Aurora, CO
"Growing up I was always a “fat kid”, tipping the scales at almost 300 lbs by the time I graduated high school. Deeply insecure about my appearance and health with almost nonexistent self-esteem, I struggled with anorexia, bulimia, and substance abuse as I transitioned into adulthood and then into my early 20’s. I lost a lot of weight very rapidly, which I obviously gained back and then some as soon as I started eating again and stopped any of my own unhealthy practices in my desperation to be “skinny”.
It wasn’t until my mid-20’s that a good friend dragged me to the gym with him and started showing me the ropes with weightlifting. I was so intimidated by literally EVERYONE in the gym, but he kept motivating me to come with him so that’s what I did. After about a month or so I started noticing some changes in my physique. And I started to realize that I was actually enjoying the time I was spending at the gym. I started talking to others and watching them so I could learn more and more. My eyes were opened to this whole new world for me. I had finally found something in life that I was really passionate about.
As I got older and into my 30’s I really started treating myself as a science experiment with everything I had learned. I started learning more about PROPER diet and played around with different foods to see what they would do to my body in combination with weightlifting. It really was pretty fascinating to me that there were so many variations of different food combinations based I what I wanted the result to be.
I’m now 39 years old. Just a few months shy of 40 and I’m in the greatest shape I’ve ever been in. I’m physically able to do things that I never could have done in my youth. Because of that I also decided to give it a go competing and am currently prepping for a show in November. It can be really grueling at times, but I’ve learned over the years that if you don’t constantly continue to push forward, you’re just going backwards. There is no staying the same."