Team Beachbody ¡preestreno!Español Guest

My transformation story begins way before my involvement with Beachbody and its fine and wonderful programs and community, all the way from 2005 up to now.

Ever since I was little, I’ve always been skinny and scrawny. I never got into any sports or activities, or didn’t pursue them as something that I was really interested in bettering myself physically with (which I regret not doing). As a consequence, I was never really strong physically. In junior high and high school, I didn’t really perform as well as other students, especially when it came to sports and fitness exercises. For example, I could barely do a single pull-up in junior high!

By the end of high school in 2002, I reached a height of 5’ 7”, and my weight was at around 130 pounds. I was really out of shape! There were times when I did go to the gym and did various cardio and strength training routines, and eventually did notice some definition in my abdominal area and arms, but I eventually dropped out of these routines as well. I always lacked motivation in almost everything I did, including my studies and other habits. It eventually came down to me being diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Internally, my life was a rut, and I was weak mentally, emotionally, and physically. Every day, from junior high to my diagnosis, was a struggle that my family and even I couldn’t understand. For some reason, I couldn’t get myself to view the world and myself as wonderful and positive, something meaningful. I lacked motivation, self-confidence, and self-esteem, and just couldn’t pursue anything at all to better myself mentally and physically. Everything I saw and thought was negative. However, I know that I craved something that would end this struggle, or help me help myself.

Between 2004 and 2005, I went through some rehabilitations, and with support from my family and people that specialized in the treatment of my disorder, I could finally see the world and my life in a positive light.

Since 2005, my life was changed, a total 180 degrees from what it was. I dabbled a little bit in some kung fu training (until the classes became too expensive), more training at the gym here and there, and even bought some free weights to workout at home. However, I still lacked the proper structure and motivation to really create results for myself. Additionally, college was intensive and required a lot of my time, and used my studies as an excuse to not exercise (even though there was a very new and very awesome gym on campus). At this point, it was excuse after excuse after excuse. I was still eating junky stuff (candies here and there, fast food, greasy chips…the list goes on). A big addition to getting more unhealthy was going down to Florida on a family vacation and eating ribs every single day (well, they were and still are my favorite dish!!!). I’m talking about downing a full rack every day! When I came back home, I found out I had gained about 15 – 17 pounds, and was between 150 and 160 pounds. And it definitely wasn’t muscle mass gain! Between 2006 and the 2008, I just couldn’t shake off that weight I gained…especially because I just couldn’t get myself to eat right and exercise. I felt myself get more and more out of shape. At one point, I had to shop for new jeans and pants because my waist size increased to 36 inches. I didn’t like my body at all and how it was changing for the worse, but still kept on making excuses to not exercise.

In 2008, my brother-in-law started to control his own diet. He lost pounds by adopting a very low carb diet, successfully quitting smoking, and eating healthier and better quality foods. We’re pretty close, so his transformation then inspired me to change my own habits. Additionally, he owned a bowflex, and we both started to do some routine strength training on it. I started to feel better about myself. My waist size started to decrease too! Then, in September of 2008, we were hit with massive flooding (we both live next to river on Chicago’s northern side). It pretty much destroyed everything on the lower level of our condo, including the bowflex and some other exercise equipment. While I had to struggle a little bit to keep up with my studies and projects while living upstairs on the same floor as my brother-in-law (bottom floor was mine), he continued to lose weight while rebuilding the downstairs, and I made no progress.

In December on 2008, the bottom floor was fully rebuilt, and a new semester in college began in January of 2009. I was determined to get fit! I got together some people from my classes, and beginning the first day of the first week of the semester, we went to the gym and worked out. On Thursday of that same week, however, I came home and was surprised and freaked out to notice a very odd, physically visible and extremely uncomfortable condition, which was later diagnosed as an inguinal hernia! In fact, the doctors and surgeons I saw concluded that I probably had the condition since I was born, and indeed the first time I actually noticed it was back in high school (but, I never made anything of it). I was very frustrated, for I had finally kicked myself in the butt to get in shape, and now I literally couldn’t. At the same time, my brother-in-law had bought P90X after seeing an infomercial on TV, and started the program. I remember every time he did Kenpo X, I’d get jealous, wanted to be able to do the moves and give a shout with each one! It sounded so cool! More than that, my brother was getting better while I was getting worse, and I couldn’t do anything about it. Well, yet at least, because now I was determined. I knew I would need surgery, and I knew that after I recovered, I could start a transformation of sorts. So I scheduled my surgery for Spring Break, giving myself a week to recover. My body then started to heal itself, and eventually my graduation from the university (May 2009), my recovery was almost complete. I gave myself a week, and then I too started P90X.

The beginning was rough, but my body healed with each passing day. I got stronger every day. I stopped eating junk altogether. I finished my 90 days on August 15th of 2009, and was then in the best shape I’ve ever been. I weighed in at 146 pounds, with a body fat percentage of 4.9% (down from 9.5% from almost halfway into P90X), had a solid and defined core, and had definitely gained muscle mass all around. My size 32 jeans were so loose, I could just pull them down and off me, zipped and buttoned! But more than all that, I was more confident in myself, proud of myself and my journey…which has yet to be over! I’m now doing Insanity. As of September 14th, I’m on Day 29. My stomach is more ripped, and I can fit into size 29 jeans! Every day, I join thousands of other people as I get better and better physically and mentally. My personal goal is to become more and more athletic, increasing my stamina and endurance, as well as my muscle mass.

My transformation occurs every day now, as it will for the rest of my life. I’ve come a long way and received a lot of support, and it is my desire to support others too while I continue my journey. I’ve been able to figure out what I want and what my goals are, but others are at the point in their lives where they struggled just like I did to figure things out and motivate themselves to do something for themselves. One of my main purposes is to provide support, knowledge, and help motivate people to recognize their goals and pursue them.

As I was helped, I wish to help you. I’ve made it my duty. What can I do for you?

Update: 10/3/2009:
Day 44 of Insanity (day 139 of my Beachbody fitness journey. Found my brother-in-law's body fat % caliper, and I'm around 2.5% body fat (on average, I made sure to take many measurements around the target area)! That's down from about 10% body fat when I first started P90X in May of this year :) Pretty damn crazy! I need to maintain this and my weight right now (which is around 142 lbs on average) throughout the rest of Insanity.