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Name: Brian
Before: March 2007
After: January 2008
As my family grew and we started having kids, it seems like I also started to grow in all the wrong places. I gained about 15 lbs with each kid. Weight gain is not just for women in that regard.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Brian's Progress. I had always been relatively strong and was regularly kidded by colleagues in my former career as a firefighter about being a bit of a strongman; I just didn't know how to eat. I had been trained to eat by parents raised during the Depression of the 1940s: You never left anything on your plate. I had tried on many occasions to curb the weight gain to the point of prescription medication.
 Click Image To Enlarge.I Gained About 15 Lbs With Each Kid. I knew things were getting serious when my doctor told me how overweight I was. Frustration turned into denial and more weight gain as the stresses of life compounded. It got to the point where I would rarely even look at myself in the mirror. Now, since I have transformed -- there is a great deal of novelty to walking by mirrors! I keep wondering when that is going to wear off. I hardly recognize my self at times.
 Click Image To Enlarge.There Is A Great Deal Of Novely To Walking By Mirrors. I literally feel 15 years younger. Many of the positive things in regards to health and well being since I got the weight off I honestly didn't anticipate and it is amazing to me the number of friends and business clients that are "wowed" by the how different I look and the plans they are making now to do something similar. It has been a mind blowing ride.  How I Did It
I have always been a gym rat. Since I was active duty in the US Air Force I had always been engaged in weight training on some level. I was an avid reader of muscle magazines, but I was always focused on this or that thing to do in the gym and never really gave much thought to what I was doing in the kitchen.
 Click Image To Enlarge.I Have Always Been A Gym Rat. When I got as focused in the kitchen as I did in the gym in the Spring of 2007, change came. When I look back, I was incremental in how I did things. It all started with a conversation I had with my brother who had some success with the Zone Diet, and I applied some of the Zone principles and it worked.
Initially, I just stopped feeding at night - nothing after 5:00 or 6:00 PM. I was amazed that doing that alone I was dropping 2-3 lbs a week. I took the next step: I cut processed and starchy carbs from my diet, a Zone idea: corn chips, potatoes, popcorn, bread, white rice and pasta. I took in carbs only from fruit and veggies for several months. The weight loose continued at a steady clip of 3-4 lbs a week.
 Click Image To Enlarge.I Was Dropping 2-3 Lbs A Week. Realize in the back drop, as this diet was evolving, I was hitting it hard in the gym. I was doing at least an hour of weight training and 20-40 minutes of shirt soaking aerobics daily. Another measure I had to take: I quit eating what the wife was fixing for the kids. That really torqued her off for a while, but when she began to see how I was changing, she hopped on the band wagon herself and joined Weight Watchers and dropped a couple of dress sizes herself.
 Click Image To Enlarge.I Quit Eating What The Wife Was Making For The Kids. After I got down below 200 lbs and had gone through a couple of wardrobes [I went from size 44 pants to 38, then to 34] I decided now it is time to start putting on muscle. That is the next project.
I am a hug fan of Universal's Animal products. They work well, and do all that they advertise. The Higher Power products are great too and quite affordable.
Currently, I am eating 8 meals a day - about every two hours. In the late afternoon and evening, I take in little to no carbs. If you are not planning, you are planning to fail.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Brian. I spend a couple of hours each weekend in the kitchen filling containers with meals for the coming week. It fills a rack in my fridge, but makes it so easy as I bolt out the door each morning.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Brian. I just fill the cooler and go. You can do this cheaply too. The portions all fit into a 2 1/2 cup Ziplock container. Eggs, lean ground beef, chicken, canned tuna and yogurt are my major sources of whole protein. You keep things interesting by having a variety of salad dressings to season stuff with.
7:30 AM: 9:30 AM: 11:30 AM: 1:30 PM: 3:30 PM: 5:30 PM: 7:30 PM:
My training always changes. I never do the same workout twice. I mix it up every single week. I might use the same workout "pattern" and change the grip on each movement for variety, reverse the workout order or do the exercises in a Push-Pull configuration, like is listed below.
 Click Image To Enlarge.My Training Always Changes. There is loads of information available on here in the articles section as well as the Fit Show to keep things interesting and intense. You gotta move heavy weight and keep it challenging. Aerobics are done 2-3 times a week, max level, no more than 20 minutes.
Chest Dips: 2 x 15 Deadlift: 2 x 15 Dumbbell Bench Press: 2 x 15 Bent Over Barbell Row: 2 x 15 Dumbbell Incline Press: 2 x 15 Standing Calve Raises: 3 x 15
Flat Crunches/Ab Roller: Min 6 Sets Bench Leg Raises: Min 6 Sets Calf Press On The Leg Press Machine: 3 x 15
Squat: 2 x 15 Leg Press: 4 x 15 Hack Squat Machine: 2 x 15 Dumbbell Lunges:4 x 6 Seated Calf Raise: 3 x 15 Exercise Ball Crunches: 2 x 15
Dumbbell Military Press: 2 x 15 Barbell Shrugs: 2 x 15 Seated Lateral/Alternating Front Raise: 2 x 15 Dumbbell Shrugs: 2 x 15 Hanging Leg Raises: 2 x 15 Standing Calf Raises: 3 x 15
Weighted Bench Dips: 2 x 15 Dumbbell Preacher Curls: 2 x 15 Skull Crushers: 2 x 15 Incline Dumbbell Curl: 2 x 15 Close Grip Bench Press: 2 x 15 Calf Press On The Leg Press Machine: 3 x 15 Crunches: 1 x 300
Get a workout partner. This has been key to getting where I have gotten. Knowing I am going to meet someone at the gym gets me there on time and it creates a cool sense of reward when you know someone else is depending on your encouragement and vice a versa. Build in some accountability with some one else in what ever you are doing with a workout partner or even a trainer. Maintain a bodyblog here at www.bodybuilding.com and interact with people who are where you want to be.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Brian. Take pictures of yourself monthly and keep track of how things are going. Weigh yourself weekly with the same scale, on the same day of the week and the same time of day so you have a realistic gage if things are going the way you want. Be patient. Post your pictures and stats on your bodyspace and have others assist in evaluating your progress. This community has been so supportive of me.
Thanks of all the guys and gals that have encouraged me as the transformation has unfolded as well as the group of guys in the "Challenges" that I have engaged with. If I could take you all out for an egg white omelette, I would! Keep images in front of yourself of who you want to become. I have got a wall covered with posters I bought from www.animalpak.com in my office/shop and I have bodybuilder's shots glued into the workout log I use at the gym. Visuals are important. Try new supplements as you can and never do the same workout twice. Most importantly, get a consistent diet figured out and establish a new "normal" in how you eat. You are really spinning your wheels if you are not as focused in the kitchen as you are in the gym.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Brian. Whether you are wanting to gain or loose, the battle is not won or lost at the squat rack, but at the kitchen counter. Plan, be consistent and relentless and you will get there.
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