Bryant was always a heavy kid, and while that bothered him, he didn’t realize what he was really doing to his health until he was diagnosed with Diabetes. Did he throw in the towel and decide there was nothing he could do about his circumstances? Heck no! He decided it was time to fight for his health and fight for his life. Way to seize control man! So often we are focused on “getting ripped”, but this is the real victory — a changed life! Congrats Bryant!
Bryant’s story in his own words:
I have always been a big kid, weight wise, not height, lol. I grew up with a mother, brother, and sister that all had high metabolism’s and could eat whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. My father was in the Navy and still is so he wasn’t there for 7-8 months out of every year. I lived like this for all of my childhood and through my years as a teenager I got very frustrated with my weight, definitely when compared to family and friends that were all skinny.
I hit the highest weight that I have ever been at the end of 2009. 194 pounds and standing at about 5’5 was not a pretty site at all. I was disgusted with myself, and I knew that I needed to do something about it. I had gotten P90X as a gift in August of 2009 but had only experimented with it a little bit, and never committed 100% to doing the program. Once 2009 was over I started making plans for college and my future and I knew that I needed to drop the unhealthy weight that I was carrying around. I was on the edge between overweight and obese and I didn’t want to cross that line. So in January of 2010 I began P90X, it was hard at first but I expected that. I progressed in my fitness, but my nutrition was terrible. I lowered my caloric intake, which caused me to lose weight, but my nutrition was still high on the carbohydrate end and I was still only eating about 2 to 3 times a day.
I kept this up for the length of the program but in the last 30-45 days I stopped doing P90X workouts and began to do my workouts at the gym. I still lost weight and got down to the lightest that I had been in well over 5 years, at about 155 pounds. But I still felt fat, and I wasn’t even close to “Ripped”. Basically I was what some people would call skinny fat. It is my belief that I dropped a lot of my muscle when losing weight instead of losing fat, which is the right way to do it. 2010 progressed and in August I was living in a new place going to a new school. I was in college and for anyone that has been to college would know that for 99% of the campus population, eating right is the last thing on their minds, and I followed suit. I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and justified it by going to the gym, so I never gained any weight. I still felt horrible about the shape that I was in. The school year progressed and in November I was enlisted in the Colorado Army National Guard, and I had a ship date of May 9th 2011.
The next few months rolled by and I kept up the same eating habits, but I was getting in better shape for basic training. I attended my first Drill with the COARNG in February of 2011 and right off the bat, I was hooked, the getting yelled at, the physical training, the sleep deprivation. I loved all of it because it pushed me to my limits, just when I thought that there was no way I could get up after an hour and a half sleep after being up for 20 hours to pull guard duty, I did and time rolled on. This validated the saying, “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger”. I knew that I would live, and that I would recover from the beating that I was taking.
I attended my second drill in the month of March and it was the same kind of intensity. At the beginning of March I got sick with what seemed like a sinus infection but it lasted for close to two weeks, I was stupid and didn’t go to the doctor to get it checked out, I thought I would tough it out like every other time I got sick, but I was wrong and something was different and worst with what I was sick with. I attended my Drill in March while sick, but pushed through. The month of March passed by and on March 28th 2011, I got back from the gym and for some reason I got online and looked up symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes. Something in the back of my mind told me to do that; I had been having a lot of the same symptoms of Diabetes. Frequent urination, always hungry, always thirsty, and a significant amount of weight loss. I had dropped 15 pounds in a month and I was eating like a complete pig. So I called my parent’s and told them that I should get checked for Type 1 Diabetes.
I scheduled an appointment for a test, and the next day I went with my Girlfriend to get it done. We had to wait a while, several blood tests, and about two hours later I got the news. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes; just like that I knew right off the bat that my life would be forever changed. My love of the Military up to that point was now a dream that couldn’t be fulfilled. I came to find out a few hours later while with the Diabetic Educator that my Blood Sugar levels were at 713, which is the highest that they had ever seen. But I felt fine, they insisted that I get into the hospital for a lovely overnight stay (NOT). My mother and father flew out from Hawaii to see me, and the attention was all on me for the next 4 days, which I didn’t like.
I knew that all those years of having weight issues because of my eating habits were to blame for getting Diabetes, it was my fault and now I had to live with the consequences. After dealing with Diabetes for the rest of the school year I came back home to Hawaii. I had made the decision before flying back that I was going to give P90X another go, and go all out this time. I learned how I should be feeding myself for maximum fat loss, and I bought the supplements that I needed, which included the fantastic Shakeology, which was recommended by my trusty Coach, Coach Wayne.
A new fire was lit underneath me and it could only be explained by the fact that I had been knocked down by Diabetes, but I was getting back up and in the game to fight back. I began P90X at 167 pounds and 18-19% body fat. Once I started P90X, with the fat shredder nutrition plan by P90X I no longer had to take any insulin shots whatsoever, to some this is considered the honeymoon phase where your body temporarily starts making insulin, but this wasn’t that. Because of the low-carbohydrate design of the fat shredder plan and working out on a daily basis I was able to keep my Glucose levels in the normal range. I kept this up, Nutrition, Working out, and everything for the full 90 Days. In the full 90 days I dropped 14 pounds of body fat to get down the leanest I have ever been, at about 11% body fat. I could see my abs for the first time in my life, and I love it. I couldn’t have done it without Coach Wayne and all of teamripped To share my love for P90X and Beachbody I became a Coach and founded TEAMXCEED. Now not only do I get to live with the joy of reaching my fitness goals, but I get to help other people get to their goals, and there is nothing better than that.
Bryant
Need a coach?
My email: coachwayne@teamripped.com
IG: @wayne_wyatt
