This guy has had a TOTAL lifestyle change! His physical transformation is incredible and we absolutely loved his story! It was relatable on SO MANY LEVELS! CONGRATS, we chose you as our male 7-week Spring CSE Challenge GRAND PRIZE Winner! You've just won yourself $2,500 cash plus our new Protein Flavor of the Month for an entire year!!! You crushed it Travis and are an inspiration to ALL!  

Congrats, Travis!

Over the last year or two, I’ve outgrown most of my wardrobe and could wear only about a fifth of my clothes (and if I wore some of the shirts, believe me it was bad). My dependency on Diet Coke skyrocketed to sometimes 12+ cans/day. Too many of my pants’ buttons busted (few things are better self-esteem boosters ;). Instead of running around with my four little kids for hours playing, I was quickly out of breath and sweaty after only a few minutes. Perhaps worst of all, I internally began to seriously question if my sweet wife even found me physically attractive. I couldn’t shake that one...

Fortunately, three things motivated me to action to get out of the perpetual lifestyle nosedive:

1. I saw a video of myself playing with my kids and I didn’t recognize the man I saw, he looked imprisoned in fat, unhappy, unhealthy, and falling short of his potential. That scared the crap out of me.

2. My loving wife’s gentle nudging and prodding increased from about 1/week to every other day haha. I simply couldn’t continue to disappoint her and let her down.

3. I often made excuses that my weight gain was acceptable because I was getting older, then I found out that CSE’s JJ was older than me!! I’ve never met him, but when I saw that he’s got a couple years on me (no offense!) and was in significantly better shape, he might as well have slapped me hard across the face! I used that as motivation throughout the challenge.

I asked around to several trusted friends who I know to have maintained a long history of healthy living, and literally all of them recommended CSE. I saw the recipes, the measuring, the exercise, and that a challenge was starting in just four days. So I committed.

This challenge was a lifesaver for so many reasons. As all the gyms were closed due to COVID-19 I was forced to change my typical workout routine. I was always much for comfortable sticking to things I did well like weight lifting, minimal cardio, and absolutely NO core (I was way too self-conscious of how weak I was). My lack of core strength has led to more than one back injury. In the past I only worked out in the mornings, and refused to at night. With the help of my wife’s encouragement, I learned how to work out at night and shake off the mental laziness. As I completed CSE workouts my core was dying the first few weeks as I struggled through them. Now I’m to the point where if I don’t use my core during a workout I don’t feel as satisfied!

For the last few years, I have ran Skilled Nursing Facilities, and while the job is always much more hectic than people realize, this year has been nonstop. Now with COVID-19’s spread, my workload has multiplied which had exacerbated the stress eating. I justified terrible eating choices (fast food, endless processed food snacking, etc.) because of my significant workload. But after my waking up and educating myself with the discovery of CSE, I shifted.

What I loved about CSE most was that toward the end of the challenge when I was working 12+ hour days 7 days/week and not able to work out as much, I stuck to the diet and STILL saw progress! I learned how critical our intake is to progress. Despite the hurricane that is COVID-19, I truly credit my mental strength and positivity was due to the habit I was keeping before/after work, and my facility has maintained high levels of success in many aspects.

I can’t say how critical the recipes were to my progress, so many times I caught myself saying “they’re just so healthy for you and easy to make, how can I best describe it?” Then the obvious “Clean/Simple” came to mind and I gave myself the required mental face palm. They really are so clean and simple and delicious.

I have to give a shout out to some of my favorite recipes! Island Mahi-Mahi with the amazing Coconut rice (took me back to Hawaii every time!), the BBQ Chicken Pizza (really on a diet?! YES!), and the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup bites became my best friends helping me stick to this challenge! :)

The time came when the challenge “ended.” Finally, I could go in the pantry and have anything I wanted. But now I knew better, and not only that but my body didn’t crave those processed chips/snacks/candy like normal. Instead, I reached for my CSE Vanilla Protein and made myself a Peach Raspberry Cooler, and I was so pleasantly content.

That was when I realized that more than the other diets/programs I tried CSE did something the others couldn’t. They educated me to find a proper and healthy balance with food. Keto, calorie cutting, intermittent fasting all crashed and burned in this regard. I always cheated because those aren’t long-term solutions.

I finally found a program that educated me properly about eating, exercising, and monitoring, and gave me the tools and understanding to live a healthy life.

I now can fit in my entire wardrobe again, and feel confident in my clothes, even my swimsuits. My wife had purchased a suit for me months ago which I had “outgrown” so it just hung in my closet, now I can finally get it tailored. I can play and run with my kids without tiring out and be the dad I want to be. Most importantly, the food prepping, the working out together, and the planning with my wife has resulted in a better, healthier, more satisfying relationship.

I can’t thank you so much for putting this program together. I feel like I finally have the tools to manage my food and my body, which can now continue to positively affect my life.

GET MORE DETAILS ON OUR NEXT CHALLENGE.