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About Rich ....
My story |
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At
that time I was not totally inactive. I was playing basketball once a
week for about 2 hours, so my cardiovascular shape was not bad for a fat
guy, but it was the only thing I did right. I ate horribly all the time.
I didn't really know any better. I was definitely a victim of the low-fat,
fat-free trap. If it's fat-free you can eat as much as you want, right?
Coca Cola is fat-free.
The funny thing is that growing up (and growing out), I never imagined that I would ultimately be fat. That is to say, that while I acknolwedged that I was fat, I always knew that someday I would not be. That one day some magic switch would get thrown, and that I would do what it took to lose the weight, and I would look awesome. It almost happened the year that I finished university.
That year, 1993, my girlfriend at the time (who is now my wife) had been having great success with Weight Watchers. She had lost about 30 lbs or so, and was continuing to lose. Given her impressive results, I decided that I would try the program as well. I started at a weight of about 210 lbs, and did lose quite a bit. I got down to 185 lbs. This was right around the time that we got married (end of 1993). The funny thing was, I still did not like how I looked, and believed that I was still fat. In fact I was still fat, because as I was later to learn, "fat" is not defined at all by weight, but by body composition. What I had succeeded to do in Weight Watchers was to reduce my overall mass, by reducing both my fat mass and my lean mass. To quote Dr. Fred Hatfield (co-founder of ISSA, a fitness training certification organization), I went from being a big fat guy to a little fat guy.
As time went on, I grew bored with the program, and started to introduce the occasional "cheat" meal. Well, occasional gradually turned into frequent, and then before I really realized what had happened I was not following the Weight Watchers program at all. Neither was my wife. Over the next 6-7 years I went from a fat 185 lbs to an obese 227 lbs. Of course I did not recover the lean mass I had lost, but instead replaced it with fat. And then some. I was definitely out of control.
I remember that I would sit on a stair to put on my shoes and while I was bent over to tie them I would not be able to breathe because my stomach was pressing into my lungs. I used to carry my 1 year old son up the stairs to change his diaper, and I'd have to wait for 5 minutes at the change table to catch my breath before I could proceed. I was so winded after climbing a flight of stairs that I could not even change a diaper.
A very interesting thing happened around this time. That ingrained knowledge that I had always had - that one day I would be slim - disappeared. I no longer believed that one day I would take care of business and "shape up". It wasn't a conscious thing that I decided to give up on. It is just that one day when I was thinking about it I realized that I had resigned myself to the fact that I was going to be fat for the rest of my life. And nobody cared either. I was married to a wonderful woman, had a wonderful son, and my friends and family all liked me just fine the way I was. I was doing fine at my job too. In other words, life was good.
Or was it? I had essentially given up on myself. The whole world can give up on you and you can keep on trying, but when you give up on yourself you have truly failed. I hate to fail at anything. I am allergic to failure. But here I had failed. The worst part was, I had failed one of the most important tests that exists for a person. I had failed myself. Still, I was loathe to make a change. I would try half-heartedly sometimes to lose weight, but I no longer really cared. My attempts were laughable. I would "eat less" for a few days, or cut out salad dressing, or drink diet pop instead of regular. I might even lose 5 pounds. Of course, as soon as I lost any kind of weight that would be my excuse to loosen up a little. After all, if you've just lost 5 pounds you can afford to put one or two back on, and then lose another 5, right? Sad.
Then
I read "Enter the Zone" by Dr. Barry Sears. Forgive the cliché,
but it literally changed my life. Finally, I was introduced to some of
the most basic concepts of nutrition. The stuff you are supposed to learn
in primary school. I learned about the macronutrients (I had no clue about
them prior to that), and I learned about the way food affects your hormonal
balance, specifically insulin and glucagon, and eicosanoids. I went on
the zone diet and in 8 months I was weighing in at a svelte 162 lbs. Of
course, I was not really doing any kind of exercise at that time (beyond
my basketball), so while I did lose a great deal of fat I still did not
look all that great, due to the complete lack of lean muscle mass that
my years of neglect had bestowed upon me. By lack of muscle mass I do
not mean that I was small for a bodybuilder. I mean I was lacking enough
muscle mass to look like anything but a scrawny guy with a hint of lovehandles.
I was still not happy.
I kept that weight for a couple of years, happier than when I was fat but still dissatisfied. Then gradually I started to desire something better. Something bigger. Something more fit. My wife and I have been watching Days of Our Lives since high school (a nasty habit that was introduced to me by my mother ... LOL), and there is an actor on that show by the name of Matt Cedeno whose physique I admired. I decided that by working out I could transform my scrawny little physique into something more like Matt's. So I joined a gym.
It was not long before I was bitten by the bodybuilding bug, and bitten hard. Two years later I was 201 lbs, and began prepping for my first bodybuilding contest (you can read a recap of that and see photos by clicking here). I competed in May of 2003, and placed 3rd (out of only 4 competitors) in the novice class.
What I want people to know is that my background is totally non-athletic, which is not surprising given the background I have outlined above. I was a shy child that grew into a geek in high school, and a super-geek in university. I am still a geek, though not nearly as shy (can't call to order a pizza though - I always make my wife do it! LOL. Therapy anyone?).
I did manage to meet and marry the woman of my dreams when I was in high school though, and we now have 2 absolutely amazing children. In a very large way it is for my children that I need to be better than I was. So that they can grow up better than I did, from a fitness perspective, and from a confidence perspective. My educational background consists of a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo, and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Western Ontario.
I
have always been a learner. I learn quickly, and extend what I learn for
practical purposes. I am a perfectionist, and when I seize on something
that I am passionate about I can not let go - often to the exclusion of
things that need my attention! This is why bodybuilding, and fitness,
is the perfect endeavour for me. In the time since I started bodybuilding
I have learned much about the sport, and about myself, and have been able
to apply what I have learned to the betterment of my own fitness, and
the fitness of people around me. I have grown and matured in ways that
I can not even describe. My entire belief system has been reoriented.
I understand now what discipline, planning, focus and determination can
do. The power to take your own body and mold it, for the better, with
a purpose teaches you that you can apply those same principles to
anything that you choose to. Actors, novelists, professionals - anyone
that enjoys a success that perhaps you crave - the only thing that separates
"those" people from "you" is that they did it. They
had a goal, they made a plan, they executed their plan and they never
lost sight of the finish line. Bodybuilding teaches each one of us that
the process works. It can be applied to anything.
My celebration of bodybuilding and fitness, and my staunch belief in the myriad benefits that they provide (both physical and spiritual) is my reason for developing this site, and for creating "Clever Fitness by CQ". This site is my tribute to bodybuilding and bodybuilders, and "Clever Fitness by CQ" is my physique transformation program, which I have developed to help anyone who wants to change the course of their life, with respect to fitness. I did it, so I know that anyone can. I know it.
I truly hope you enjoy my site!