Tell us a little about yourself and why you decided to make a change to your health?
I decided to make a change to my health when I was in my doctors office and he told me that I was pre diabetic, hypertensive (high blood pressure), cholesterol was highly elevated, and other key indicators starting to spike.
This was all around when I was 22 and my doctor said given this information I would probably not live to see 40. I had lied to myself for years that since I played American football I needed to be big. I was an offensive lineman in high school so most all of my friends were big, so I never felt like I was that out of control.
When I went to college and stopped playing sports, I gained more weight because I lowered the intensity of my activity and increased the amount of pizza, partying, and lowered the amount of sleep. I continued to be active even when big but the more I lifted, the more I ate. The last time I stepped on a scale I was 315 lbs but the highest number I weighed is likely more. All of these factors and more all made it very clear that a change was needed.
What goals did you achieve since adding fasting into your life?
Since adding fasting to my life roughly 5 years ago I have lost another 40 pounds and have kept it off even while becoming a top professional competitive eater. I was featured on Jim Stoppani’s website highlighting my journey and how extreme of an intermittent fasting case study I am. The best goal I have accomplished is the ability to connect with other people, whether big or small, who want to or have just started their journey and helping to motivate, inspire, and help them succeed.
Anything else you would like to share?
You can do it! It seems crazy to not eat for these extended periods of times but you CAN and WILL DO IT!
Learn from our experiences and mistakes and do it better. The day I started searching for lifestyles and not diets I became successful. Find what works for you and keep doing it! I am keto most days but that is to further create a deficit because my eating competitions I can sometimes have over 2000g of carbs. I workout 6-7 days a week because I love it but if that isn’t for you just getting active can do wonders. 2 simple 10 minute walks a day or a few full-body workouts throughout the week will help jump-start this process. I tell people there are days when you just cannot make it to the gym but you are pretty much going to eat every day so our nutrition game needs to be more on point than our fitness routines. I workout full body every workout but focus on a major body group before hitting the rest of the muscle groups. I do cardio a few days a week that is high intensity. These workouts are designed around my goals of being more athletic. The results and how I feel are all the motivation I need.
Instagram: @adventures_of_heavy_d/