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Empower Your Life
My Real Rebuild is a heartfelt online platform dedicated to guiding people toward a healthier lifestyle. This is not a sales site, it's a space to share personal experiences and practical advice, to inspire your steps toward wellness...
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My Story
Opening up here feels new and a little scary. I’ve avoided social media for a long time, so thank you for your patience while I learn how to share this part of my life.
I grew up on military bases; my father served, and later I did too. After my service I found Tai Chi, a practice that gave me a sense of inner calm I hadn’t felt before. I used military benefits to go to college and earned a degree in Computer Science and IT. Even through college I stayed active, keeping up with the military PT standard: a 2-mile run, 80 push-ups, and 80 sit-ups.
Then I entered the workforce. My first full-time desk job in IT changed everything. IT work rarely fits a normal schedule: long nights, split shifts, late deployments and emergency fixes. That lifestyle long periods sitting, odd hours, stress, and eating late just to stay awake while stabilizing systems slowly took its toll. I didn’t notice at first. Clothes stopped fitting. I've got a barrel chest and fit comfortably in a 2XL. I moved from 2XL to a 3XL and eventually into 4XL and, when I finally looked at my badge photo, 20 years later, I truly saw myself for the first time in decades. This picture is from my work badge.
Deciding to change was a hard, sudden choice. I researched every option pills and quick fixes weren’t realistic, surgery is way too expensive and too much can go wrong and tried just eating clean. When I saw no results, turned to Paleo, Atkins, and finally a variation of Keto. I stuck with this "Kind of Keto" for a year and lost 150 pounds.
Then life hit again in my 50s. I know that I am not the only one to get hit by this, and this is not a cry story, just what happened, I got scammed. This was a big scam and they worked on me for 14 months. Long story short, this Scam cost me my retirement, home equity, and savings. I lost my job and then my house. Close to a million in losses.
I am just an ordinary working man. There is no wealth in my family tree. I worked hard for everything I had, and it was hard as I lost it all. I fell into depression and started eating for comfort. I didn't care about my health anymore. I stopped all exercise and restraint on eating comfort food. I actually had no will left to live. I used to think each bite was a tiny step toward giving up “suicide one bite at a time.” I started putting the weight back on, and it came on fast. Very fast, all that weight came back inside or a single year. That period was dark, and no one can tell you to just “snap out of it.” The choice to change has to come from within.
A note on help: I’m not a doctor. If you’re struggling with depression or severe mental-health issues, please seek professional help. This site shares what helped me personally it is not a substitute for medical care.
After a year of depression I knew that I needed to change. What changed for me wasn’t simply time it was a practice and a process. Tai Chi taught me a powerful exercise in letting go. I learned a visualization where you gather negative emotions into an “energy ball” and physically push them away. It took days to get into the right frame of mind, but when it worked I collapsed and cried not from more pain, but from temporary relief. For a moment I felt the weight of negativity lift and I could once again see a sliver of my old self. That moment stripped away pride and opened the door to asking for help, forgiveness, and rebuilding relationships I’d withdrawn from.
People helped. I was guided to resources and support that let me start rebuilding a new foundation life beginning in the midst of rubble (which is the inspiration for my logo). Talking about it out loud helped me find the path to forgive myself. Helped me find the courage to ask for forgiveness from my family, who innocently were affected by my actions and the loss. Our lives have been turned inside out as we lost everything and had to start over.
We had to move as part of the process of loss and starting over. This time, I’m documenting everything: not just weight loss, but the whole process of rebuilding my life.
I found a contract job that lets me work remote. In this remote setting, in a new area, new home, is where I take my first steps in Rebuilding my life.
My goal in sharing this is simple: if one person reads this and finds the courage to start to make that first hard choice, take that first step, then it’s worth it. I’m here to show the what and the how, honestly and openly, because real change is possible at any age.
Follow the Daily Journal - Blog as I document this story in Realtime.