My nams is Steven, I'm 38 years old. When I was growing up, I was the skinniest little kid on the block. People would even pick on me for it. I think it gave me some kind of a complex. I always had a chip on my shoulder. So when I got to my teen years, I started doing serious weight training. I got a weight bench and spent an hour here and there, every few days, working out. I really liked it, because it got out my frustrations. Eventually I got really serious and started working out for hours everyday. I ate a lot of beef, took in a lot of carbs, and even went to supplements when I felt conventional diet wasn't doing enough. I got huge too, and ripped. When I was 18, I was almost 300 pounds of muscle. Nobody picked on me anymore.

When I was done with high school and started working, I kept up the weight training harder than ever. But then I met my future wife, Anne. We fell in love, and got married. What came next was only natural - we had kids and moved into a nice little house. I kept all my weight stuff, but with the kids around and such, I never had much time anymore to worry about training. I had to put the stuff in the attic because it was getting in the way and I was never using it. The muscle started turning into fat. I was upset, because the body I had worked so hard to create was melting away before me. But I didn't have much time to worry about it, so I just sort of let it happen.

When Anne and I divorced, and she took the kids from me, I went through some hard times. I didn't take care of myself, I drank a lot, and I ate a garbage diet. I gained even more weight, but this time in fat, not muscle. I all of a sudden had the time to really look at who I was, and what I looked like. I didn't want to deal with it, so I didn't, for the longest time. When my drinking became a serious problem, I knew it was time to get straightened up. It took a months to get myself sober, but when it finally happened, I had the hope and strength to tackle the weight problem.

I took my weight training equipment back out of the attic and started on a light schedule once again. I didn't want to be huge again this time though, I was just past the age where I wanted that. I had to do some kind of a cardio workout. I started jogging every day. It wasn't much, maybe half an hour or so, but it really got my heart working. There's lots of hills around here. I changed my diet substantially, and that was really tough, because I've always loved having beef in my dinners - but now I had to keep that to a minimum. For dinner ideas, I read food magazines and watched cooking shows on tv. It was hard to find good healthy recipes, but once I got a few of them together that I could handle, I was set. Most of my meals involved chicken or fish or smaller portions of beef. I had a lots of pasta too, especially for lunch. That helped with the workouts.

I've been training again for 4 months, and I've brought myself back down to a healthier weight of 230, and I'm slowly building that muscle tone I used to have. I've met a new girlfriend, and I'm happier than I've ever been. I credit it all to my newfound confidence in myself.