Shy Brett Blair Blasts His Way to 210 Pounds
- Name: Brett Blair
- Age: 23
- Starting Weight: 220
- Ending Weight: 210
- Transformation Starting Date: 07/01/2015
- Transformation Ending Date: Ongoing
- Instagram: @Brett.blair95
Before Brett's Transformation
Before I decided to start working out I had an “I don’t care” attitude towards what I put into my body. I would drink on average around eight cans of regular Coca Cola a day and usually a large McDonalds sweet tea.
The types of food I usually ate would consist of either a whole tub of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls or a ton of pancakes for breakfast.
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For lunch, I would usually eat a couple of double cheeseburgers from McDonald's or Burger King. And for dinner, it was usually something that my parents cooked for dinner.
Before I started going to the gym, I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself. I was scared to talk to people and I was very shy because I didn’t feel comfortable in my own body because I wasn’t happy with how I looked and felt.
Before I decided to start my transformation I had never stepped foot into a weight room at all and at first, it was a little intimidating to think about working out.
The Moment Brett's Life Changed
One big thing that motivated me to start my transformation was I wanted to be more attractive towards girls since I was going into my second year of college at the time.
When in high school and earlier years I always felt like I was never noticed by anyone and I wanted to change that. I wanted to be the type of guy everyone noticed. Another big motivating factor for me was one of my cousins had started working out a couple of years prior and I thought he was absolutely “jacked” and I wanted to be just like him.
It ended up being a perfect time for me to start working out because we had just moved to a new town and I had just started a part-time job. Once I had a little cash coming in from work I joined the 24-hour gym down the street from my house and got a 3-month membership to see if it was something I would be interested in.
Brett's Diet and Workout Approach
So when I first decided to start working out, I slowly adjusted my diet. I had always heard that if you make huge drastic changes to your diet all at once, it more than likely will fail.
I knew I was going to have to start restricting calories so the first thing I did was cut out sweet foods and sodas. Shockingly enough, quitting soda was a lot easier than I expected it to be.
After I was starting to see a couple changes in my physique after the first couple of weeks I started cutting out simple carbohydrates such as white bread and cereal and I also cut out fried foods. Then I slowly managed to get my diet to where I eat lean meats, natural peanut butter, whole wheat or whole grain bread, oatmeal, eggs, egg whites, water, vegetables, fruit, and rice or sweet potatoes.
After I started to reach my fitness goals and my physique was where I wanted to be, I eased up on my diet a little bit still kept it in line just to maintain where I was already at. At that time I had lost 55 pounds in just under 10 months. Then it was time to set a new fitness goal, and that was to start building as much muscle as possible while staying moderately lean.
I hadn’t really discovered supplements until I decided to start building a lot of muscle, so after I started supplements, my diet changed a little bit. I had started taking a good quality whey protein blend post-workout for recovery and I had also started taking creatine monohydrate and a multivitamin.
I had also found out that I needed to start eating a higher amount of calories so when I started bulking I had increased my caloric intake from 1800 a day to about 2400. I did that for a couple of weeks until I had noticed I wouldn’t gain more weight and then I would bump my caloric intake up another 4-500 calories.
And just keep repeating that process until I got to be around my goal weight of 185. After I reached 185 I decided to shoot for 200, and then after that, 210. I always ate a moderately clean diet, I still to this day have not had a soda since I stepped foot in the gym for the first time, and I rarely eat cakes or pies except for special occasions.
My workout regime started out pretty simple when I first started going to the gym. I would start out doing some cardio which usually consisted of running at a consistent pace for about a mile and then I would lift weights for roughly 45 minutes.
Each week I made it a goal to run a mile at a faster time each week to start to increase my cardiovascular health. I then started lifting specific body groups on certain days and would do cardio on my off days. When I started my bulk I lowered my rep ranges and decreased the amount of cardio I was doing.
Instead of doing cardio 4-5 times a week I knocked it down to around 2-3 times. My rep ranges dropped from 10-12 reps down to 5-8 and I just would do an extra set or two than I had been doing.
Over the course of the past few years, from hitting plateaus, my workout regime has changed some due to my body just getting used to certain movements and doing them frequently. I’ve pretty much always done specific splits such as chest day, leg day, back day, shoulders, and then arms.
I never really did them in a specific order, I would just choose what I wanted to do that weekday when I stepped foot in the gym.
Brett's Struggles
Some of the struggles that I faced during my transformation revolved around diet and work/school. Dieting always has its struggles but for me. It wasn’t the fact that I wanted to eat foods that I shouldn’t, but rather it was the fact that I sometimes just didn’t have the appetite to eat and I would have to force myself to get food down in order to grow and recover properly.
There were times that I would come home from work or school and I wouldn’t eat what everyone else was eating due to it not being a somewhat healthy option.
Another struggle of mine was my friend group. I started working out and taking my diet seriously so that meant that I needed to eat at proper meal times. When I would be at work or in the lecture hall at school it became really hard to get some meals in at times because I would have classes that lasted for a couple of hours and they wouldn’t allow food to be brought in the room.
With work, I would be so busy that even if I had food with me I couldn’t eat just due to the fact that my workload was crazy.
I never really struggled with not being motivated to get into the gym. I’ve always loved going to the gym, to be honest. I know a lot of other people tend to struggle with staying motivated, so if you’re reading this and you currently aren’t motivated to go to the gym, get up off the couch and go put some work in! You will be so grateful that you did.
Most Important Thing You Learned?
I have learned a lot of different things through the time of my transformation. One thing that really sticks out to me is that I learned how much better I feel based off a clean diet and how much more energy I have.
I have learned a lot of things regarding nutrition and how certain foods cause the body to do different things. I’ve learned an absolute ton of information about supplements due to working in the supplement industry for a while and from personal experience with different products.
I’ve learned how beneficial proper recovery time and a good workout regimen can help achieve results at an excellent pace.
Between working out and dieting I have also increased my mental toughness because at times you just want to stop and just give up. Anyone that chooses to stick to a diet and workout regimen for a somewhat long period of time can learn an endless amount of things about the body and nutrition.
Biggest Mistake?
I don’t really feel like I made very many mistakes during my transformation.
One mistake that I can think of fairly quick is trying to lift too heavy of weight when I probably shouldn’t have, which would lead to pulled back muscles most of the time.
Another mistake that I can remember is not getting enough sleep. While I was in college I would only get about five hours of sleep or less. I honestly feel like not getting enough sleep cause my process to slow down a bit.
The only other mistake that I know of, is that when I started my transformation I was expecting to achieve my goals very quickly and I had no idea how long it can take.
Other than that, that's pretty much the only mistakes that really stick out to me. However, I don’t really look at them as mistakes, but rather learning moments for the future.
When starting a transformation, anyone will make some type of mistakes, they just happen. So don’t feel like everything will go exactly the way you think they will, because more times than not, they won’t.
A Typical Day of Eating
Every morning for breakfast I will either eat one cup of dry oats measured out and then cooked. Then I mix in some frozen blueberries and maybe some natural peanut butter to make it more filling or I will make a three-egg omelet with three added egg whites. I usually put in some low-fat cheese and top it with salsa.
I will usually eat a snack at work around two hours after my breakfast which usually consists of an apple or banana and a slice of whole wheat bread with one tablespoon of natural peanut butter.
For lunch, at work, I usually eat a serving size container of light blueberry or peach Greek yogurt, a banana or apple, and usually whatever is leftover from dinner the night before which. This will either be a type of pasta or a dish with lean meats such as 90/10 ground beef or chicken breast.
Since I usually go to the gym after work, I will usually eat a small meal or a large snack around an hour before I leave work. That snack is usually either microwaveable rice or some type of complex carbohydrate to help with sustained energy for my workout and to help get a better “pump” in the gym.
For post-workout, I always consume a protein shake with a carbohydrate supplement to restore glycogen levels. That shake is usually mixed with water since I have a 20-minute drive home from the gym and I usually run errands after my workout.
Then for dinner, I usually will eat chicken breast that’s either grilled or pan-seared in olive oil, and then some green beans and white rice. Or if I don’t cook all of that, since I have a love for pasta my fiancée will usually make either spaghetti with 90/10 ground beef or she will make chicken alfredo since she makes better pasta than me.
Pretty much I will eat anything that is a well-balanced meal with some type of lean meat. Then I usually go to bed a few hours after dinner and then repeat the same thing the next day.
For all of the meals I cook, I always substitute butter with olive oil. I have found that olive oil is a much healthier option to cook with compared to butter.
Words of Encouragement
Some tips I have for anyone that is wanting to transform their body for the better revolve around a few things. First off, your diet is 80-90% of your transformation, the gym picks up the rest. You can do a ton of work in the gym but if you have a terrible diet you won’t receive the results that you would like.
I suggest working your way into a diet as I did. I am going four years strong on my diet and now I don’t even consider it a diet, it’s just more a lifestyle.
Another thing is, BE PATIENT! Results won’t come overnight, and you honestly can not rush perfection. It will take time and it may take longer than you expect but if you stick with the dedication you will be really really happy with your results.
Another thing is don’t take other people’s word for everything. Find out what works best for your body and keep doing that. A diet or workout program that works for someone else might not be the best thing for your body.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to take chances, you might fail sometimes or get down but get back up and diet harder or workout harder and try to beat that next goal. Start with small goals and work towards bigger ones along the way, the process will come much easier!
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