My weight loss journey and why I became a fitness professional

My weight loss journey originally started in my junior year of High School in the summer of 2013. Growing up, I was never too overweight, until I reached 11th grade. This was right after I dropped out of our High School football team. I lacked discipline, proper nutrition, motivation, and any sort of drive.

I went from about 200 pounds to about 230 pounds in my junior year. It was that summer that I started working out, eating right, and losing weight. I started off by running just 1 mile per day about 5 days a week. I wasn't fast, but I was consistent. Slowly, I started losing weight. I lost about 25 pounds to get down to about 205 right before my senior year (For context, I am about 5'10).

I felt good, I felt more like myself. I felt more confident as well. But...

When school started back up in the Fall of 2014, I fell off hard. I completely stopped exercising, and I went back to my old habits again. By the time I graduated HS, I gained all of the weight that I lost the summer before. Why did this happen? It was because I never truly committed to changing my entire lifestyle for the better. I was too caught up in weight loss culture and fad diets. I didn't implement a lifestyle change, so I did not adhere to my new diet or exercise routine.

In the summer of 2015, I started my first year of college at Nassau community college in Garden City, Long Island. Leading up to my first semester of college, I did anything but try to adapt to a healthier lifestyle. In fact, I gained an extra 20 pounds, ballooning my weight to 250. At the time, I had 2 jobs. One was at an ice cream parlor called Carvel, and the other was at a pizzeria named Mille Grazie. On top of not exercising, I was taking home ice cream and pizza 5 days a week. I remember the exact moment that I knew I had to lose weight. I was working at Carvel, and I remember my stomach bulging out about a foot in front of my chest. I felt disgusted with myself.

In late November of 2015, I had finally decided that enough was enough. I quit my job at the ice cream shop, and committed to more hours at the pizzeria. I stopped taking home pizza every night, and started taking a salad instead. I joined a gym called New York Sports Club with my mom, which was just down the block from our house in East Meadow.

I started doing cardio 5 days a week for 30 minutes to an hour each day. I increased my protein intake, and started eating way more vegetables. I quickly lost about 10 pounds in about 2 weeks. After a month, I started implementing strength training as well. I had a great system of 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of strength 6 days a week. I am not suggesting that it is healthy to exercise that much, but that's where I was in my life.

In February of 2016, I cancelled my membership at New York Sports Club, and joined a gym called Lifetime Fitness with my dad in Garden City, NY. This place was spectacular. There was a huge weight lifting floor, hundreds of cardio machines, 2 full sized basketball courts, a hot tub, a sauna, and more..

I became obsessed at perfecting my craft in the gym.

By the time my first year of College was over, in May 2016, I had gone from 250 pounds, all the way down to 175. This was the moment that I knew it was my destiny to help others achieve their fitness goals. I had not done anything spectacular, but I was passionate about what I had done, and knew that I could impact the lives of other people as well.

I went through one more year at Nassau Community College to get my Associates degree in Business association in August 2017. About 3 months before I graduated, I applied to the State University of New York at Cortland in Upstate NY to study Kinesiology (exercise science). I transferred schools and moved to upstate New York, where I studied and got my Bachelor of Science Degree in Exercise Science in December of 2019.

In February of 2020, I got a job as a Fitness Instructor at Orange Theory Fitness in Seaford, NY. I fell in love with the job. It was reassurance that I had made all of the right choices, and that I was where I needed to be.

Unfortunately, we all know what happened in March 2020.

The whole world shut down, and I was stuck at home, wondering why I had been given such a great opportunity, only for it to be ripped away from me. Instead of being reactive to the situation, I was proactive. I studied and became a Certified Personal Trainer through NASM by August of 2020, and 1 month later, I moved to beautiful Colorado to pursue my dreams and expand my career.

I have lived in Colorado for 2 and a half years now. I have worked for Anytime Fitness, Orangetheory Fitness, Chuze Fitness, and Lifetime Fitness. I also studied to become a Certified Nutrition Coach through NASM in July of 2022. I have impacted many lives in the gyms that I have worked at, but I have always longed to start my own business.

That's where I stand before you today. I am 25 years old and my life mission is to help change as many lives as I possibly can, through fitness.