David Transformed His Bulk Into Brick

Vital Stats

Name: David "Mace" Macek
Email: djmacek@student.ysu.edu


Before: Age: 18 Height: 5'9" Weight: 225 lbs Body Fat: 24%	After: Age: 18 Height: 5'9" Weight: 160 lbs Body Fat: 12%

Why I Got Started

In high school I played football for a town in Ohio called Boardman and I was a strong lineman at 225 pounds and placing in area lifting meets. I was strong, yet I had some unsightly body fat I wanted to get rid of since middle school. I was also always self-conscious of taking my shirt off to go swim with friends and I wanted to lose weight so I could feel better about the way I looked.

I would have started this plan to lose weight earlier, but I loved being a lineman so much, and I would have to change positions if I weighed any less, so years in advance I planned to lose a majority of my excess body fat after my senior football season. Unfortunately, I got an early start on my diet.

During week 5 of the season, I broke my leg and was done for good and had a chance to being named first team all league. As soon as the doctor told me I would be missing the rest of my games I decided to start changing my bad eating habits and the ball kept rolling from there.

Signed rock in the background, chiseled physique in the foreground.

How I Did It

I first started cutting back on the amount of fast food I ate. I work at my high school job, Taco Bell, so it is hard to stay away from fast-food completely for me. Instead of eating there I started packing my own lunch and dinners. If I did decide to eat at the store I would eat the lower calorie items like salads and gorditas. From my dieting I now basically know the calorie and protein content of every Taco Bell food item.

I also started just cutting back on portion sizes when my mom cooks dinner. I stopped going up for seconds and even began to measure portion sizes with a digital scale. I also started dividing my food up into 5-6 smaller meals instead to 3 big ones. I also used the Lose it! App for the iPhone to track how many calories I ate in a day and how much protein and carbs I was consuming. I continued what I learned from playing Boardman Football on how to exercise.

I lift 4 days per week and do 4 days of cardio. I mix it up between steady rate jogging and high intensity interval training, running 110s and 350s on the high school track. I learned how to properly lift and run thanks to my 4 years of playing football. We lifted 4 days per week there and did sprints during the summer. Thinking of the values that I learned from my football coaches kept me motivated to lose the weight. They taught me to never give up, get through workouts, and dedication. I was also self-motivated at the reward of looking better and feeling better about myself. My metal head music helps me power through workouts and it motivates me to accomplish my goals.

I have a set of goals posted above my laptop in my room that I want to accomplish in bodybuilding and school. This reminded me every day what I set out for myself to do. What kept and still keeps me going are all the compliments I received from all my friends, family, and co-workers on how good I looked. Some couldn't believe it was me and I lost all that weight. Some people I haven't seen in a while didn't even recognize me at my graduation party.