Consistency, confidence, community, and don’t over think it! These lessons helped me transform from 246 pounds., 33 percent body fat, and 45-inch waist to 194 pounds, 12 percent body fat, and a 32-inch waist.



That's 52 pounds and 14 inches in just 8 months!



A special thanks to Brandon for documenting his progress so well, and for sharing his success story. I'm sure it will inspire many others to take action on their health and fitness.



Where were you at physically and mentally before joining VIGOR Training?



I joined VIGOR Training in May, 2018. Prior to that, I tried many different forms of fitness programs, classes, and camps. They gave me a good understanding of what it meant to be healthy and fit.



Though I learned a lot over those four years, I realized that I was mainly doing body weight or simple kettlebell workouts, which weren't getting me much for results.



In 2017, I stopped going to the gym completely. At the time, I couldn’t make it work in my budget. "Not fitting it into my budget" became an excuse to not exercise.



Within a few months, I'd gained weight, was consistently overeating, and didn't like how I looked.



When I started VIGOR Training, I got my baseline body composition measurements: 246 pounds, 33 percent body fat, and a 45-inch waist.



What was your tipping point?



My tipping point was a couple of months before I joined VIGOR Training.



At a guy's event called Advance, Tom Nikkola gave a talk on The Emotional Cycle of Change.



I realized I was making excuses for not exercising, and needed to make a gym membership and the training program work into my budget. I sat down with my budget and worked it out to make it happen.



Then, the next step was to then find a gym that was reasonably priced and had the right equipment. A month later, I found a good gym that had everything I needed. Then in May 2018, I began my journey with VIGOR Training.







What lessons did you learn along the way, that you'd want to pass along to others?



I've learned four key lessons from VIGOR Training:  consistency, confidence, community, and simplicity.



1. Consistency



Becoming fit and healthy is not something that happens overnight. 



It requires doing what needs to be done every single day.  When I started, I committed to training four days per week. So, every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, I woke up at 3:00 am and got to the gym by 4:00 am. I knew the only way I'd remain consistent was by working out before work.



Some mornings, I didn’t feel like going in but I would still go anyway. I committed to the process.



Time at the gym was not the only thing I stayed consistent with.



I followed the nutrition and supplement plans laid out in Tom's post, 28 Days: Four Weeks of Fat Loss.



After those four weeks, I followed the recommendations for transitioning to a more sustainable way of eating, which I follow to this day.



2. Confidence



This was something I didn’t expect. I committed to becoming a better version of myself physically, and in the process, my confidence grew. 



I gained confidence with the exercises, and my ability to handle more weight. This confidence grew outside of the gym, too. It allowed me to advance my life and move toward a new career path in wellness and life coaching!



3. Community





One of my favorite parts of VIGOR Training is the community! 



We all train hard, encourage one another through the app and VIGOR Training Facebook group, and see each other’s progress on the leaderboards.



Even though I train by myself, I know that my fellow VIGOR members are training too, and cheering me on.











4. Simplicity



Training and nutrition don't have to be complicated. 



If you have been training over a few weeks and you feel like you can add more weight, go for it!  It means you are getting stronger and you might even get a new personal record (PR)! 



Trust me, there is nothing better than hitting a new PR after four w...