"In early 2015, at age 59 I was overweight and wore XXXL shirts and had a 44 in waist. Early in 2015, a good friend of mine with a similar weight issue but 10 years younger, had a stroke that changed his life forever. I looked at this as a warning sign to myself.
My father, who was living at the time, had been telling me for 2-3 yrs to lose 50lbs. (He passed away in 2017 at age 97). I thought months about my fathers wishes to lose 50lbs and thought about my friends stroke until one random day around Mid Aug 2015 , when I woke up out of bed and told myself today is the day I’m going to change my diet and change my life. I wanted to show my father that I could lose weight and thought I better do it before he dies. That day I told my wife that I needed her help to change my nutrition by making me non fat foods high in protein with little to no sugar and no salt. I started eating lots of baked chicken breast, lots of salads, lots of baked Tilapia fish. On Sept 1 2015, at age 59, I joined my gym. I weighed in at 299 lbs with a 44 inch waist. I was overweight for nearly 18 years up to this point.
In my gym I worked out on weights and did about 45min-1hr of cardio every day. I was determined to lose 50 lbs. About 3 months into my journey, after losing about 15 lbs, a friend of mine said I should try bodybuilding. Actually, I had this life long dream since age 17 to become a bodybuilder and compete on stage. I never did it until my friends suggestion. That was the spark I needed and I told myself I’m going to make it my goal to get on stage sometime in 2016.
My weight started dropping and at least twice in the next few months I had to change my wardrobe from wearing XXXL shirts to wearing L size. That was a great feeling. By May of 2016, I had lost 8 inches off my waist (from 44in in September down to 36in in May) and I had list 63 lbs. And on Memorial Day 2016, I got on stage at the famous Muscle Beach in Venice CA to compete in my first ever bodybuilding competition. Since age 17, I had this dream to compete and there on Memorial Day, my dream came true. I placed 6th out of 8 men in my class. I actually placed ahead of 2 other men. That motivated me to the point where I entered 6 more contests in 2016 & 2017 and have trophies from all of which 3 were first place trophies.
My father was extremely pleased at my weight loss and he was ecstatic over the the way I looked now. He bragged to everyone about my accomplishment of losing weight. I have posted many pics on IG of my progress. I have received so many texts on Instagram from people around the world telling me how my story and transformation photos have inspired them to exercise.
To know that I have inspired so many men and women means more than winning any bodybuilding trophy. I never had imagined that I would ever inspire anyone. I am turning 64 on Jan 20 and still get emails from people who follow me and tell me how much I have inspired them.
I’m hoping that my gym will open up again where I can start training hard again as I would like to compete at least one more time. Since 2016 to now, I’ve been in the best shape of my life.
