My Story of Going From Skinny Fat to Ripped (MyFitnessPal was a true PAL!)

niklaslampi

Hey, what's up everyone?

In this post I would like to introduce myself, and also thank the entire fitness community, why? Because you changed my life!

But first of all, here are the transformation that I've been through physically:



Now, the thing is that it goes a lot deeper than what's displayed on the outside, and that's what the rest of the story in this post will be about.

Okay so here it goes

My fitness journey started, as it does for many of us, with me being sick and tired of the way that I used to live. During my mid teens I had it tough. My father became an alcoholic and my mother had such bad self esteem that she couldn’t leave him. And I got stuck having to see my father almost drink himself to death in 2009.

This was so turbulent and stressful for me that I had to get away, I couldn’t take more of my family’s misery. I had to escape somewhere...

And like most teenagers, I was interested in playing video games. And guess what, that’s exactly where I fled to.

For years I did nothing but play video games, eat junk food, smoke cigarettes and never exercise. I hid myself from the world during a time in my life when I needed guidance and support by family, friends and mentors. And more importantly during a time when I had to stay active in order to grow up into a confident man.

A few years went on...

When I hit my early twenties, I were supposed to have responsibilities, have a job, be able to support myself and all of that grown up stuff, you know right?

But the problem was, I just had no clue of how…

I remember that I had the confidence and social capacity to stay in a job for 2 whole weeks, 2 weeks! That was the longest I managed before I got so anxious I had to flee from there as well. This led me to loan money, just to have food on the table and a roof over my head.

But, what I didn’t bother to even care about was that loaning money actually meant me having to pay it back, with interest…

But, the fact that I would end up in financial depth felt easier than having to tackle my life.

For years I was depressed, poor and out of shape.

I don’t know if you can relate to this? But if you can, then you know how much it SUCKS to be at that place.

Fortunately I hit rock bottom. Yes, fortunately, because as the saying goes: “you have to hit rock bottom in order to start moving the other way”.

My rock bottom was that I started to drink a lot of alcohol to numb my feelings. And that’s when I came to a realization... I’m turning into my father.

And this scared the living hell out of me…

I remember saying to myself, I’m not him, I’m myself, I’m 23 years old and I have the chance to go my own way! So, out of pure desperation I found it, the thing that would change my life forever…

Yes, I found Fitness…

I don’t remember really what it was, but there was something about building my body up that seemed so appealing.

And when I started to feel and see my body going through the initial transformation of looking better and becoming stronger, I knew that there was something there. People always said that working out is great for your well-being, but it wasn’t until I felt it myself that I realized; aha... this is what people mean.

I tried all kinds of training, everything from long distance running and crossfit to powerlifting and weightlifting. And that’s when I finally found it, my true passion in life. Which is the process of building a great looking, lean and muscular physique, a physique that I can be truly proud of.

In fact, achieving a lean, well defined and muscular body boosted my confidence and self esteem like nothing else.

Getting compliments like: “wow you look amazing!” feels, well I’m not gonna lie, totally *kitten* awesome. But that’s not all, it goes a lot deeper than that.

You see, building an amazing physique isn’t just about the looks and the aesthetics, even though that’s great too.

Building an amazing body means that you have accomplished something very few people do. So, when I did, my mindset shifted and it felt like I could conquer the world, nothing seemed hard anymore!

Not only that, it also taught me to fall in love with the process of constantly trying to improve myself, to become better, and to, as cliche as it sounds, become the best version of myself! Not only at fitness, but in every aspect of my life.

I never feel more alive than when I’m learning and doing something that will take me one step further in the direction that I want to go.

Now 3 years later, I'm completely free from depression and anxiety. I've been working a sales job for two and a half years and thrive in it, I'm having an incredible girlfriend, and I recently started a YouTube channel and blog (Iron Built Fitness) which is a lot of fun.

I can honestly say that; fitness, bodybuilding and working out has been the best thing in my life. So, I want to thank you all who are a part of this community so, so much. Bless you all!

Peace

Iffiormana

OMG you are so inspiring and yes you look great.Good luck for your future

xkal12

Good work

jyvonne27

Amazing and inspiring story! Thank you for sharing and you look amazing