My name is RC Lincoln and my story starts where many others do. I was the fat kid in high school and called every fat nickname in the book, somehow my best friend still calls me Double D apparently now for my man peck size. I was 5’ 8” 270ish and went to college and did the normal college kid(beer and pizza) . I ended up married, working for a good company, should be happy right? Completely wrong, the above two really had no reason for me to not be happy. I ballooned up to 320-330, near the end of college and when I moved for the job. The job was easy to eat out on the road every day. Needless to say I was in rough shape. Quickly what should have been happiness turned to a bad attitude, less than 2 years later a divorce and moved back to where my life began. Of course heavy drinking occurred, that’s what happens when you just have no point of direction.

It took 2 years from that point to start telling myself I would become who I thought I could have been. It has been a long hard road, but my mind is finally there. It started with my father making me a bet. It was a bet which I really wanted to win, him to quit smoking after 40+ years. His demand was simple, get to 180 pounds. I dieted to 260 and stuck for the most part. I was already happy with my success, but if you are competitive like me, a bet is a bet. There was no timetable; I then turned to someone who knew more than I did about strength and food.

He was part of NFE(No Freakin Excuses). First he gave me a diet and general workout plan, and we periodically saw each other I always had questions which he answered with some quick, simple answers. This all started slowly and the pounds started to come off and then my effort dwindled. It was that year he looked at me and said I don’t want any excuses, none. I didn’t know what to think at first, and then I took a business trip to Florida. I worked out with the NFE crew; I was stronger than I thought I would be considering my goal was not strength. These guys gave encouragement, but they would not let you quit, if you had any strength left they wanted it to come out and move that weight. The key I left with was their attitude in general was better than mine was on a daily basis, not how strong or tough they were.

I went home, wanted to have that kind of encouragement given to me and for me to give it. That required my attitude to change, I always thought of myself as friendly, but I wasn’t that guy who made people happy to be around. So I took NFE to heart in all aspects of life. I don’t excuse myself when I make a bad decision or do something wrong, I try to fix it, and if it can’t be fixed, I make sure that it won’t happen again. It doesn’t always work, everyone falls down. The attitude allows me to pick myself up with my head up, not down, knowing that there will not be an issue the next time.

I am currently at 200 pounds; it’s been years since the bet started. My father won the bet already, without a timeline, because I finally figured it out. This was not about just weight, this was about me finding out how to be happy and surround myself with people I should have long ago. I currently have 2 goals, one is still 180 pounds, and the other is to be able to touch a basketball rim at 5’8”. Since my NFE switch, I have been on a basketball league championship team, learned how to motivate others in all aspects of life and always know that I can move anything, even my stubborn old self out of the way.