About so you know who's giving you this info

MY STORY

My name is Rolando Rodriguez.  I am a father of four, husband, uncle, and designer who lives in the Metro-Atlanta area.  I live an extremely busy and stressful lifestyle working an average 75 hours a week.  On top of that I am stuck in traffic an average of 12 hours a week.  This means that 50 weeks out of the year I am either at, or driving to work, over 50% of the time.  The other half of my time is divided into being a father, a husband, eating, and exercise.

Simply put – I am The Fat Twin.  In school our friends told my twin brother and me apart by remembering that, “Roly has ROLLS and Cele is as skinny as celery stick.”

So, I spend ½ of my life in the car or at work (in other words seated, stationary, and stressed), ¼ of my life being a dad + husband, another ¼ of my life trying to stay active, and 100% of my life trying to not gain weight.  Simply put – I am The Fat Twin.  In school our friends told my twin brother and me apart by remembering that, “Roly has ROLLS and Cele is as skinny as celery stick.”  Needless to say, I’ve always had to struggle with my weight.  To put it in perspective I weighed the same in the 4th grade as I did in the 8th grade.

When I got married, at the age of 22, I was in the best shape of my life (up to that point) and within a year I had gained 30 lbs. Two years later, another 50, and…POOF!…in a 3 year period I gained a total of 80 lbs. (26.666 lbs./year for 3 years straight).

It is important to note that during the weight gain I continued to workout and workout hard….but my eating regimen trumped my exercise regimen and the result was a whole lot of me to love.

INJURY, STRESS, and bad EATING HABITS all lead to a very unhealthy lifestyle.

IN A 3-YEAR PERIOD :

  1. Gained 80 lbs. (23.333 lbs./year)
  2. Completely tore my labrum,
  3. Became a father,
  4. Received my masters degree,
  5. Lost my job
  6. And learned that I have bilateral patellar tilt in both my knees.

Needless to say, 2007 – 2010 were not great years for me (…and most of the country).

So, there I was, almost 90 lbs. over weight with shoulder + knee injuries, no job + school debt, a new baby to provide for, and not much of anything in my life in terms of motivation…until the day I realized this train wasn’t coming back unless I did something to make it change direction.  I was on a fast-track to type 2 diabetes (very common in my family), continuing mounting asthma problems, hypertension, and an overall unhealthy lifestyle.

And then it happened, the famous conversation with my twin brother…the conversation that changed my life and led me on the journey to change my lifestyle.  It was mid-2009 when my brother and I were having a casual conversation that turned ugly quick.  It ended with him telling me that my life had changed and, with it, so had my body.  Gaining weight and/or maintaining my current weight had become my body’s state of normality – it’s equilibrium, and it would not budge.  I told him I could do it (get back in shape) if I really wanted to.  I told him I could get back to my pre-wedding weight of 170 lbs.

He told me there was no way, “you’ll never be under 180 lbs. again – never!”  “

Never?” I asked him.

“Not even if I get sick and am on my death bed?!”

“Never!”  He responded. “You’ve made your body think it should be 240 lbs. and that’s where it’s going to want to be.  I am so sure of it I’d bet you $500.00!”

“$500?  What if I lose?” I asked him.

“Nothing, you won’t owe me anything…that’s how sure I am you’ll never get there,” he replied.

“How much time do I have to lose the weight,” I asked him.

“Your whole life,” he responded.

MY WHOLE LIFE?!

His arrogance astonished me.  I mean, he really believed it…and the thought of him truly believing I couldn’t force my body to do what I wanted it to do did nothing but aggravate me even more.  So, I started thinking about how to prove my brother wrong and overcome what had become my body’s state of normality.

What I realized was that I had to go back to the drawing board to see what I was doing wrong.

IT IS CRUCIAL TO NOTE:

  1. I have been working out since the age of 12.
  2. I have been a health and nutrition nut for over 18 years (constantly reading about, and researching, new innovations in nutrition and exercise).

So, I spent the next year coming up with new workout and diet plans but nothing worked.  After doing every type  of weightlifting, cross-training, and dieting regime you could think of, I realized there was still one type of lifting program I had never tried – P90X.  And so THE JOURNEY started and resulted in not only me changing my lifestyle but creating this site to hopefully help others in their journey to a new way of life, health, and success!