December 2000. I remember my mother telling me that I had to make a change. I was too out of shape and that I had to do something different before this weight gain thing killed me. I was so out of breath and none of my clothes were fitting me. "I will mom, but I'm GOING to weigh 300 lbs first, then I'll get into serious shape." Within days, December 26, 2000, I stepped on the scale at 306 lbs, she took a photo, and then I began doing cardio the next day. I dropped to 265 lbs in less than 3 months and changed everything.

October 2020, now 20 years later and age 43 not 23...my mom sent me a test message that I had to make a change. I looked bloated and unhealthy and I needed to think about my kids. I was out of breath and none of my clothes were fitting me. "I will mom, but I'm GOING to weigh 300 lbs first, then I'll get into serious shape and level off around 285-290 lbs, trust me, I know what I'm doing."

And then a couple days later I was sitting at my kitchen table eating before going to bed and when I stood up I just felt huge. Bigger than I had all day. Fully pumped, fully, and all of my joints felt amazing. Why not, right? I'll go get on the scale on my way to go to the bathroom and just see where I'm at.

136.2 KG. I stepped off and back on again because I knew that somewhere around there was 300 lbs but I wasn't really sure. I snapped a photo and then went to the weight converter on my phone to get the exact number of kg to lbs. 300.27 lbs!

Nobody around to hear me cheer so I did what any normal person would do. I sent a photo to my training partner and my buddies Shane and Rob that would "understand" what this meant to me. Then I went to pee because when you are 300 lbs you pee nonstop anyway.

And what did I do next? I went straight over to the rowing machine and got on it. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out how on EARTH I was going to reach the handle that was 2 feet past my own feet and how I was going to keep the machine from sliding across the room...and I did look up the number for Emergency Medical Services before I got on it...and I've been on it every night pretty much since.

And now I start my journey of being a healthier 285-290 lbs Athlete and slowly un-screwing up a lot of my body parts that are completely non functional.

It took me 20 years of TRYING in order for me to get to 300 lbs. Never give up, maybe you just need a little more time to get there.