Born in Long Beach, California, Glenn Lovelace moved to Utah when he was still young. It was there he met his wife, Amber, and began his life as a husband, provider, and father. For someone his age, it was a lot to take on, but Glenn was all in.
"I was 22 years old, married, a student, and working full-time," he recalls. "At the same time, I was chasing different ideas for my career, for what I thought I wanted to do."
As he entered the world of adults, Glenn had a lot on his plate—both figuratively and literally. Physically, he had a lot of challenges, too.
Life became too much for Glenn to bear. One night, on the brink of throwing it all away, he realized that the only way forward was to completely reorder his priorities.
This is Glenn's story.
Age: 34, Height: 5' 10", Weight: 226 lbs., Body Fat: 20%
Age: 35, Height: 5' 10", Weight: 187 lbs., Body Fat: 5.5%
What was life like before your transformation?
I had so many excuses for gaining weight. I blamed it on getting married, being a full-time student, working over 100 hours per week, raising kids.
I also blamed it on all my injuries over the last decade. I've had four knee surgeries, separated clavicles, a hernia, carpal tunnel in both hands, and extreme sleep apnea. I did a sleep study once and found out that I stopped breathing 58 times an hour!
Add stress, holidays, and get-togethers—and the fact that I love to chow down and try new food—and being less healthy was an easy pit to fall into.
How did your unhealthy habits affect your lifestyle?
Unfortunately, I've been able to somewhat hide my weight over the past 13 years. Just being able to wear baggy clothes made it easy to feel comfortable being overweight for years.
But when you do that, you're not fooling yourself. I remember sitting down and feeling this big gut between my legs. I didn't think I was massive, but I was definitely obese. I told myself I didn't look that bad, and that I'd start working out in a couple of weeks. Pretty soon, the weeks turned into months, then into years.
Every now and then, though, I'd see a picture of myself with double and triple chins. That was rough! No doubt about it: I had a dad bod gut. I could live with that, but it was those extra chins and my swollen, dark raccoon eyes that really upset me. Deep down, I didn't feel good, and I didn't look much better.
On top of all that, I felt tired all the time. I didn't have enough energy to play with my kiddos, who are extremely active. It was so hard to see the disappointed looks on my kids' faces when they'd ask me to do something with them and all I could say was, "I want to, but I need to rest a bit first," or "How about tomorrow?" Seeing the disappointment on their faces really killed me. And, before long, they just stopped asking.
Things got even worse when my wife and I bought our first house. We had some problems with the financial side of it, which turned into a three or four-year legal battle. We ended up losing the house in the end.
I felt like I had let my family down. No one wants their family to go through that.
What made you decide to change?
I remember sitting in my car around midnight one night. I had a pistol sitting next to me on the seat and I was thinking "What am I going to do? When is life going to give a little bit?" I started thinking to myself, "Just finish it, man. Be done."
Then I thought of my kids and my wife and all the people who relied on me. I thought, "Man, what are you doing? This isn't you. You don't have to own that. You don't have to be that."
And that's the moment everything changed. I told myself that night that I needed to be a little bit selfish. I needed to go back to the gym and get my old self back.
That's exactly what I did. I had to start making my health and my workouts a priority.
What training routine did you follow?
When I registered for the 2017 Bodybuilding Transformation Challenge, I was at 226 pounds. My body fat was between 19 and 20 percent, and my waist was right around 44 inches.
I spent probably 10-15 hours over the first week or two creating this massive action plan. Once I put the plan into action, I lost 39 pounds in 12 weeks. I got down to 187 for the first time in I don't know how many years, and lost 11 inches off my waist. All of that blew me away. Then, I won Bodybuilding.com's 250K transformation for 2017! I couldn't believe it!
In the beginning I did this whole routine 2-3 times per week. With 4-5 weeks left before the challenge, I ramped up to 7 days a week and worked out twice a day.
Warm-up:
- Incline treadmill 12-15 min. at 11% incline at 3-3.5 mph
- Shortcut to Shred workout
- Incline walking: 20-40 min. post-workout, 11% incline at 3-3.5 mph
At least 8 hours later:
- 40 min. steady-state cardio
- Stretching or bodyweight exercises
What nutrition plan did you follow?
Water
Peanut Butter
(on days with no fasted cardio)
Pre JYM
BCAAs
Egg Whites
Oats
Syrup
Optimum Gold Standard 100% Casein
(with water)
Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwich
Chicken
Vegetables
White Rice
Sweet Potato
Chicken
Vegetables
White Rice
Sweet Potato
Ground Beef
Salad
Dressing
Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey
Peanut Butter
Greek Yogurt
How has winning the 250K challenge transformed your life?
Winning the transformation means more to me than just some pounds lost. I proved to myself that I could finish something big, that I could create a mini-legacy for my kids—something for them to aspire toward themselves someday.
All the things I've learned, all the knowledge I've acquired that helped me with the challenge, it's so much a part of me now that I know I can maintain this lifestyle. I'm finally happy with where I am.
What would you say to someone starting a transformation?
Decide you're going to make a change and do it. Once you start, hold yourself accountable. I held myself accountable and kept detailed notes every day for 12 full weeks. If I had any doubts, I simply ignored them.
I built a network through social media and the gym. When I did think about quitting, I leaned on my network to give me support and extra motivation. I kept at it, and finished strong. Instead of quitting near the end, I put the pedal to the metal and redoubled my efforts for those last 3-4 weeks. And I won!
When you go through a transformation like this, you're going to have pain, you're going to have setbacks. What makes life exciting is taking on these challenges, not running from them. My one message to people who want to make a big change is that you've got one life to live, so live it!