A SHARED JOURNEY
Growing up in a small town in Eastern Washington, hard work was something that was expected. My twin brother and I grew up in a double-wide trailer, sharing a room with my older brother and sister. We milked dairy cows, raised chickens, and had our own cows for beef. Both of our grandparents had farms; my paternal grandfather moved from California to take advantage of a WWII vet land grant (he was a B-25 Bomber Captain) with his seven kids. My maternal grandfather moved from Nebraska to capitalize on the new farmland and lack of knowledgeable farmers, of which he was one.
We were required to work, waking up early to feed the cattle or change the irrigation water. Summers were spent at harvest, and winters were devoted to building fences for local cattle farmers to utilize the corn stocks. When we were young, we would spend hours picking rocks in the fields. As we got older and stronger, we used our strength to dig out irrigation pipes for repairs when a backhoe wasn’t available or to move several tons of hay to storage for the winter. We weren’t afraid of hard work and always found enjoyment in working together.
Discipline was instilled in us from a young age; it was simply the way we were raised. By the time we reached our teenage years, we tried our hand at sports. We were always much bigger than everyone else our age; by middle school, we were well over 6 feet tall and 200 lbs. This was before the era of junk food; we just ate a lot. So much so that my mother put a padlock on our pantry, fearing we would run out of food before she could make the 40-mile trip to the city to shop again. We ate whatever we could get our hands on - oatmeal, eggs, entire logs of hamburger meat. It seemed endless; we would eat as long as we were allowed. But we were also able to work hard all day.
It was an interesting dichotomy; we were very gifted athletically, but we were also simply big. We referred to ourselves as "big-boned," but truthfully, we were overweight. It would take us several decades to figure out how to control this.
We both played in all-state games and received numerous honors throughout high school in varsity basketball, football, and even sponsored by Wrangler as rodeo athletes.
When we started college, both Matt and I weighed over 300 lbs. (I weighed 310 and Matt weighed 335). Over several decades, I am pleased to report that I have maintained around 200 lbs and continue to take a disciplined approach to my health.
Matt and I used our "grind it out" mentality to accomplish many things in our young adulthood. We both earned Master's degrees and became CPAs. We both have beautiful families, with three kids each, and we both run our respective firms as Chief Operating Officers.
One of the achievements I'm most proud of as we've grown older is our ability to become healthier over time. Learning how to eat properly, working out, and maintaining the same discipline that has always led us to achieve our goals. My brother and I have competed in hundreds of races including triathlons and marathons and continue to push the limit of the large-framed bodies.
Both of us have achieved healthier bodies and mentalities through hard work and by evolving the tools and methods we've tried. We've experimented with intermittent fasting, bulletproof coffee, the keto diet, veganism, no-carb diets, and water fasting. Matt and I like to think we are some of the most disciplined people out there but if we're both being honest, maintaining weight and health has likely been the biggest challenge.
There has never been a quick and easy path to being healthy. On an average day, I run eight miles, lift for 45 minutes, and spend a couple of hours chasing my young kids around the house, yet I still have to cut calories just to maintain my weight and peak fitness.
My brother and I use every tool at our disposal to gain an edge in our diet and fitness, and over the years, we've increasingly turned to supplements. Think of supplements as the fuel for your car, whether you're cutting weight or building muscle, you need the right fuel to power the hard work required to reach your goals.
With the right combination of diet, supplements, and dedication, you can achieve your goals and I want to help anyway I can.
