2008 Transformation Contest

Well ladies and gentlemen,

A few things to say today.  Pictures and video may be missed this week because I can not find the camera battery charger.  This is why I argued for a camera that took AA batteries but hey.   I know it is in the house somewhere and that I was the last person to handle it.  It will be in the last place I look, always is.

Let’s be frank here for a minute or two.  I am outclassed in this competition.  Maddi is looking cut.  Dare is a picture of proper form and steely resolved.  Mali is an animal that replaced an animal.  Those push-ups he did were strong and straight.  Fusion is young and has found his stride as he resets his motivational focus.  My competitors are all top notch and really class people.

I am another story.  There are some tremendous changes going on in me.  Some of the changes you can see in the pictures and some you can’t.  My journey was in full swing prior to the competition.  Starting in November I had 178 pounds to lose, give or take 10 pounds depending on what I look like near the end.  Today I have 143 pounds to drop.  That is terrific and I am very happy with that progress.  This progress is due in large part to bb.com and the members here.

What you may not see is the health improvement and strength gain I have undergone.  There are a few readers here that understand what it is like to be almost 200 pounds heavy.  Just living was an effort.  Now I am feeling strong and firm. My pants are far too large. My wife remembers what muscles feel like on her man’s arms, chest, and quads. I am moving better.  I care so much more about this than a scale number.  While the scale reads 1/2 a pound up I know that I am actually much better physically today than I was last Wed.  

So back to the competition.  Because I have so much to lose I will still be the fattest person in the group at the end even if I would lose 70 pounds.  Because I was the most out of shape I will still be the weakest in the group at the end.   This bugged me a bit a few weeks back.    Here I was in a competition that I feel I have almost no chance of winning.  I was wondering why I was even selected to be in the contest.   Yes, when I feel sorry for myself I go all out.

But that wasn’t the point of the competition and winning was never about who was chosen the transformer in the end.  The competition was setup by Bodybuilding.com and our sponsors to encourage others to join the journey to health and fitness.  This is why I was chosen and why Maddi was chosen.  We have competitors from the most out of shape to the close to very in shape and everything in between.   The thing the competitors have in common is that we are all using Bodybuilding.com to accomplish our goals and hopefully showing others how to best use the site.  I think it is in this sense that we are all winners here and owe a great deal of thanks to Bodybuilding.com and the sponsors for the opportunity.  

This is also not to take anything away from my fellow competitors.  Without their motivation and dedication they would not have improved the way they have since 12/26/07.  Just take a look at their progress pictures and you know that you are seeing people that know how to get after it.  Whichever competitor wins you can be assured that they fully deserved that win.

We see the end of the contest ahead of us and yet that ending is artificial for all of us.  The competition end is not the ‘end’ for any of the competitors.  You see, we will not fail at our goals.  I am certain that Maddi and Mali will end up on the stage.  SCT will be a great trainer.  Fusion, Dare, and myself will get our weight down and harden up to a point where we will not be embarrassed to wear a swimsuit.  

You know what?  It is good to be alive!