Where I started:
🔥 Before the Comeback
No — this is not my current transformation.
This photo was taken on June 11, 2016 📸
At the time, I was in the best shape of my life — even better than my college track & field days 🏃♂️
That version of me was built over four focused months. I didn’t have as much weight to lose as I did later. It was discipline. Structure. Momentum.
What I didn’t know?
That picture was a timestamp ⏳
Captured right before some of the hardest years of my life.
The Diagnosis 🏥
A little before that photo was taken, my dad was diagnosed with stomach and throat cancer.
Let me step on a soap box for a second.
If you chew tobacco — stop.
I watched my dad endure pain I can’t fully describe. Before the diagnosis, he couldn’t eat. The cancer had closed his throat so much that food wouldn’t pass. For an entire month he tried to eat… and would throw it back up because it wouldn’t go down.
He lost so much weight that we all knew something was wrong.
He never complained.
My mom had to force him to go get checked.
Chewing tobacco is a slow, miserable way to get yourself sick.
If I can help even one person quit — it’s worth saying this out loud.
Six Months ⏱️
Doctors told us he had 2–3 years of quality life.
He was diagnosed in June.
He passed away six months later.
I remember walking through grocery stores silently judging strangers.
“Why does he get to live longer?”
Grief does strange things to your mind.
My dad was the rock 🪨
He worked his entire life to build stability for our family. Camping trips. Game nights. Traditions.
When he died, it felt like the glue dissolved.
My brother and I drifted. Years without talking.
I wasn’t just grieving my dad —
I was grieving my family.
Grief compounds.
Another Blow 💔
My mom remarried an incredible man named Pat.
He didn’t replace my dad. No one could.
But he filled space. He brought steadiness.
He was an engineer — he could literally build anything 🛠️
(My dad could build anything too… just with more duct tape and zip ties 😅)
Two very different men.
Both loved my mom deeply.
Two years later, in January, my mom walked into the living room early one morning and found Pat had passed in his sleep.
Broken doesn’t even describe it.
Because I never fully healed from the first loss.
The Spiral 🌪️
Let me recap:
In two years I lost my dad.
I lost my brother (emotionally).
I lost my stepdad.
I slipped into depression.
In 2019, I lost my job.
I already felt stuck professionally, and losing it felt like confirmation of every negative thought running through my head.
There were mornings driving to work when I’d think:
“Just drive into the wall.”
“Just turn the wheel.”
Grief is the darkest experience I’ve ever known.
I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
I stopped working out.
I stopped eating well.
I stopped caring.
Food 🍔
Alcohol 🍺
Distraction 📱
That was my medicine.
Getting through each day became the goal.
And then Covid hit.
I won’t go deep into that. Everyone’s exhausted from that word.
But it didn’t help.
Losing Myself
The weight gain wasn’t the worst part.
Losing myself was.
The drive.
The discipline.
The structure.
The edge.
Gone.
That season lasted until January 17th, 2023. 📅
That’s the day something changed.
What Changed 🔓
Next week I’m going to tell you the one thing I changed.
Just one.
And how it shifted everything.
If you’re reading this and feel stuck right now…
Hear me clearly:
If I can come back from that season —
you can meet your goals too.
🔥
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