420 to 193: Losing the Weight, Building the Muscle, and Cutting Again

I'm my first client, and often my worst, most stubborn client too. I've gone from 420 pounds to a "skinny fat" dad bod of 210. Back up to a powerful 265 pound "brick shit house" build focusing on powerlifting and totaling over 1500 pounds in my lifts. Back down to a stage ready 193. Next stop, 240 pounds of beef. Most of it on purpose, and I'll tell you about the part that wasn't.

Here's the full story, including the parts that don't fit on a before and after slide.

420 to 210: Half of me, gone

I started at 420 pounds. I lost about 210 of them. That's a whole second person, and honestly the second person was not paying rent.

I made most of the mistakes you're about to make. I tried to out-willpower my environment. I treated food like the enemy and the scale like a judge. Both of those fall apart on a long enough timeline, which is why I don't coach that way now.

What actually worked was boring. I created a plan I could repeat, I tracked what I ate, and I kept showing up on the days I really did not want to. Nobody puts that on a poster, but it works.

210 to 265: Mostly bought, partly just life

This is the part people get wrong when they see the numbers.

Once I got to 210, I looked in the mirror and saw what I'd call skinny fat. Smaller, sure, but soft and not strong. So I decided I wanted to be strong, not thin. I ate more, trained harder, and put on weight on purpose. Bodybuilding first, then powerlifting, then hybrid training with running on top because apparently I like to suffer in multiple ways.

It worked. I got stronger, faster and better at all of it, and eventually totaled over 1500 pounds. Muscle is heavy. That's the point of it. Going up from 210 was a choice, and I was aiming for around 245.

The part that wasn't on purpose

Here's the honest part. I never meant to hit 265. That happened during COVID, when life got in the way and I added body fat I did not order. 245 would have been about right for me, so I ended up roughly 20 pounds heavier than I wanted to be.

I'm telling you because it happens to coaches too. Nobody has a perfect line on a graph, and anyone who says they do is selling something.

265 to 193: Cutting for the fun of it

Then I got curious. I ran a contest prep style diet, not for a stage, just to find out how far shredded actually was. At one point I was completely convinced I was about ten pounds from shredded. I was not. It took longer than I told myself, and I started before I was ready. Classic.

I got down to a stage ready 193 and kept my powerlifting intact. Let me be clear about what that number is. It's my lowest weight, a hard diet, a photoshoot low. It's not where I live and it's not where I'm trying to stay.

Where I am now

The goal is 240 pounds, with a completely different, more muscular build than any of the others. That's a different project than losing weight. It needs different food and different training, and yes, I'm very excited about eating this much.

What I took from it

Fat loss and muscle gain are different jobs. They need different food and different training. Plenty of people try to do both at once with one plan and then wonder why neither goes well.

Weight is a tool, not an identity. I've been four different sizes. None of them was the real me, and all of them were useful.

Systems beat willpower. Your grocery store, your schedule and your kitchen are doing more than your motivation is. Build around them.

If you're starting from way behind

Maybe you've got 50 pounds to lose. Maybe 150. I've been there, and I've also been the guy who let a little of it creep back and had to deal with it.

We build the plan around your life, your schedule and a goal you'll actually commit to. Online, from anywhere. Plans start at $50 a week. Message me on WhatsApp and I'll tell you honestly whether coaching is a fit. If it isn't, I'll tell you that too.