Not so long ago, in 2011, Brian Casad was what you’d call a typical American guy. The scariest thing about his way of life back than is that it’s considered as utterly normal.
At 26, he was out of college and up to challenge the real world in Kansas City. Working as a real estate tax consultant his job got him anchored behind the desk 40 hours a week. For lunch, he would usually go out with his co-workers, not paying heed about the food he was stuffing in himself. He would eat burritos or pizza, or burgers with fries, or whatever was on the menu. However, he soon found out that these lunches were draining all the energy from him, taking away his productivity.
“I couldn’t get work done at all in the afternoon because I felt so tired,” says Casad. “I found myself falling asleep at my desk. It wouldn’t matter how much sleep I’d gotten the night before.”
After work, Casad went for workout in the gym. However, once in the gym he was spending his time chatting between sets instead of lifting.
“I’ve always been kind of religious about working out,” says Casad. “But back then it was more about trying to push heavy weight. My rest periods were pretty long, and a lot of times in my workout the most I’d get in were three or four different exercises. I wouldn’t get much done.” His dinner after workout consisted again of eating out, with some casual snack before going to bed. For breakfast, if he was not eating leftovers from the previous night, or some quick bite from the vending machine, he was mostly eating nothing at all.
Such lifestyle was bound to make a mark on his physique. At 6 feet he was weighing 230 pounds and sporting a beer belly and thick neck.
If his story sounds familiar, that’s probably because you’ve heard it or seen it a thousand times. You probably have a friend or colleague like this. Or maybe you are that guy. The scariest part of his example is that many of people today share a similar story.
And the greatest problem is that many of them think that they are not doing anything wrong. They go to the gym three or four times a week, consume food that should be nutritious because the label said it was fat free and natural.
“That’s the thing people have wrong,” says Casad. “They really don’t know what’s healthy and what’s not healthy.”
In 2011, Casad finally decided it was a time to turn things around. He got tired of his body, of the same old routine, of going to the gym in vain.
The last drop came when he realized the he hated his job. “I got along with my co-workers just fine, but I started looking at what we were doing at lunch, and it was just the same monotonous crap.
I decided, ‘Hey, I don’t have to go out to lunch with these guys all the time.’ I wanted to get in really good shape. I had all the time in the world.”
Casad decided to make a slow start, adjusting one thing at a time instead of going on an instant diet that would probably fail. First order of business was to eliminate the lunches. Instead of eating out, during his breaks he started running, while his lunch consisted of light salad. “I’d bring gym clothes with me to work, and there was a running trail out by our office, so I’d go out and run a mile or a mile and a half here and there. And then I’d go get a quick lunch, but something lighter. That’s kind of where I started making adjustments.”
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