BRIENMALONE's Story
My name is Brien Malone. I am a 36 year old husband, father, web developer and life-long learner in San Marcos, California.
Over the years, I have had a lot of different body shapes. Skinny in grade school, fat in high school, skinny in college... then all over the map after that. It's funny - I can tell almost to the month when a photo of me is taken based entirely on the style of clothes and the size of my butt *laugh*
Blog Pic
The picture on my Blog is from 2003 at my physical peak. I chose that pic to remind me of what I can look like as long as I stick to the plan. To see my physique now, go to the December 8, 2007 Blog entry (my first). (I'm also posting physique shots every month or so to show progress.)
Dot Com Baloon
In 1999, I joined a dot-com that came with a 2 hour commute and a lot of stress. I started lean, but with the 16 hour days and high pressure, my weight climbed up and up until I hit a personal record of 232 lbs.
How The Stars Do It
In 2000, I heard a story about a Hollywood star who worked with a personal trainer 3 days a week at $100 a pop. Since I was single and living on a sailboat in San Diego, I thought - Ok... It will be tough, but I can afford that. I'm going to hire a trainer, too. I was very relieved that good trainers are half that price! (Cheaper if you buy in bulk!)
Training: The Carla Era... Nutrition
In 2000 and 2001, I worked with Carla Kayvon at Bally Total Fitness. She was an expert nutritionist, and competitive fitness model. I credit her with opening my eyes to the importance of eating the right kinds of food at the right intervals. The weight melted off. I slimmed down to about 175 in that year, and had the beginnings of six pack abs. Unfortunately, I lost a lot of the weight by starving myself (against her recommendation) and lost a lot of muscle (probably 10-15 lbs!).
Training: The Rebecca Era... Muscular Development
In 2002, Carla left the personal training gig to join the sheriffs department. I was sad, but it was actually the best thing that could have happened. She handed me over to Rebecca Lee, another fitness model and BRILLIANT trainer. (She's a lot like Jillian from "Biggest Loser") http://www.angelfitness.com/
Rebecca's workouts helped me pack on a ton of muscle in a very short time. I was a very muscular 196 by the time 2003 rolled around.
Life Changes: All Good - Except One...
Later in 2003, I proposed to my girlfriend, and married her in 2004... we had a son together... bought a house... and I started school. With all of the life changes, I kept telling myself, "I just don't have time for all this fitness stuff"... Rebecca and I trained for a bit longer, but my heart wasn't in it.
That time passed so quickly. The next thing I knew, it was 2007. My son was 2, and I was clinically obese, wearing size 42 pants (250 lbs @ 30% body fat)
Stalled By Wrong Thoughts
I tried to jump back into the whole fitness thing off and on between 2003 and 2007, but I wasn't in the right frame of mind. I kept saying things like "I have to get back on track" and "I have to start journaling again". None of these attempts lasted more than a few weeks.
Total Emersion Into The RIGHT Thoughts
In late October, 2007, I decided that what I needed to do was immerse myself in fitness culture again. I did an internet search for some books on impartial fitness advice and came across Tom Venuto. Tom is a natural bodybuilder with a gift for gab. He has TONS of really good material on diet and exercise. The best part - he prides himself on not being on anyone's payroll. He doesn't endorse any supplements or magazines.
After about a month of reading his material and posting in the forums, I was ready to go. I knew that I was back in the right mind set, and I couldn't wait to get started.
...and the right TOOLS... CalorieKing
Since I work with tools like Corel Draw and Adobe Photoshop, I created my own professional grade fitness journal several years ago... but I knew that the only way I would really keep track of my foods this time was to do it online. I started with theDailyPlate.com, but quickly tired of their half-done food and exercise tracking system.
Since I'm also a web developer, I started making plans to create my own system, when I came across Calorie King's beta site in early December 2007. The beta site was 90% of what I needed, so I abandoned my website plans and jumped right in! I even spent a few hours back-populating my foods by copying and pasting from daily plate so I'd have a complete record of my journey.
I'm BACK
It is so good to be back in a fitness frame of mind. My goal is to have a stage-ready physique before I start my MBA in 2009. I should be lean again by September 2008, so I think this is completely do-able.
Time to go!
Over the years, I have had a lot of different body shapes. Skinny in grade school, fat in high school, skinny in college... then all over the map after that. It's funny - I can tell almost to the month when a photo of me is taken based entirely on the style of clothes and the size of my butt *laugh*
Blog Pic
The picture on my Blog is from 2003 at my physical peak. I chose that pic to remind me of what I can look like as long as I stick to the plan. To see my physique now, go to the December 8, 2007 Blog entry (my first). (I'm also posting physique shots every month or so to show progress.)
Dot Com Baloon
In 1999, I joined a dot-com that came with a 2 hour commute and a lot of stress. I started lean, but with the 16 hour days and high pressure, my weight climbed up and up until I hit a personal record of 232 lbs.
How The Stars Do It
In 2000, I heard a story about a Hollywood star who worked with a personal trainer 3 days a week at $100 a pop. Since I was single and living on a sailboat in San Diego, I thought - Ok... It will be tough, but I can afford that. I'm going to hire a trainer, too. I was very relieved that good trainers are half that price! (Cheaper if you buy in bulk!)
Training: The Carla Era... Nutrition
In 2000 and 2001, I worked with Carla Kayvon at Bally Total Fitness. She was an expert nutritionist, and competitive fitness model. I credit her with opening my eyes to the importance of eating the right kinds of food at the right intervals. The weight melted off. I slimmed down to about 175 in that year, and had the beginnings of six pack abs. Unfortunately, I lost a lot of the weight by starving myself (against her recommendation) and lost a lot of muscle (probably 10-15 lbs!).
Training: The Rebecca Era... Muscular Development
In 2002, Carla left the personal training gig to join the sheriffs department. I was sad, but it was actually the best thing that could have happened. She handed me over to Rebecca Lee, another fitness model and BRILLIANT trainer. (She's a lot like Jillian from "Biggest Loser") http://www.angelfitness.com/
Rebecca's workouts helped me pack on a ton of muscle in a very short time. I was a very muscular 196 by the time 2003 rolled around.
Life Changes: All Good - Except One...
Later in 2003, I proposed to my girlfriend, and married her in 2004... we had a son together... bought a house... and I started school. With all of the life changes, I kept telling myself, "I just don't have time for all this fitness stuff"... Rebecca and I trained for a bit longer, but my heart wasn't in it.
That time passed so quickly. The next thing I knew, it was 2007. My son was 2, and I was clinically obese, wearing size 42 pants (250 lbs @ 30% body fat)
Stalled By Wrong Thoughts
I tried to jump back into the whole fitness thing off and on between 2003 and 2007, but I wasn't in the right frame of mind. I kept saying things like "I have to get back on track" and "I have to start journaling again". None of these attempts lasted more than a few weeks.
Total Emersion Into The RIGHT Thoughts
In late October, 2007, I decided that what I needed to do was immerse myself in fitness culture again. I did an internet search for some books on impartial fitness advice and came across Tom Venuto. Tom is a natural bodybuilder with a gift for gab. He has TONS of really good material on diet and exercise. The best part - he prides himself on not being on anyone's payroll. He doesn't endorse any supplements or magazines.
After about a month of reading his material and posting in the forums, I was ready to go. I knew that I was back in the right mind set, and I couldn't wait to get started.
...and the right TOOLS... CalorieKing
Since I work with tools like Corel Draw and Adobe Photoshop, I created my own professional grade fitness journal several years ago... but I knew that the only way I would really keep track of my foods this time was to do it online. I started with theDailyPlate.com, but quickly tired of their half-done food and exercise tracking system.
Since I'm also a web developer, I started making plans to create my own system, when I came across Calorie King's beta site in early December 2007. The beta site was 90% of what I needed, so I abandoned my website plans and jumped right in! I even spent a few hours back-populating my foods by copying and pasting from daily plate so I'd have a complete record of my journey.
I'm BACK
It is so good to be back in a fitness frame of mind. My goal is to have a stage-ready physique before I start my MBA in 2009. I should be lean again by September 2008, so I think this is completely do-able.
Time to go!