Thank you for taking the time to read this. My journey began nearly two years ago when I noticed a friend's remarkable transformation on Facebook, showcasing his progress under the guidance of his trainer, Jordan. Intrigued by the consistent updates, I reached out and asked him about the changes he had made to his physique.

He revealed that he had hired a trainer, embraced clean eating, and committed to regular training. After some reflection and realizing that the time had come for me to change, I decided to hire the same trainer and set out on my path to transform my life. I was determined to shake off my old habits and evolve into the man I aspired to be, instead of settling into an average lifestyle like many others around my age.

Embarking on this 12-week transformation challenge presented its own set of difficulties. I had taken a few months off from training to focus on launching a new restoration business, particularly during the hurricane recovery efforts. As time passed, I found myself missing the training and reaching out to Jordan for guidance. He suggested that I take on the challenge as a way to regain focus and reintegrate fitness into my life.

Throughout the 12 weeks, I discovered that lifting weights came more naturally to me than meal prep and maintaining consistency in my nutritional choices. Most weeks, I was able to stay committed about 75-80% of the time. However, during the last three weeks of the challenge, I figured out how to consume the right nutrients for my training and fat loss goals. As a result, I managed to reduce my body fat from 22% to 15%, while simultaneously gaining muscle.

This journey has taught me a valuable lesson: I need to further develop the habit and discipline of meal prep and integrate it into my lifestyle to push beyond what I previously thought achievable. The physical changes I experienced have not only been visible within my circle but also recognized by those outside of it. People have approached me, inspired by my transformation, much like I was inspired by my friend's journey.

Moreover, I was fortunate to encourage a father and son—one of my youth group kids, to start training. As a youth pastor, this has been particularly gratifying. I am becoming the man I always envisioned, and this transformation is reflected both internally and externally. I aspire to inspire others, steering clear of the typical "dad bod" mentality that many in my age group embrace. I am committed to living authentically and eliminating hypocrisy from my life.

This transformation has drastically changed how I show up in life, how others perceive me, and has made me a more effective and purposeful man, as opposed to merely average. I see it as a refining process—shedding the old version of myself to embrace the new one. I am on my way to becoming the person I have long desired to be, instead of postponing it until next year or tomorrow.

While I still have a significant journey ahead to reach my ultimate fitness and strength goals, I now possess a solid foundation to continue walking this path.

I thought I started this journey because I blew out my left shoulder, TWICE!  And gained a ton of weight because I stopped working out. And  I wanted to be able to be more active with my grand kids, but I think the truth is that I was tired of being fat, tired of getting winded when I tied my shoes or bent over to pick something up. Plus my son told me that I'm getting old, Im 59 years old, and have to take better care of myself. So the reason I did this is somewhere in the middle of all that. Plus I was tired of making excuses for why I can't do something.  When I started , I was at  275.6 lbs with a body fat at 38.3% and  now I am currently at 230 lbs and I weigh in on the 31st to find out my final numbers , so I am down at least 45 lbs and I am excited to find out what the fat % is.  

I feel better, I move better, and  I am definitely more active now compared to before.  My trainer " Carolyn " helped me a ton by giving me a clear and concise schedule of exercises to do, and  slowly increasing the weights each week. So I'm losing fat ( I hope ) and getting stronger.  Plus, I find that when I have to report back to someone else, I try harder.  We are going slow because of my shoulder, I don't want another injury. 

I was able to do this because of a very strict diet, each meal was broken down so I knew the calories, how many carbs,  the amount  of protein, everything,  and I worked out 5 days a week, and walked every day at least 1 mile, on the weekends I would walk a minimum of 5 miles a day. Most importantly was to not  skip a day because I was being tired or lazy, to stick with it!  I wanted to make sure that weight loss was my main concern, so I gave up pasta, bread and cheese , and stuck with  mostly protein, veggies, and a little brown rice.  I go to the gym every morning at 5:15 am, workout for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, plus I have also made some new friends in the process that are trying to improve  themselves as well. Win, loose, or draw, I think I am coming out of this competition way ahead. I feel better, I feel like I look better, my clothes definitely fit better, confidence is up.  

I'm not done with my journey though, I would like to get down to around 210-215 lbs with a body fat % in the low 20% range.  That's the goal and I am going to continue this journey until I get there. Thanks Jordan and Carolyn. This is what I needed.

For this 12 week challenge I changed a few things in my routine. Jordan wrote me a work out plan that included 4 days of strength training with 30 min of cardio. Prior to this challenge I was working out 3-4 days a week with 30 min cardio.  I was not always faithful and would skip a day or if I did I would skip cardio. This would happen regularly or almost every week. The first goal and commitment I made to myself was to follow the workout plan. I never missed a workout except for one week I took vacation and came back sick. I still think I did two days even feeling like crap.  In the challenge group someone asked about steps and walking to do cardio. Jordan suggested 10000 steps which I thought was easy peasy. He also said unless you’re unable to do other cardio not to count walking. At that point I included the stair master once week and stuck to elliptical since I am too short for the bike. Getting steps in became a challenge since I changed job positions and went to day shift. Therefore I had to integrate some treadmill activity to get my steps some days. For the most part I reached my step goal daily unless it was a rest day. Then I had to add some walking around the neighborhood if time allowed.

In addition, I made a choice to have someone meal prep two meals a day for me. It left me with only planning breakfast and snacks. This helped me stay on track and was time saving. My schedule can be crazy between work,kids,and their sports. Doing this was super helpful and made counting my calories and macros much simpler. It also deterred me from eating too much, because to be honest I like to eat.  I made healthier choices gave up sugar in all my espresso shots unless someone made them for me. I also tried not to eat out frequently. I still had events and would try to plan ahead or make healthier choices. However, eating out can be deceiving. You think the food is healthy and it’s not. Before this challenge I probably ate out at least 3-4 meals a week. However on vacation I did not follow any diet plan.  I did gain a few pounds and now I am paying for it still.

Even if I did not win the challenge I am happy at the progress I made and now know I can stay consistent. I wish I would have taken body measurements to see how many inches I lost. With that being said. My goal was to loose 10 pounds, loose body fat, and gain muscle. I lost five pounds,2% body fat, and gained .5% muscle. I really should have made a plan for vacation and I probably would have reached my goal. I still need to loose tons of weight so I plan on tracking that going forward. I also plan to continue with all the changes I have made. I have lost at least 25 pounds in the last two years or however long  since joining the gym. To some that may not be much, but for me it’s a huge win since I have been obese my whole life and weight does not come off easily. I prefer doing this way compared to semi glutide, keto, or some other unsustainable method that makes you feel awful.  To be honest all those have ever done is make me gain back twice as much weight.   I feel better and look much better. I just want to end this by thanking Jordan for all his help and encouragement along the way. He sets a wonderful example for others that want to achieve goals and shows that they are attainable with some discipline and consistency.

My fitness journey with Showcase Strength continued to level up with this most recent challenge. After completing the first challenge and being proud of the progress I made, I found myself slipping a bit during the hectic hurricane season and the holidays that followed. So when this challenge rolled around, I was more than ready to dial back in and hold myself accountable again.

My goal was to get as lean as possible while building strength—and I committed fully to that. This time around, I didn’t face many setbacks. In the past, back injuries would sometimes hold me back, but thankfully, I’ve gotten much stronger and haven’t had any issues this time (knocks on wood!). I made sure everything within my control stayed controlled: I hit my macros, completed every training session, got my steps in, and pushed myself to incorporate as much StairMaster cardio as possible.

Over the course of this challenge, I lost over 20 pounds—and about 55 pounds total since I started with Showcase. While I’m not referencing specific body fat percentage or muscle mass changes this time around due to some inconsistencies I noticed in my InBody scans, the physical progress was undeniable. I started seeing changes about halfway through, but what stood out to me the most was realizing how much stronger I’ve become. That’s probably the most rewarding part. 

There’s something incredibly motivating about knowing you’re in a challenge—it creates structure and clarity in your daily choices. When you know you’re working toward a goal, the discipline you develop starts to feel like reassurance. You know that staying consistent will absolutely get you where you want to go, and I love that about this process.

Now that it’s over, I feel accomplished and proud—and already excited for the next one!

I have spent 90% of my life being overweight, and was always the fat kid growing up and into adulthood. I finally was able to lose weight and maintained the weight loss for several years. But,  then I just let my self control go and ended up gaining most of the weight back. I still was working out while I was gaining weight , so I am living proof that you can't work out a bad diet!  Needless to say losing a large amount of weight and then gaining most of it back, has been a humbling experience for me! Fast forward to the challenge, I decided to do this challenge mostly to help keep myself accountable to eat better. Working out was never the problem for me. It's alway been a diet issue.  One thing that I have learned in all my years of losing and gaining weight is that there are NO quick fixes. You have to eat right and move your ass.  So here I am weighing 16 lbs less than I was when I started 12 weeks ago, and I feel great about this!  Do I wish I had lost more weight? Absolutely! But I have been trying to establish a lifestyle that I can maintain, instead of just a quick fix for three months. I have enjoyed doing this challenge. The challenge has helped me be more disciplined with food, which is exactly what I wanted from it (and of course weight loss).  Our gym is full of alot of positive people to help keep you motivated.