about me

My story starts exactly how it is stated on the welcome page of this site. I was very active as a young man, but when I got invested in my career in college, I essentially reduced my activity down to zero and allowed myself to eat a very poor diet. This resulted in me gaining a lot of weight. In fact, at my biggest, I was 310lbs. The first few pictures you see here are of me at my biggest.

I really didn’t process how unhealthy and out of shape I was until after I became a professor and started teaching classes. This required me to stand on my feet for 75 minutes straight multiple times a day. By that point, my health had deteriorated to such a state that my back just couldn’t handle standing for longer than 15 minutes before it would start to spasm. I struggled to tie my shows each day, because I couldn’t reach down far enough even when I was sitting. I never dared to sit on the floor–something I actually like to do, oddly enough–because I couldn’t breath nor sit in a comfortable position.

Even though I was super out of shape, I dreamt of getting back in shape and being able to do the things I used to do like skateboard, ride my bike, go on a vacation (where I had enough energy to actually do things other than eat), tie my shoes, sit on the floor, or go for a run. Honestly, I often got jealous when I saw people out doing these types of things. I would ask myself, why can’t I do it? So one day, I was fed up, and I decided that the answer was that I needed to make the changes in my life, no matter what!

In fact, I remember that day vividly. It was a Saturday, I felt so clear headed, and I knew that it was time for me to really change. I was so pumped up, I grabbed my old skateboard from before college, and went outside to try to see if I could still do an ollie (jump up on the skateboard). I did it in the grass, because honestly, I was kind of scared. I could still do one even at 300+ lbs. I felt like it was a sign from the universe that I really should start my journey.

I started on my nutrition first. Let me just give you an idea on how I used to eat. I ate out for every meal, including snacks. I never cooked at home, and I would eat candy and drink soda like it was nobody’s business. I would often have Hardee’s breakfast (sausage and gravy with scrambled eggs and strawberry jelly on top), then for lunch I would often have tex mex, like a burrito with all the good stuff like queso, after that I would stop by the gas station and buy some sort of gummy candy and a king size candy bar, and for dinner, steak house or pizza was always a favorite. For dessert, I usually treated myself to Cold Stone Creamery, the got-to-have-it size, with all kinds of candy thrown in there. As you can probably guess, I was addicted to sugar and ate a ton of calories per day. My serving size was always the biggest I could get, and I would eat it all no matter what. This had to change.

I started very slowly. At first, my main goal was to try and buy groceries to eat at home. Some of these trips were so difficult, I would rush through the store with my head down so that I didn’t see any of the bad foods I was trying to cut out. I always reminded myself, I just need to get the good food home. I never want to lie, especially to my clients, but changes like these are difficult. You will make mistakes, but the consistency over time is what matters most. I managed to start eating at home regularly, and even fell in love with cooking and baking. I realized I could have a lot of really good food if I cooked it myself, because I knew exactly what was in it. I started to lose weight with just these changes and no added activity.

After beginning to improve on my nutrition I started to add more activity. At first, I added walks at work. About every few hours I would walk around campus to get steps in. After doing that for a while, I started to jog at a local track a few times a week. I would get super sore from just this, so it took me a bit to get in shape enough to do anything else. After I was feeling a bit more comfortable I bought a bike and I started riding it everywhere I could. I rode to work every day, and even to go and get my groceries. This experience made me realize how easy it is to exercise when you enjoy the exercise. I was getting in hours of activity a day, because I was riding my bike all over town. It didn’t seem like I was exercising, but I was!

Improving my nutrition and adding in more activity really helped my fitness and health improve. I dropped several sizes in my clothes and started sleeping better and feeling better. Fast forward a few years, and I met who is now my wife. She played roller derby, and found out that I used to skateboard and rollerblade. I asked if guys can play roller derby, because I always thought of it as a women’s sport. It turns out that there are male and co-ed teams. So I started learning how to play roller derby with her team.

Honestly, I fell in love with the sport. I excelled at it, because I’ve been skating for so long. But, I learned pretty fast just how out of shape I was. My mobility was really bad, so I couldn’t get into proper position most of the time. My balance and coordination struggled, because my muscles were so weak. So to help get better in shape for roller derby I started to do extra training at home. I did a little research and I learned that with just a kettle bell and my body, I could do a lot of different workouts.

My additional training focused around hip strength and agility. I learned a lot from these early workouts, like just how hard I am able to push myself. I have never before nor since experienced as much soreness as those first few months with my kettle bell. But, I kept waking up each day and working out. Eventually, exercising each morning became a habit. As a result, my fitness improved a lot, and I started to see more weight coming off.

Although I had made some major progress, losing around 50 lbs with improved overall fitness, I got to a point where I plateaued.

I found myself basically staying the same weight. No matter what I did I just couldn’t figure out how to progress. At the time I was reading some books on the science of expert performers. The science says, the most important tool one can use to become the best at something is to have an existing expert as a mentor so they can give you feedback on how to get better. So I hired a nutrition coach.

Working with my nutrition coach got me moving again. I just didn’t know enough of the science to get out of my rut. She got me tracking, and honestly, eating more than I was! So I started feeling a lot better, too. The extra fuel also helped improve my fitness because I started eating the right amount of protein to gain more muscle. Another surprising thing happened during this time.

I started to enjoy the training outside of roller derby a lot more than actually playing. Furthermore, the Covid pandemic made it really difficult to play for quite awhile. As a result I shifted over to the sport of CrossFit full time. I really fell in love with it and all the various other sports it consists of. My nutrition coach is now my full time strength and conditioning coach. And I haven’t looked back!

Four years later, and I’m in the best shape of my life and improving every day. I’m a competitive athlete in both CrossFit and Olympic Weightlifting. I’ve learned a lot, and I’m ready to help others create a similar journey as me. I want to help others feel the same pride and unlock new levels of their life by reaching their goals.