My Story:

Going into business for myself was the best thing I ever did professionally, but it was the worst thing possible for me personally. 6 years of long hours and a singular focus on making my companies successful, made my social life and health suffer tremendously. When I started my entrepreneurial journey back in 2009, I had just lost 100 pounds, from 375 down to about 275. I felt great; like a new person, and I didn't plan on stopping there.

Well 6 years later on February 9, 2015, I weighed in at 386.4. Gaining back that 100 pounds and some. And I was now 35 years old. How depressing.

A few weeks prior, I had went to the emergency room because I couldn't get my heart rate down. I thought I was having a heart attack, I thought that was it, the end, I had finally pushed my body too far. After an EKG and a bag of fluids, my heart rate and blood pressure came down to normal level and it was determined I was ok, but was advised to see my doctor.

My doctor gave me two options, weight loss surgery or exercising and eating healthy. And he gave me one year if I was going to try on my own. Never backing down from a challenge and not loving the idea of my first surgery, nor the deflated, emaciated, skinny fat body type of most weight loss surgery patients, I decided to give one last go at exercise and eating healthy and changing my lifestyle.

So I reached out to a guy I went to high school with, who was a bodybuilding coach and competitor and asked him for help. 3 hours later, I hired him and it was the best decision I had ever made. Asking for help is hard, but sometimes it is the best decision you can make. You don't always have to do everything on your own.

10+ months in and I am lifting weight I never thought was possible. I thought my lifting days were over; my prime was over, left forever on the football field in high school. Fortunately that was not the case and 15 years of carrying around over 300lbs. has prepped my body tremendously well for the work I'm putting in now.

My goals currently are very different than when I started back in February and they have changed multiple times. At first I wanted to train and compete in powerlifting with a lifetime goal of a 1500lb. total. Although I am naturally strong and I have no doubt I could achieve that goal with it being my singular focus, I have since discovered I am pretty athletic as well. Something I had not realized until I put a solid 6 months into training and could do things that others could not at 300+ pounds. This has me curious what I'll be able to do at 275, 250, 225, etc. And that I might not want to mold my training around the specificity needed to compete in powerlifting.

So for now, I am keeping my goals fluid and just enjoying my new found life. I'm playing racquetball, hiking, mountain biking, hopefully snow skiing this winter and anything else that I find fun. I also gave up on having a specific goal weight. It could be 250, it could be 200, I dunno. I am looking forward to getting back on a calorie surplus at some point and feeding my body what it needs to gain real strength now that I have a healthy relationship with food.

A work in progress… to be continued…

-Josh