Transformation: Brandon Solomon Sheds 108 Pounds

I am 5' 9", 21 years old, live in Ocean City, Maryland. Not done with my transformation yet but I plan to be by the two year anniversary. I am a college student.

What Was Your Life Like Before Your Transformation?

I was a typical college student living at home with my parents. I would eat as much I wanted to and eat however many times a day that I felt necessary.

I would get winded from walking through campus and up the stairs to my classes. I would also drink multiple nights a week which really lead to me gaining a lot of weight.

Please Detail Your Turning Point

It started with one of my friends Mauricio. He told me that he had lost 35lbs in 4 months while low carb dieting. I have always hated my weight and how I looked so this caught my attention.

When I went home that night I looked at myself in the mirror and was disgusted with what I saw so I decided that if he can do it then so can I. I began my diet the next day and it changed my life.

Around a week later I joined a local gym with two friends Mauricio, and Vance.


What Were Your Major Struggles or Challenges?

A major challenge for me was to find time to diet and workout in the summertime. I live in a beach town so we have around 4 months to make our money before it becomes a ghost town again. This means I would work 80+ hours per week between two jobs.

This left me little time to diet and workout but I managed to find a little time. I was able to
keep my workouts pretty similar but staying on my diet was tough.

Detail Your Workout and Cardio Plan During Your Transformation

At the beginning of my transformation I did no cardio. This went on for the first 8 months of lifting. I was losing weight pretty quickly so I figured that I didn't need to do much cardio. I just lifted 5-6 times per week for around an hour and a half per day.

I have altered my approach a little since then and added in about 20-30 minutes of cardio 3-4 times per week and shortened my training sessions to around an hour excluding cardio.

Detail Your Diet/Eating Plan During Your Transformation
When I first started my diet I was doing a strict low carb, high fat and high protein diet. I did this for about eight months and lost about 60lbs this way. Since then I have switched over to counting calories.

I now am consuming roughly 2300 calories per day through four or five meals. I typically eat lean red meat, chicken or turkey breast, lean pork, fish, brown rice, sweet potatoes, egg whites, veggies, bananas, oats, and peanut butter.

Detail Your Supplement Plan During Your Transformation

I will take three CLA gel capsules throughout the day, along with two Ethitech fish oils throughout the day, and three Opti-men multivitamins.

Pre-workout I will typically take MTS Clash with a scoop of MTS Vasky or Noxygen. During my workout I like to take one to two scoops of MTS Machine Fuel. And for my post-workout I will have an MTS Mint Cookies and Cream protein shake.

What Was Your Major Accomplishment, or Major Milestones?

I had a few different major milestones along my journey so far. When I first set out I wanted to get below 215lbs. I accomplished this by September of 2014 and wanted to lose more weight. I next decided I wanted to be below 200lbs. I reached this goal by January of 2015.

My current goal is the get lean enough to have visible abs. I am setting a target date of the two year anniversary of when I began my transformation for this milestone.

Detail Your 3 Biggest Mistakes

1. My biggest mistake would have to be my lack of cardio early on within my transformation. I figured since I was losing weight quickly why should I bother with cardio. I realized along the way that even though I had lost weight I had no cardiovascular endurance.
2. I utilized a low carb diet for too long. I believe I would've lost weight more efficiently if I had switched over to watching my caloric intake much sooner. Now I feel much more energized in the gym and can push through my workout with more intensity.
3. I was to set into a single routine that I never varied my exercises or the order in which I did them. I would come in on let's say back day and would start with lay pulldowns every single time I came in. I would follow the same pattern every time I came into the gym and realized I wasn't getting nearly as burned out from this routine even though I had increased the weights.

3 Biggest Things You Learned During Your Transformation?

1. Hard work. You won't get too far if you aren't willing to put in the hard work required. I realized that dieting and working out is like a job. I am my own boss and I don't want to disappoint myself so I need to work hard to get results.
2. Patience. I learned that everything takes time. Not everything occurs overnight and that's especially true with weight loss. You must put in your time and effort and show some patience and you will be rewarded.
3. How to better fuel my body. I realized that food is fuel for our body. Nothing more, nothing less. The better fuel you put in then the better results you get out. I cut out much of the unhealthy foods and try to replace them with healthier options.

Final Words of Advice for Others Looking to Make a Change?

It's never too late to begin bettering yourself. It's a decision only you can make for yourself.

Make the change for you. Make the change to better your life and better yourself. Ignore the negative things people say to you, these are strictly motivational items. It's always great to achieve something that others told you that you can't do.

A journey to becoming fit is like taking a train. You are going to have different stops and delays that occur but you still need to getto where you are going. Every milestone you achieve is just you getting back onto the train of life after a stop or delay.

You will be able to look back at the struggles you had while making this journey but you will be thankful for it all and how it changed you.

I plan to be to my next milestone around the two year anniversary of the start of my weight loss journey.