I never lost the passion or motivation to hit the weights, but recently I am feeling that “addicting” feeling once again.

I am back to going to bed and looking forward to waking up and hitting the gym.. I have been sleeping in a lot lately and going to the gym later in the day..

Now I am getting to sleep earlier and waking up bright and early to get there.

I am back to lifting 5 days a week and lifting hard.

My current goal as been to bulk up to 200lbs and I am almost there. I think I ma going to make that goal 210lbs, but add some cardio later at night. 3 times a week on night I do not work..

I look at the gym as my second home, I love being there. I year ago I was a fat, lazy , nothing…. Ate whatever I wanted, didn’t care about what I looked like, well I did care but never did a dam thing about it..

I want to stay fit, get bigger and surpass all of my own expectations.

I am going to get back in to lifting competitions and simply put, I wanna WIN!!

Just felt like venting, Thanks

I tried, failed and repeated… This time, it worked….And now here is my story….

…Short Summary…

Starting weight = 228

Weight now = 180-185

It all started with just one jog around my block, about a quarter mile. I know it is not that much, but at the time, it was for me. I was not thinking about diet or what would come from it. I just needed to keep my mind busy. I was dating a girl that was away at school and I was only able to see her maybe once a week. I am not good with long distance relationships, so that is why I just got off my asss and jogged that q-mile. It was the best thing I have done……..

That relationship was my motivation to start getting into shape. I lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks. And with the weight lose came the end of that relationship. But by then, the only motivation I needed was knowing that I could lose and do more!!

…My Story…

1…My Motivation…

Like I said before my motivation was to keep my mind busy while I was at school and she was at school.

My motivation stayed when I stopped seeing her… It stayed because I was committed to losing more weight.

When I was in high school I played football and was in great shape, I have always regretted not staying that way and letting my self go.

I WANTED to get back to my glory days and knew now that I could do it.

2…How I got started…

That one little run around my block slowly changed in to doing 2 laps, then 3 and so on …I did this for about a month and I lost a total of about 15lbs just running everyday and trying to eat right.

Next came the weight training. From my previous experience with weight training from football I knew what I needed to do and how to do it. It took me about a good month to get back into the groove. It was a LONG time since the last time I worked out like this.

Soon with the running and the weight training it all started to come together…

All though the weight started to come off slower and slower I stayed motivated and didn’t let myself get down and back to my old habits.

3…My Diet…

I   started my diet with eating about 4 times a day…It was hard, I was hungry all the time but I forced myself to do it like this for a while, until I became more educated on diets and successful ways to reach my goals.

Cereal in the morning for breakfast.

Tuna sandwich for lunch.

Chicken or steak with white rice and vegs for dinner

Cereal again at about 8 o-clock… This was my last meal of the day. It was hard not to eat after that because I didn’t go to bed till after midnight, so I was hungry.

I started to do a lot of reading on the internet, magazines and what ever kind of health related material I could get my hands on…

I learned about good fats, bad fat, the importance of protein in your diet and how it could help lose weight. How eating 6 times a day and spreading meals out could help in weight lose and curve my hungry…How eating a big breakfast can make you less hungry come later in the night….Multi grain foods and how much better then “white flour” foods are. I switched all my breads, pasta and rice’s to brown multi grain foods. How olive oil can be great for your diet. Also, the importance of vegetables, and much more along the way.

So my new diet plan became just that…

Example…

Breakfast – 3 eggs, 2 slices multi grain bread

Protein shake right after work-out ( I will talk about my learning of supplements soon)

Lunch – Tuna Sandwich ( light mayo, multi grain bread)

Snack – Bag of almonds

Dinner – Steak, potato, brown rice

Snack – multi grain cheerios and whole milk

This is how my diet has been for almost a year, with a few variations here and there.

4…My Workout & Supplements….

My first month of weight training I had just a simple workout plan and was still mostly concerned about losing weight and did not have my mind and body fully committed to weight training.

I did a lot of reading and put together a serious work-out program and stayed with it.

I lifted 5 days a week

I did at least a mile of cardio after lifting.

Monday – Chest. Shoulders, Triceps…

Tuesday – Back, Traps, Biceps…

W  - Legs

Thursday - Chest. Shoulders, Triceps…

Friday - Back, Traps, Biceps…

Did this work out for four months; It is what is responsible for most of my success.

About two weeks in, my friend Rocco told me that it would be a good idea to buy some protein. He suggested I buy some Isopure !00% whey. This was my first kind of any supplement I have ever done…

When I first joined the gym I am at now, I used to look at people there and see how great of shape they were in. I never thought I would be able to look like that. Now being a year in, I see that I have surpassed many of those people that I looked up to. Instead of me asking what they do, and how they do it, they ask me now. I am not being cocky in any way; I am just stating how good it feels to be where I am now.

The Supplement’s Begin!!

I was mislead about creatine in my past, people say “o that’s cheating” or “it’s bad for you”.  So I believed this.  I began to do a lot of research about creatine and realized just how misinformed I was

So one day, my friend Freddy was telling me about this pre-work out stuff called SuperCharge. I had no idea what he was talking about. He showed me the bottle and I took a read. He told me it was a great product and he loved it, so I went ahead a bought a tub of it…

This idea of a pre-work supplement kicked my interest in to high gear and I began to research all kind of supplements, creatine products, proteins, amino acids, Nitric Oxide, fish oils, multi-V.. All of them….. I could not believe how many products and companies that there were.

The 3 products that called out to me were BSN No-Xplode and Cellmass, also BSN Syntha -6.

I gave my SuperCharge to my friend and bought them both…

I did the SuperCharge for only a week…

So I was now doing..

GNC Multi Sport with breakfast

NO-Xplode pre-work-out 2 hours after breakfast.

CellMass right after my work-out

Syntha-6 a half hour after CellMass

CellMass right before bed

The NO-Xplode gave me a feeling of immortality at the gym. I never had that feeling before. I loved it. I put my headphones in my ear and just worked for 2 hours a day. 

My workouts became intense and addicting.

I found myself going to bed earlier than I have ever have just so I can get up and go to the gym. I was hooked on the workout, my diet became so strict. I did not go to a bar in 4 months. I went to the gym, school and home. I would go out to eat with some friends on the Friday nights, then I would work the rest of the weekend…

Like stated earlier, I was fully addicted to working out and eating right. Besides doing school work, it was all I thought about. I didn’t think about what my friends were doing, where all the girls were, where all the parties are at. I thought about what I was going to do at the gym the next day.

I felt guilty if I ate wrong, even if it was something as simple as a cookie. I would put my running shoes on and go run a mile.

It was like this for about 4 months…

The addiction and sacrifices all paid off… 

I saw my body transform every week. There was less fat and more muscles showing all the time. I would be at the gym for close to 3 hours. I would lift for 2 hours and do cardio until my legs cried.

After those months, I started to relax a little bit. The addiction went away, but the fire and passion were still there. I took a week off from working out. I was afraid to take that long of a break in fear of “losing my gains” but it was advice well taken and it was a great thing that I did so. After the week break I felt relaxed, my body grew that week. I realized how important taking a break is every few months.

 My diet started to loosen up as well. I now eat clean about 90% of the time. I treat myself at least twice a week with a pizza or a nice greasy burger and fries. And I do not feel guilty about it.

I stayed with my diet and my work outs everyday. Never once missing a day at the gym, it started out as an inconvenience, a pain in the ass; you all know what I am trying to say. The workouts and the diet are now part of my everyday life.

I went from about 225 pounds down to my lowest weight at 170. I now way a happy 190 pounds. The past 2months I have been trying to gain some pounds, never thought that would happen.

…6-Pack abs???!!!???…

Another thing that I thought would never happen is me having a 6-pack!!!! My, my, when I saw my upper abs popping out, I could not believe it. I thought to myself, is this really happening?? Can I really achieve a full 6-pack??

I stuck to my diet and did more cardio then I was used to. I kept my weight training the same, with just adding in a full ab workout every other day. I mean I was doing ab work outs before, but now I had that extra motivation. I leaned that no matter how many ab exercises you do, if your body fat % is not low enough, those abs will just sit there covered in fat.

When I did cardio, I did…

10 minute warm up on the bike…

1 minute fast walk, 1 minutes fast run at 8mph…On the treadmill.

I did that for 25 minutes….

I did cardio 6 times a week. I only rested on Sundays.

I added some foods that I believe helped me. I was reading men’s Health and came across the “12 power foods”

Take a look….     http://www.menshealth.com/absdietpower/

Adding these foods to my diet…

Eating right…

Intense workouts…

Fat burning cardio…

Time….

Equaled = 6 pack abs and all the curves to go with it.

In Conclusion…

What I have learned….

1. It takes time to change your body and to make it how you always wanted.
2. What the right kinds of foods are and how to get the best out of them.
3. I learned about supplements.
4. Workout routines.
5. All types of exercises.
6. I learned about BB.com!!! What a great website, the store, the articles, the forum, all the great people and the motivation and advice they gave me.

I came a long way in a year. I look at my before & after picture and am just amazed with the progress I made. Wanting to do this for so long, always wondering what if just kept to that diet I was on, or what would have happened if I continued lifting after high school?

I transformed my body from 225 pounds of fat, out of shape…

…To 190 pounds of lean muscle in 365 days…. Please look at my progress picture in my profile…

My Final Thoughts…

It has been said before and I will say it again, “if I can do it, anybody can”.

With the right motivation, the proper knowledge and TIME…

We can all do it…

Thank you for reading my story and I hope it helps you along your way..

Brian L. DiMattia

            Olive oil.

            Spinach.

            Almonds or all kind of nuts.

            Fresh tuna steaks.

            Multi grain or whole grain breads and pastas.

            Protein, protein, protein!

            Chicken, lean steaks and burgers.

            All the  Fresh fruits and vegetables as you want!

            Omega 3 enriched Eggs every morning(3), sometimes French toast made with multi grain protein bread.

            Brown rice.

            Oat meal.

            All kind of beans.

            Whole grain cereals.

            All I drink is water. Coffee in the morning, a few cups are good for you.

            Milk, cheese…Not to much.

Foods I stay away from about 90% of the time.
 

            Sugar. Not totally, I do get some sugar.

            White breads, bagels, white pasta, whole grain pasta is just as good.

            Bad Carbs. Pizza is one of my weaknesses, im Italian, what can I do.

            No junk food, chips, cupcakes, you know them all.

            I drink once a week if my lucky. And I like to drink.

How and when I eat.
 

            I eat about 6-7 times a day. Every 2-3 hours.

            I always have a good mix of carbs and protein in my meals.

            3 to 4 parts in the meal. Meat or fish. Vegetables. Brown rice or grain pasta. Spinach almost all the time. Its easy to make something different every time you eat.so it does not get boring.

            Protein shake before I go to bed. Low carb and low fat slow digesting protein check out my current protein I use on my page.  I use this protein also after my workouts.

            I cheat at least twice a weak. I don’t go crazy but ill have some pizza for a meal or some wings and things like that.  A cheat day can be good for your system and can boost your metabolism.  5 days of great eating then one day of eating whatever you want. Don’t get nuts tho!

Supplements
 

            Fish oil

            Strong multi V

            Protein shakes.

            Amino acids.

                      
  The protein I use now Matrix 5.0 has it all!!!!

            I did BSN Cellmass for 8 weeks, it was nice. I am cycling off creatine now. Its been about 4 weeks. I might go back on it.

            Also so did No xplode..Good stuff! Have not used it in 2 months tho.

            Now I just use the protein and xtend. And a good high protein breakfast before my workout. And I can go 2 hours strong. 

Right after my workout
 

            I have a serving of xtend
            A protein shake
            Cereal bar = You need those fast carbs after a work out.
            I eat a nice meal about an hour later
 

I few last thoughts
           
            What ever you weight drink that much water in Ounces a day.
            Same with protein. A gram per pound.
           
Give it time for all of these things that I have talked about in this article to work as one and you will see the difference!!!

I did however get off my fat ass and attend college in 2004 and in 2006 graduated with my Associates Degree in Business at Lackawanna College and will be graduating From Penn State University with my Bachelors in Business/Management before Christmas of 2008.

That is the good part, the bad part is I still didn’t do anything to improve my over all health and appearance. I was fat and out of shape. There was a time when I was about 22 where I went down from 230LBS to 180LBS, but it was for the wrong reasons. I can sum it up for all of you in a way we all know, Relationship problems!! I wasn’t fat anymore, but I was not in shape. By this time all of my most of my muscle had broken down and my body just looked flat and boring, but I never thought about it like I do now. I had other things on my mind, girls, school, work, ya know. I did meet a great girl and we went out for over 3 years. But in those three years I was comfortable, happy and at peace with myself. I ballooned to 230lbs again; it might have even been more. I wasn’t happy anymore with myself image and wanted to do something about it, but never did. She and I went our separate ways a year or so ago and I remained the same. I tried many times to diet, run, starve myself, you name it. ALWAYS in the back of my mind I wanted to be that perfect looking man, muscles, lean, 6 pack, and not 230 pounds!

So now in September of 2007 it was my last semester of my Jr year and I started seeing a girl that I knew from the summer but by this time she was already back to school about 2 hours from me. So only seeing her on weekends and if that, I needed to keep my mind busy. I simply got up and went for a run around my block. I was gassed! Realizing how out of shape I really was, I decided right there that I needed to do this everyday a little bit at a time. I worked my way up to doing a mile a day, in 2 weeks I lost 10 pounds, then it started to come off slower and slower. I did not let that get my down. I was 2 weeks into it and I wasn’t going to stop. At the moment I was only trying to lose weight and wasn’t even thinking about weight training. Things went sour with that girl, but by this time that was no longer my motivation. My new motivation was to reach what I always wanted, the body of my ancestors an Italian Roman Solider, a body chiseled out of stone.

I started to weight train in late October weighting in at 215 or so, knowing what to do from my HS days, I got right to it. I was making progress. Over time I educated myself in many aspects of weight training, diets, cardio and supplements. This site being one of my teachers.

Over the past 5 months my body has taken a whole knew shape. I started to see more definition all over my body. I do almost 2 hours in the gym, 4-5 days a week. The hours include weights and cardio. I eat right about 80% of the week. If anyone would like to know what kind of foods I eat, please let me know. Anyways, I became addicted to working out, going to sleep thinking about going to the gym the next day. I was so focused on improving every week. I was doing well in school and didn’t really have any stresses. About 2 months or so ago I started to see my top abs, I couldn’t believe it! I truly never thought I have the chance to have a 6 packs, I wanted it but didn’t really think it would happen. This is when I learned how to really achieve a 6 packs. You can do all the crunches and sit up you want, it will not matter if you are still covered in fat around your mid section. I always thought if I did crunches and sit-ups I would just bam, have a 6 pack, and was I wrong. It was coming because of my diet, the weight training, ab work outs and the biggest reason; my body fat % was dropping, uncovering all that muscle I have been building up. It was there but the fat was blocking it. Now my bodyfat % in under 10% and I have almost achieved what I set out to do. I could always imagine looking like I do now but I never thought it would be real. I can not wait to see what I will look like on my 1 year anniversary of my start date on September 15^th 2007.

My finally thoughts are how I have learned that with time, dedication, educating yourself of how to do things right and hard work. You can set your mind and do anything you want not just in body but also soul.