DETERMINATION: You can absolutely, 100% do it, as long as you really want it!

My change in lifestyle has affected my life in a variety of positive ways, many of which I did not event expect.

Throughout college and my life as a young professional, I found it difficult to stay on track and get my work done.


I was disorganized and unmotivated. As I began to take control of my diet and training, I began to feel more confident, and this translated directly to other areas of my life such as work and social life.


At one point in my college career, I felt as though graduating and getting my degree was unlikely. I had trouble focusing on school, because I was unhappy with my body and lacked self-confidence.


I know how you feel, because I've been there so many times before. I have felt unmotivated, discouraged, and defeated. You owe it to yourself to do the things that motivate you and make yourself feel great, and if one of those things is improve your body, then you need to know that you can absolutely, 100% do it, as long as you really want it.


Nobody is going to change your body or your life, except you, and the determination you have. There are no miracle diets, pills or supplements that are going to do it for you. 


It has to come from within, and when you do make the changes in lifestyle and training that lead to the body you want, you will have a great sense of accomplishment and achievement, knowing that you did so with nothing but your own determination and will.


I know you can do it!

COMMITMENT: CONSISTENCY, MOTIVATION, PATIENCE and KNOWLEDGE

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I have been working on transforming my body for the past 8 months. I can say despite me wanting to change my body over these 5 years, I was only 100% committed in my diet and training for the last 5 months.

In these past 5 months however, I have seen enormous changes in my body, due to adherence to only a few key principles. Commitment and devotion to training and diet are they key to the results that we all want.

I belive very much in the old cliche "you only get what you put in". This saying undoubtedly rings true in many different areas in life, but I feel that it really applies to bodybuilding / exercise and improving one's health and quality of life.

Some of the keys to my success have been:

CONSISTENCY (In training and diet)

I train 6 days a week, and never miss a session. As for my diet, I personally stick to a "targeted low carb diet", taking a a relatively low number of carbs 6 days per week, with the majority of my carbs being ingested directly before and after my workout.

As I began to maintain consistency, I saw the gradual changes in my body, and became almost addicted to the feeling of bettering myselft in the gym and seeing the results in the mirror.

MOTIVATION

It is completely natural to sometimes lack the drive and desire to get into the gym and maintain a healthy diet day after day, week after week.

I keep myself on track and motivated in a variety of ways; I keep a mental image of what I want my body to look like in my head, and think about how great I'm going to feel once I achieve this long term goal, and having my "dream body". This type of mental imaging and goal setting is powerful and motivating.

I look to others as motivation as well. I have an enormouse folder of inspirational images and qoutes on my computer, that I often find myself looking at before I head to the gym. Of course, I also view pictures of my crushes in facebook. Kidding aside.

I also make sure to keep my iPhone loaded with music that gets my blood flowing and gets me pumped up to have a great session in the gym or running outdoors.

KNOWLEDGE

Learning about different exercises, techniques, dieting principles, and nutritional information has been incredibly helpful to me in my pursuit of a body that I am happy with.

For years I didn't know about what to eat, when to eat, how much rest or recovery time my body needed, and what types of exercises would suit my goals best. I am learning new things about nutrition and exercise everyday, and with this new found knowledge, I'm able to maximize the time I put into the gym, and thus see results faster.

PATIENCE

It took me 8 months to achieve what I thought to be a short term goal of like 2-3 months. The reason it took me so long, is because I lacked the four very basic principles I have outlined here. I lacked consistency, in that I would commit myself to exercise for a few weeks, and then neglect my training for weeks or sometimes even months on end.

In addition, I knew little about nutrition, so much of the time I was putting in at the gym wasn't being used to its full potential anyway due to my lack of knowledge. I lacked the motivation to change my habits, my body, and my life, because I wasn't seeing immediate results.

Results in the gym don't happen overnight, they happen over weeks and months of consistent work and proper nutrition. That doesn't mean that it's going to take someone 1-2 years to achieve their goals, because in fact, I feel like if I could do it all over again, putting 100% in effort in consistency, keeping myself motivated, attaining relevant knowledge, and maintaining a little bit of patience, I'm extremlt confident I could have made the same transformation in well under one year.

People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy

 The past 8 months of my life has been amazing. I can't begin to tell you how much has changed and what has happened. I never thought that 8 months ago, I would be inspiring a lot of people. Life is amazing and I'm thankful everyday for this gift. I was given a second chance to change my life. The story of how I got to such a bad situation is as important as how I got to where I am today. 


It is a story that deals with depression, faith, overcoming, confidence, fear, hope, challenges, motivation and friendship.


Key bad habits I dropped? EVERYTHING I USED TO EAT!


I went from my high weight of 248 pounds down to my lowest at 187 pounds in less than 7 months.


The first 10 pounds were from healthy diet and jogging alone. Then I hit a plateau and that's when I started exercising really hard, both weight training and cardio, and lost the next 40 pounds.


I went from not exercising at all, to working out like a freaking mad man, pretty much 6-7 days a week. Varying muscle sets.


I'd really like to say the old cliche, "If I could do it, anyone can do it,"

To be totally honest, I'm not so sure if this is true. You see, I have this little thing which is typically looked as a psychological issue, or problem, called obsessive / compulsiveness. 


So many years ago, when I decided I was going to do build and modify computers, I just put a stupid amount of my time and energy into doing just that. And so I succeeded. Never mind that I blew off having a real career, or possible retirement someday. 


So anyway, I'm not sure if this is what you wanted to hear. I mean, how can you teach somebody to just throw out 90% of every important thing that normally runs through their minds, and replace it all with health and fitness?


Would you even want them to do that? One thing's for sure, if they did this, they would almost certainly end up reaching 99% of their genetic potential or more. 


Anyway, I guess there are a lot of worse things for a person to go off the deep end with, other than health and fitness. 

Stay tuned, I'm just getting started. If I could make this kind of change in 18 months, I can't wait to see where I'm at by my 28th birthday that is about 4 months from now as of this writing. 

I can only speak from my experience

I can only speak from my experience, I was an obese person, but for how long? I used to hate pictures of myself, I was really mad when i looked myself in the mirror.


I have been alone for years, no girlfriend and not going out because i was ashamed of myself. If you identify with these things, well, you need to change. 


The best feeling in the world is when people see you on the street and make this big amazing surprised face because you are looking younger, great and healthier. Another great feeling is to fit in normal size modern clothes.


Are you demotivated? Find the reason! Take a picture of yourself every month so you will see the changes and be motivated every time. Know that you are eating to keep your body healthy and fine. Just think in long term, your body will thank you for that.


When you reach your goal, you will feel powerful, invincible, that you can achieve whatever you want in life. Let me tell you that this feeling leaves you speechless and so happy every second of your life. It will worth the fight and the sacrifices, just keep doing it and results will come.

Some weight loss pointers

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO START


No matter how much you are currently overweight, obese or out of shape you are, you can always start making changes and imporove your life. 


Forget about yesterday and focus all your energy into making smart choices for you
to live a healthier life. 




FOOD IS A VERY POWERFUL DRUG


You can use it to make yourself very sick or you can decide to use it to effectively fuel and energize your body. Try to research different foods and learn about the multitude of ways nutritious foods would impact your body in a positive way. Learning how and what you are eating is important




BE VERY CONSCIOUS


When you sit down to eat a meal, try to ask yourself if this food is helping you reach your goals or is it setting you back. A lot of people I know simply eat without thinking about what they are putting into their bodies. It's like shoveling the food into their faces. They consume foods unconsciously. Try to relax and truly enjoy every bite of the food you have prepared for yourself.




PRE-PLAN YOUR MEALS


This is very crucial. If you don't have a plan, it will be very difficult to choose the right foods to attain your ideal physique. Keep nutritious foods at your home and especially at work. Maybe have a bag of nuts at your desk so that you will have access to these quality foods when you are hungry. 

How long did it take me to start seeing the results?

Within about about 1 month of going to the gym, I started feeling very active and my srength levels go way up. My energy level was really high and I couldn't wait to get back in the gym to train. When I added cardio workouts and a clean diet to my overall fitness plan, the changes were incredible.


To this day, I am still halfway through my weight loss progress, I can still see changes in my physique over the course of at least a week or two when my nutritional plan is on. 

When I tighten up my diet and really focusing on the the foods I eat, the changes start showing up in a matter of days. Unfortunately, this can go the other way also. 


If I take a few days or weeks off and when I consume more calories, the mirror doesn't lie. I have always found it fascinating that with small changes on what I eat and my training at the gym, one can make noticeable changes in their physique. 

As of this writing, I am currently on my 7th month of strict training and diet to reach my ideal weight of 73 kilos. Currently my walking weight is between 87-90 kg. I lost already around 20 kg since I started going to the gym last March 13, 2011.

The most important changes I made and the most challenging about losing weight

From the three elements (clean food, weight training and cardio), my diet was probably the most important aspect which helped changed my physique. When I decided to be very disciplined with the foods I consume, the changes were incredible.

I have always been a person who loves to eat and with a huge appetite. During those days I was still working in a call center, I would indulge in everything from greasy fast food to very sweet desserts. I don't have control over what I am eating. 


The most challenging thing for me was adhering to a strict nutritional plan and cutting out most of my favorite foods. I then learned early on that these so called favorite foods were triggers and these would instantly affect my appetite. 


Let's say if I had a small piece of dessert or some fast food, it would trigger my hunger and it was almost impossible to back down from eating more. I focused on more nutritious foods to fuel my body.


Within about 3 to 4 weeks, my craving went down and my tastes started changing. My usual habits and routines started to change. I was focused to prepare healthy and nutrient dense foods all the time. 


Of course, I still get craving once in a while but I decided to choose healthier foods to eat. Choosing the healthier alternatives have cut down on my overall calories and still leave me feeling satisfied.