Spotlight: Eric R.

I have struggled with weight my whole life, starting at 7 years old.

A bit of a nightmarish childhood with abusive parents, they reinforced the idea that if you didn’t clear your plate, you’d take a beating, and the portions were always too large for me. By 5th grade, I was wearing size 36 jeans and xl shirts. I eventually got to 415 pounds.

In 2016, when I moved out to Austin, I fell in love with powerlifting and went from 415 down to around 250. Fell in love for all the wrong reasons, and my weight slowly crept back up. During covid I exploded back out to 425-ish. I got sick of being who I am, so I asked for help for the first time in my life.

I had bariatric surgery 9/1/2022, started back in the gym 6 weeks later, divorced said wrong person, and have been loving the journey. Currently I’m 188lbs and for the first time in my life have muscle definition. Seeing veins pop on my forearm after a strong arm day is something that never gets old.