went to college I weighed a whopping 225 Lbs., by my Junior year I was over 265! My major in school was 3D animation which simply fueled this lifestyle as I spent 10-14 hours a day in a chair on the computer, drinking sodas non-stop and always had some fast-foodnearby. Even worse, our school had a program in which parents could provide money on a special school card and we could buy our meals with it, the problem was that the school did not provide much in the way of healthy food and even worse made deals with outside restaurants to take small % for accepting our money, the biggest culprit, dominos. My life style was visibly impacting my health, stairs made me winded, I avoided any activity that would make me sweat(which I did plenty of by doing nothing!) and early in my Sophomore year I started having back pain. The little back pain turned into a crippling pain that prevented me from walking, sitting and having a normal lifestyle and immediately I noticed a bump on my back so I went to the doctor. I had a non-cancerous tumor on my spine!!! It freaked me out, I was given the option to drain the tumor which would put me in bed for several days but would have to be done whenever it flared up, or get it removed which would take 4-5 months of recovery. I was adamant about finishing school so I took the former route, but it still was a big issue. I told myself I would handle it when I was done with school.

Late into my Junior year I moved into an apartment complex, alone, off campus and the complex happened to have a small gym. One day taking out the garbage, long after my family's pressure to lose weight stopped, I passed by the gym. I was having an extra tough day and saw a punching bag in there, with what looked like an unused gym. I went and hit the bag, over and over until I couldn't lift my arms. I felt exhausted, tired and uncomfortable but after being home for 20 minutes I realized I was happier and felt better than ever!

The next day I wrote down a list of questions about exercising and went to see a personal trainer. I told him that I hated running (which I love now) and wanted to lose weight, he informed me that cardio refers to how hard you work your heart, not how much you sweat or how hard you breathe. That it requires 30 minutes of sustained heart activity to shed pounds and that I could accomplish the same results on a stationary bike for 45 minutes that I would get out of a 30 minute jog, that it simply takes 15 minutes to get your heart rate up first.. That’s where it began...

The next 9 Months I spent every day in the gym, no weights, no supplements just biking and small portioned meals. I started with 45 minute bikingworkouts,by the end of 9 months I shed over 105 Lbs. and was doing 2 bike sessions a day, 1-2.5 hours each! I could not enjoy the praise and comments enough, people that knew me my entire life were amazed and those I met after my weight loss after did not believe I was heavy! I even carried a picture around as proof, now I wish I had more pics of myself as heavy. When I started working out I weighed myself for the first time in 6 months not knowing how big I had become. When I weighed myself it was 2 weeks after I started noticing results, at that 2 week mark with noticeable small weight loss accomplished I weighed 265! I am only 5'10" that’s borderline heading towards obesity. When all was said and done I weighed 160 Lbs. Then I decided I was a stick and need to pack on muscle, picked up a few books including Schwarzenegger's Encyclopedia to Body building and just ran with it. After a while I become a regular gym goer, dropped the apartment complex gym and started a membership with 24 Hour fitness.

This was really a turning point for me; I dropped all my bad habits and forced myself into interactions with people until I lost my social phobias, breaking completely out my shell! Unfortunately one of my worst and hardest habits to break, smoking stayed with me. After school my tumor came back bad! I had just become knowledgeable about building and was happier than ever, spending all my time socializing and exercising. I picked up the name Turbo by my friends because of the intensity and energy I brought into the gym and the energy the gym brought into the rest of my life. I would look forward everyday just to be in the gym counting down the minutes to my next workout. The tumor stunted all this; I had the surgery to have it removed and was bed ridden for 4 months, doped up on drugs. I lost my motivation and felt discouraged, all that hard work just to end up in bed eating poorly again.

My new gym friends came through; they visited me, encouraged me and most importantly motivated me to get back into the gym regardless of my back after it healed. It was a slow process as a spinal surgery like that is a big deal and it had created issues with all the compression that resulting from a Softball size tumor. I slowly got my Mojo back, back to being Turbo, back to being me!

I got where I felt comfortable with a little muscle but simply couldn't get past what I liked to call, “Flabs” or Fat-Abs which is where the layer of fat gives the appearance of a 4-pack in certain lighting with strong shadows, as the shape of the muscle below the fat kind of looks like its defined but really is not. I was only able to pack on about 10-15Lbs.some of which was muscle fluctuating between 175-185 Lbs. and seemed to stop making progress, something had to change.

About a year and a half ago I was getting ready to do bent over rows, an 85Lb dumbbell in each hand when some unprepared lifter couldn't handle his clean & jerk and bumped into me. My back had a large spasm for a minute, but I didn't realize how serious at the time. After a few angry words I went back to lifting, the next day I woke up begging to go to a hospital. Turns out I had just herniated 5 discs in my lower back which was vulnerable from my surgery. Not again! I thought..Devastated about losing my passion, my love of exercise, not being able to go workout crushed me. I went to every Dr. in town, no surgeon would touch me, cortizone shots were not effective according to the Dr.'s, not for me. My only choice was a change in lifestyle, I might be dealing with it the rest of my life and Dr.'s said I would probably never be a bodybuilding or lifter again, that it would be several years before my body could handle the stress and become strong again.

I spent the next 6 months in and out of physical therapy, chiropractors and yoga. These things helped but did not fix my back, and then I was introduced to my solution, prolotherapy. It’s a series of spinal injections to induce blood and healing in those areas, 3 excruciating sessions later I am able to walk up hill on a treadmill and lift moderate weights. Slowly I have been increasing my core, spinal strength and getting back to who I was. I missed runs like they were nothing, curling heavy weights without blinking; I wanted to get back there.

As of today I still cannot run, I have had 2 more sessions one in September and one in November. I realized though that I do not need to run, when looking the on web for new workouts and ways to lower my body fat I came across this site. Thanks to the abundant resources of members, articles, nutrition and workouts even at half capacity I am in the best shape of my life and its quickly getting better and better! It turns out that my body craves exercise, that strength training and treadmill work is accelerating the healing process of my back, to the point that I can do most movements, just nothing that involves compression. I cannot wait to tap into the full potential of this forum and cannot thank this site enough! Since signing up, I spend an easy 1-3 hours a day reading articles, looking at products and tips trying to become a better me. Learning about proper nutrition, constantly getting new exercise regiments and movements and learning everything and anything there is about supplementationhas not only given me a new insight, but incredible motivation! This sight is a godsend, the end all be all forum for learning anything you need to know about this sport and hobby. Late December I saw the 2013 100k transformation challenge, another level of motivation! Also the company/website, bodybuilding.com has provided the top notch motivation, tips and information I could not do without! Their excellent customer service not only gets me products within days of ordering, and I mean super-fast! But your customer service has resurrected my faith that there is still great, consumer, customer-first based companies that truly care about their customers. As a result I now have the confidence to try supplements I would never order, thanks to the great return policy and all the member reviews, I can really get an idea of what to expect, what people think and understand the actual benefits on the products. Unlike other supplement companies or stores, you guys are the best! Without this company and website, I doubt I would ever be as happy about my fitness goals, or as motivated to be a better me.
From this challenge, not only did it give me the tools and motivation to achieve my goals, I have gone from 180 Lbs. and 18% body fat to 157 Lbs. and 6.5% body fat!!! This challenge became important enough to me that I was able to accomplish probably the most difficult part of this transformation, to quit smoking! I am now a non-smoker, looking better and being healthier than I have ever been! For those who never smoked they may not understand, but for those who have, this is by far one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome, it is a powerful, nasty addiction that is incredibly hard to break free from! Thanks to bodybuilding.com’s 100k Transformation challenge, I have done just that, and acquired the dream body I always wanted. I used to think that the people I saw online with amazing physiques, where special or born that way, but now I know with proper information, tools and motivation, anyone can achieve this! Furthermore it has provided a level of structure, discipline and routine that has helped other aspects of my live thrive, such as work and nutrition! I can honestly say without these goals, exercise and this challenge, I would not be the person I am today. Without it, I might still be 100 Lbs. overweight, smoking, sitting in front of a computer all day long, miserable….shortening my life expectancy by the minute.
When it comes to my back it turns out that my body craves exercise, that strength training and treadmill work is accelerating the healing process of my back, to the point that I can do most movements, just nothing that involves compression. Learning about proper nutrition, constantly getting new exercise regiments and movements and learning how to lift safely has put me on the fast track to achieving my goals! Thanks to this competition, I feel like my fitness goals have a purpose, an aim and a tangible dream that can be achieved. I have never been happier or felt stronger than I do today, with the incredible help of my this site this competition and the idea of competing with myself has helped me become a stronger person, mentally, physically and emotionally.
I think most of us pack on a few pounds around the holidays, and I was no exception. With Thanksgiving and Christmas sweets, coupled with a round of spinal injections which puts me down for about a week, I was a victim to the holiday food. I saw the competition and thought, I can do this! I can be a better me, and set about signing up and learning the rules. I posted my before pictures, somewhat embarrassing, but it will be nice to see a strong before and after to see my real progress. Since Jan 4, I have done the following:

I read every article on this site I can about nutrition, it is true that your body is 70% gym, 30% kitchen if not even more! Learn your macros, based on your goals, weight and body type, determine how much fat, carbs and protein to take in. NO CHEATING! Clean Eating, no salts, no seasoning, no sauces, pure healthy organic food, lots of veggies! This was probably the hardest part, but with proper motivation, willpower and determination it comes down to, how bad do you want it?

Proper workouts, I learned that I need to give my body at least one rest day every 3 days, and be sure to work my legs! The body cannot grow past a certain point without working the lower body, I see too many people who avoid this but want to get bigger, that is how. Rest, Nutrition and Legs, without which the upper body will hit a plateau.

Proper supplementation, I learned which products will help me reach my goals and set about getting my hands on them.

Motivation:
I am more than motivated by this site, the transformation challenge and my aesthetic idol, steve cook! Training has given me my life back, with several large hurdles and injuries, weightlifting and exercise is the only thing that keeps me on track and helps my body heal. Without it I would still probably be in pain doing daily chores! The health benefits really motivate me and once I noticed my body changing I realized how far I can push myself! Also once I started I found out that my town, Santa Barbara CA has a bodybuilding and physique competition held by global physique on April 20th, so I added getting on stage as my goal as well. I hope one day to be like Steve Cook and not only reach my goals, but inspire others, help them feel the way that the motivational and inspirational posts online make me feel. Anyone, if they put their mind to it, can do this! It is a science that must be learned and controlled but as hear as kids, we can be anything we want to be! Just gotta want it and pursue it!

Nutrition:
I started by plan with trying to build muscle, taking in 3069 calories a day for 6 weeks, alternating proteins so different enzymes are in my stomach with each meal, size meals a day, carb loaded for my pre-workout and post workout. My meals consisted of Eggwhites/Oatmeal for breakfast, Meal 2 was Broccoli and Beef (96% fat free) to ensure enough fat in my diet, Meal 3 is Lean ground turkey (99% fat free) with 5 oz of mixed greens, apple cider vinegar to taste and 2 Tablespoons of olive oil for taste and fats. Meal 4 is usually my pre-workout consisting of wildrice and chicken, Meal 5 my post-workout is Lean Turkey and Yams, Meal 6 2 hours before bed is Chicken, Broccoli and Almonds (for fat). However, I followed all advice and have a Re-Feed day, that is on my weakest body part(legs) I take in an extra 200-400 calories mainly in carbs, and drop my fats. No almonds, no olive oil. This helps my body keep guessing and provides the glycogen that sometimes seems to wear out. I spend several hours a week, usually on the weekends, with good music, cooking and cleaning dishes to prepare my meals throughout the week, carefully weighing each one out to make sure they stay within my macros. With a fridge full of tupperware labeled, I am ready for each week, as work at a desk I need to bring 3-4 meals with me to work each day as I eat every 2-3 hours. The only protein shake I take is during my workouts to make sure my body receives the protein in needs to recover as my cardio comes AFTER my weights, to ensure my glycogen is used for my muscles, and I can target the free fatty acids, sipping on BCAAs while on the treadmill, walking very aggressively uphill.

Cutting:
After 6 weeks of 3069 calories, the scale and my mirror told me I had packed on 11 pounds of lean muslce! Granted much of that is water weight, the mirror does not lie, I was bigger and leaner than ever! With my show in mind and this competition closing in, I decided to start trying to lean out. I reduced my caloric intake to 2222 calories, about 500 less than I need to maintain weight, with the change in diet I am dropping about a pound a week and seeing definition, veins and muscles I never knew I had! From time to time its tough with my body strugglin to adapt and my energy levels are certainly lower with less carbs, but thank you bodybuilding.com for your supplements! Continued with my Dymatize Iso-100 shake while working out.

Workouts:
The only change i made for my lifting between bulking and cutting was my rep ranges, which I still vary regardless of which stage i am in, to shock the muscles as much as possible, but for strength and size I lift in the 6-12 rep range, and for definition, separation and cutting usually 8-15 reps. I have a three day workout split, with one active rest day, which is usually a light cardio and light abs. I do abs on my leg day as well to get my heart rate up on the start of my workout, as i do not do cardio on leg day. My split is as follows: Chest/Triceps (these groups work together already!) Legs, Shoulders and Abs. Back and Biceps(these also work together) Then active rest day (cardio and abs) and repeat! Also, no two workouts are ever the same! I constantly change the angles, exercise or simply the order I hit them in order to maximize muscle confusion, sometimes this will include doing shoulders, then legs on one day, then next time legs then shoulders to ensure that each time I rotate, a muscle group gets more attention then the previous muscle group to ensure proportion and symmetry in my physique. I sip throughout my workout on 1 scoop of dymatize iso-100 with a small amount of dextrose as fuel to ensure my muscles never go into a catabolic state until I am done lifting, which is when I start my cardio while drinking BCAAs. During my workouts, instead of the, lift as much you can! idea, or worrying about what the guy next to you is lifting, I stick to lighter weights, slow controlled movements with two BIG ideas in mind. 1. Negatives create muscle separation and definition! The negative of a move is just as important as the positive, I explode up in the positive and go into the negative as slowly and controlled as possible. Just as important if not more, is the TUT idea, Time Under Tension, I see most people do their movements and after each curl or rep, the muscle relaxes even for a split second, this is not TUT. The muscle should remain engaged throughout the entire range until the set is done, this can be the different between turning your wrist when doing dumbbell curls at the bottom of the extension, keeping it supinated, keeps the muscle under tension! This is crucial! It is not about moving as much weight as you can, but a controlled, sustained contraction. Without building upon your legs, 70% of your testosterone comes from here, the upper body can not grow. But with TUT, focused contractions, nutrition and consistency progress is sure to come!

Supplementation:
When it comes to building muscle or supplements for that matter I try to keep it simple but there are a few key supps I would not go without. As a man nearing 30, I know my testosterone levels are probably lower then they used to be, so I purchased the Animal Stak for building which has a test booster on a 21 day cycle. I use micronized flavorless creatine to help build as well, of course protein is a must so I take 1 scoop of Dymatize Iso-100 chocolate in the gym with me every workout! I have BCAAs after my workout, with some silk aminos as well to ensure recovery, followed by glutamine during my post-work out meal! Nutrition! Nutrition! Nutrition. I play around with my pre-workouts but always go for a product that has strong levels of arginine nitrate, beta-alanine as this gives me the most explosive pumps, I try to avoid anything with caffeine which can act as a vaso-constrictor, vaso-dialators are the way to go! Personally I have been using C4 and feel like it gives me an explosive non -jittery boost. I also really enjoy Muscle Pharm's assault! That is the extent of my bulk supps, it doesn't take much, but the supps are nothing without a high enough caloric intake and LEGS!! 70% of your test, and ability to grow comes from the legs, do not skip them!

For cutting supplements:
Again it’s all nutrition, but to help and give me a boost, I drink green tea, or take green tea extract, a CLA, I really like the CLK by cellucor, has L-Carnitine and ketones that really help cut. Also I take a pro-biotic and daily vitamin to help make sure my body gets all the nutrients it needs and support healthy digestion, I have been trying Activite and really like it. Lastly a fat burner, I like the Super HD by cellucor, but somedays I feel more tired than others so I tried hydroxycut, the caffeine boost really helps but I feel too jittery and cracked out. I think Inciner-8 by bodybuilding.com was a good balanced thermogenic for my tolerance levels. Also it has the CLA and Raspberry Ketones which help the cut process. But above all, again, Nutrition!!!

With all this in mind and the excellent support, motivation and information available on bodybuilding.com, I have been able to achieve my fitness goals slowly but surely. More progress is yet to come, but I could not have done it without the wonderful people, behind the scenes and online at bodybuilding.com! Thank you for creating such an invaluable resource of products, information and like-minded individuals!
I would like to personally thank bodybuilding.com for the ultimate resource, global physique for putting on this show(my next goal), and give a special thank you to my girl, Fueled Sports Performance, Brian Hofer, Wesley Wilson Fitness and Adam Shipley for helping me get not only back on track, but getting me closer to my goals than ever! Also I could not feel right with myself without thanking all the wonderful people at gold crest LLC, where I work, that have supported me during my injuries, and especially all the meals I would bring to work and eat at my desk every day!

I would also like to point out to all those who feel like they do not have time to prep meals and hit the gym regularly that at first it can seem overwhelming but I was able to do all this while attending online classes at about 40 hours per week obtaining my MBA. I am currently 3/4 into my first year of the program, time management is a very important skill to hone but with it you can achieve so much more!

I love the way I feel in the gym, physically and emotionally. It provides an environment that relieves stress and helped me break out of my shell and be the person I was meant to be. Some people count the minutes until their workout is done, I count the minutes until its time for my workout! That is how much I look forward to it, I go to sleep everynight planning my workouts next day, dreaming about being healthier, and looking great! Nothing makes me feel as good as when I have a great workout, those endorphins, that high you get, better than any alcohol or drug! I do not just feel like I can be a better me, but the gym helps me discover myself, my strengths, my weakness, it builds the discipline that can be used towards other goals in life, provides structure and stability for me, and most importantly, it helps me become closer and closer to the person I not only want to be, the person I am meant to be! On top of the in-the-gym feeling I get, the praise and surprise of friends and family is an incredible motivator and great feeling in its own! My transformation has started to inspire those closest to me, more and more I get asked about my diet, nutrition, workouts and supplements. Nothing makes me happier than knowing I have had a positive impact on others, hearing some one say that I motivate or inspire them is one of the greatest feelings in the world. If my transformatoin gets just one person off the couch and in the gym, than I feel extremely rewarded. It is crazy how much my mood revolves around my workouts now, a good workout is a good day, a bad workout is a learning experience to analyze what I can do better next time. One of my favorite ideas is that we are not competing with everyone else, but only ourselves. I like to think of it as, you should only try to be better tomorrow than you were today! I compete with myself, and myself only!

Life does not get easier, we just get stronger.

Pain is weakness leaving the body.

Abs are made in the kitchen!