A walking meatball. That’s what I would consider myself coming into college.
I came to Chaminade University as a 265-pound meatball.
I was always told that when you come into college, you get all the freedom, and you tend to eat whatever you want, and you gain some weight. I’ve always been a bigger kid, and people treat you a certain way.
But I wanted to change how people see and think of me, and so I did. I changed one of my biggest insecurities by losing the weight. I took my ambition seriously, and right before going into Christmas break my freshman year, I lost 40 pounds and gained muscle as well.
I was always the bigger kid until the spring semester of my freshman year, and during COVID, I was very depressed and personal issues erupted during that time on top of all that. During this time, I had reached my heaviest weight and was weighing more than my dad at 295 pounds. Seeing that number really was a slight wake-up call and a shock also because I didn’t want to live like that for the rest of my life. That next year, going into my junior year of high school that’s when I started to maintain my weight around 265 pounds.
I went from 265 pounds to fluctuating between 228-235 pounds. I lost the majority of my weight within three weeks and saw almost an immediate difference. I had done my research and started weight lifting in a serious manner and I did it. What helped me out the most was “resetting” my stomach and shrinking it. I went on a three-day water-only fast, which helped me after I ate again by eating less and in smaller portions.
I started learning the proper way to lift and lifting heavy. Just within those three weeks when I lost most of it noticed that I started lifting heavier then too. I was doing a lot of cardio at the time; I was doing about an hour on the stationary bike and I would also jump rope, then I would lift weights while at the gym, and then later at night, go play 5v5 basketball for about another 2 hours. I was working out almost three times a day and maybe eating only 800 calories a day.
Most people relate their weight to their attractiveness and self-confidence. For me, that’s what it was and is, I still even see myself at times, that almost 300-pound. A lot of the big guys relate to it when it comes to even just taking their shirt off at the beach or the famous big boy “shirt-pull.” A lot of the bigger friends that I had or have all thought the same thing in wanting to look better and slowly made that improvement within themselves.
It takes a lot hard work and dedication to be where I’m at now and definitely am not stopping. The more I lost weight, the less insecure I started feeling about myself. People started to treat me a little bit differently, and it felt nice. I’m very happy with how far I’ve come and how much I have done, but we still have more goals to accomplish and conquer.