My name is Dave. I am 28 years old and live in Florida. I have always been active and fairly healthy, however I have recently become  upset with the way I have slowly let my appearance go and have finally decided to proactively take steps to get my body where I want it to be. I stumbled upon this website while surfing the web, and so far it has made a dramatic impact on my life.  I apologize for taking so long to send in my story and progress reports. I have been good about taking weekly photos (I am currently on week 5), but have not been good about writing reports, so here goes. I started my program on Monday January 23, 2006. Unfortunately I did not weigh myself that day, but I did a week or two before and I was an embarrassing 195 lbs with about 34 inch waist. The heaviest I have ever been. I am 6’0 tall.  A little bit of background. I played 3 sports in high-school (football, wrestling and gymnastics), and workout out constantly in college. I was in good shape all throughout college, and weighed between 175 and 185 lbs. MY PROGRESS PHOTOS     Since then, I have managed to stay in fairly good shape.  I train regularly in the martial arts and the keeps me in pretty good shape.  A couple years ago, my karate instructor told me to stop working out with weights because it would slow me down.  He told me to do only body-weight exercises.  I followed his instructions and for the last 3 years did only pull-ups. Chin-ups, push ups, dips, jump lunges, etc. for my workouts, along with traditional martial arts training such as boxing, striking and kicking.  What I found was that my muscles got smaller and less defined and I became a bit flabbier.  Although my punches and kicks became fast and very hard, I was still unhappy with the way my body looked. I want to be lean and cut and have very defined muscles.  OK – enough about that. I have been following the 12 Week Lean Muscle Plan on this site to a T. I have been doing my HIIT cardio training in the am on an empty stomach, followed by breakfast, then eating 5-6 small meals a day.  I am impressed with how easy it has been to stick with the program. I have noticed over the last 4 weeks my muscles are starting to come through more defined, I am losing fast and my skin is thinning out. My face is even becoming thinner.  My current workout is as follows: Monday         HIIT cardio in the AM (currently 16 minutes)                      Evening – Upper abs followed by Chest and Bis Tuesday        HIIT cardio in the am                      Karate in the evening Wednesday  HIIT cardio in the AM                      Lower abs followed by Shoulders and Tri’s evening Thursday       HIIT cardio in the AM                      Karate in the evening Friday            Legs (either am or pm, depending on my schedule) Saturday       Off Day (maybe cardio if I feel up to it) Sunday         Obliques followed by Back and Forearms                      Followed by HIIT cardio (if I feel up to it) Currently I weigh 187 lbs and have taken about an inch off my waist since I started. I am a 33”.  A couple years ago I was wearing 32 inch pants, and I’d like to get back down there.  But I am happy so far with my progress. I will start to send in weekly progress reports and updated photos. One thing I would to have (that I have never had) is that vein that runs down a lot of people’s biceps. I have seen this one people who are in really good shape, but also on some that are not. I don’t know if it is genetic or what, but I have never been able to achieve that. That will probably be my benchmark of success – when I have an exposed bicep vein running down my arm. Anyway, I hope to be there in a couple weeks with continued success. I will keep you posted. Update: Here is my Photo showing my 12 Weeks of Progress.               Update: Here is my Photo showing my 17 Weeks of Progress.