Spotlight: Alan G.

After roughly 18 years of heavy substance and alcohol abuse, on October 1, 2019, I finally decided to get sober. About 2 weeks later I had another epiphany on my way to a concert in Chicago where I realized sobriety was not enough and I needed to do more. The following day I walked in to the gym weighing approximately 280lbs and I never looked back.

I reconnected with an old friend in February 2020. Around that time was when you re-emerged on the scene as a totally ripped new version of yourself. As I showed my friend your photos she looked at me and told me that that would be me one day.

The pandemic destroyed that relationship,  and as everything closed, including the gyms, it threatened to destroy my progress. I took up solo hiking since that's all we really could do with stay-at-home restrictions. Not only was I able to continue losing weight, I discovered that I loved being outdoors and connected with nature.

Even after the gyms reopened in my state I continued hiking, and before long I started backpacking and trail running. I initially had a goal to be at 230 lbs but i blew past that weight sometime in July. With my one year sober anniversary coming up I had a new goal: be consistently under 200 lbs.

By sticking to a low carb, high fat diet, and continuously going to the gym and hiking and trail running, approximately one year and one week after my sobriety date i stayed at a consistent 195lbs.

Since then I have maintained my weight below 200 lbs while adding muscle by lean bulking. I have also taken up obstacle course racing and have already competed in 3 this year and have 5 more planned, including 3 Spartan races and a Tough Mudder.

These pictures are about 18 months apart.