Now I know what you are asking yourself. Is that really the same person? And yes, I promise you that it is. On the top pictures I weighed near 240 pounds just as a 14 year old. I ate a ridiculous amount of food and according to my doctors, I was at risk of many heart diseases and conditions later in life. I was not happy with just my appearance, but also how I felt. I had friends, I had a great family, I had baseball, I was constantly stuffing my face with food, I had it all and believed that there was no reason for me not to be happy all the time. One day during Winter Break of my 8th grade year, I looked in the mirror and after a lot of searching I finally found the one thing I was missing. I was missing confidence. I did not have the ability to look myself in the mirror every morning and say "I am proud that this is me." Truth is, I was not proud. I did not think there was anything honorable about eating endlessly and not doing anything about it, even though I knew it was not good for me. I knew nobody could change this except for me. I knew deep down inside that I could get what I wanted and it was only up to me. It would be my choice to continue along this not so good path I was on, or take the first step in climbing the mountain. I knew that struggles lied ahead, but did not care because I felt my wanting was much greater than any obstacle that could possibly come in my way. Do not be fooled though, I was not always motivated. There were many times when I wanted to pick up a donut and quit. There were many times that I wondered if I ever would even get to be happy with myself. During those times I believed my character was shaped. I realized then that in life there is no obstacle to challenging or even mountain to high that I could not climb. I could do anything that I told myself I could do. Just like I told myself in the mirror that one special day where my crazy self set goals way to high, "I can do it." To this day there is nothing that I think I can't do. My life has been so greatly impacted by fitness and living a healthy lifestyle. During this time I also found what I believe to be my passion. My passion is to influence people to achieve their goals. Watch the video below to hear my full story!