When you are fit, everyone assumes that you always were that way.
Heres the skinny, I was, very, and then I got fat, very, and now, I`m neither.

When I was young, I was very active. Soccer, swimming, baseball, track and field; you name it, I was in it. Then suddenly with high school and other activity, exercise took a backseat in my life. Big mistake. I felt sluggish everyday with no energy. I remember being seventeen, waking up and feeling like a zombie. I`d skip breakfast, grabbing a bowl of cereal in the morning if I was lucky (of course I chose high-fiber Raisin Bran!), eat a small lunch (a turkey sandwich!) and at night, dinner was a toss-up between pasta, and something random (usually a piece of cheese and some snacks). Frustrated by my lack of energy, I decided to increase my exercise. I went to my local track and tried to do a few laps and nearly fainted; I had no energy. Confused, I noticed that my brother was working out at the high school gym and seeing great physical changes. He had more energy, more excitement, more passion. Intrigued, I decided to try it myself.Omar, skinny, 150 pounds, October 2006, looking mad at the world, RAWR

At first I was intimidated by the weights and by others in the gym. I was way smaller and less experienced. I remember hanging on the pull-up bar trying to knock out one chin-up while the guy next to me was lifting three pounds on the bench. It was shaky at first, but I kept at it. Slowly I started lifting more weights, seeing progress and results with my body. Unfortunately I was not informed about nutrition. My diet during this phase can best be described as the see-food diet; if I saw it I ate it. A regular meal for me was eight eggs, three turkey sausages, three pieces of toast and a quarter block of cheese. This was one meal of about five or six. In about nine months I gained sixty pounds (I looked pregnant- but without the baby). Mentally, I believed I was all muscle. I lied to myself when I saw my double chin and gut and tried to ignore it. The shocking reality came when I came home from university for the summer…and my mother called me fat.

Omar, fat, 215 pounds, June 2007, with a very shitty haircut and gutastic body, you were right ma, I was fat

It took awhile for me to accept that I was fat. I was in denial for a period of time. However, the running out of breath walking up the stairs made me able to lie to myself for only so long. It was around this time that I started clarifying my goals. Before, I never really established a goal; I was just winging it, doing what felt right. It was when I decided to set goals and develop habits around those goals that success followed. I decided I was tired of having a gut and that ultimately I wanted to look good, feel better, and be a healthy active person. Armed with this goal, I began pursuing it.

It wasn’t easy at first, I had many setbacks. Along my journey, there were some trying times; periods when it felt like a grind. Sometimes I felt like giving up; but I didn’t, I kept at it. It was ultimately my consistency, hard work and guidance from those more knowledgeable than me that helped me succeed. My journey in fitness has helped me develop a strong work ethic, a higher sense of understanding of myself, and the belief that with hard work anything is possible. It has given me the energy and passion for life that I now possess and hope to share with you.

Omar, now, 162 pounds, May 16^th 2009, better hair cut, better body

The Three Omars: super skinny, obscenely obese, and justttttttt right