Empire Stars 2019

The last three years I have created themes to accomplish different goals. 2016’s theme: ‘I move in spite of fear.’ 2017’s theme: ‘Get up the guts.’ 2018’s theme: ‘Get what you came for.’

In the last three months of 2018, after accomplishing two main goals of getting down to 128 lbs and passing my clinical exam; I decided to bulk up and gain muscle mass so I could take my body to the next level. The end of my bulk is the middle of February. I never thought of myself as a hard gainer but I struggled to put more than 2,000 calories into my body every day. My original bulk goal was 160 lbs and I doubt I will get past 155 lbs. I focused on carbs and protein, trying to stay away from excess fat. The good thing is that I don’t eat fast food or restaurant food.

In 2014 when finishing an extremely challenging three years of graduate school, I ended up reaching 155 lbs and was forced to wear size 34 dress pants. After that, I started my slow and steady process of cutting down to a healthy weight. After that year long process, I kept doing annual cutting challenges without adding any real substantial muscle.

In this four month bulk, I have definitely gained muscle mass and greatly increased my strength. I came up with ‘Empire Stars’ as a theme for my 2019 twelve week shred. To me, ‘Empire Stars’ represents the risks of no longer clinging to stable ground and being closer to my ultimate goals. I’m also going to be following Brandon Harding’s 12 week hardbody program using the Aflete app as much as possible. Adjusting for my own calorie intake.

I am hoping that I can use ‘Empire Stars’ as a launching point for other ventures I have planned through the rest of the new year. Mostly I want to offer my encouragement and support to people who are struggling to find their own motivation to make the changes they are hoping to achieve.

I’m also hoping to document the entire process through blog posts and daily social media posts. I created a second Instagram account specifically for ‘xxEmpireStarsxx.’