Hey there. For years, I never felt like enough. No matter how lean I was, how defined my muscles looked, or how much my body changed, it was never enough. I remember being obsessed with body fat percentages. I carried one of those handheld testers around in the early 2000s when I worked at a gym, and I would check my readings constantly. Even when the numbers looked good, even when I knew I was walking around at a pretty lean ten to fifteen percent body fat, it still wasn’t enough. There was always someone leaner, someone more muscular, someone I thought looked better than me.
That was the loop I was stuck in. No matter what I achieved with my body, I kept moving the goalpost. And what’s wild is, I wasn’t alone. In fact, in most fitness circles—especially bodybuilding, weight loss, or physique transformation—this kind of mindset is common. People are driven by this belief that they aren’t good enough yet. And many have accepted that body dysmorphia is just part of the deal.
But here’s the truth. Just because something is common doesn’t mean it’s healthy. And it definitely doesn’t mean you have to live that way forever.
I didn’t always know this. When I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, I was the kid wearing husky jeans. If you know, you know. I was aware of my body at a very young age. I wanted to change it, and that desire to change only grew as I got older. I read the magazines—Muscle & Fitness, Men’s Health, all of it. Complete nonsense, by the way. But it shaped the way I thought about myself. It taught me that I should never be satisfied.
By the time I was in my twenties, I had already spent years internalizing those messages. I tied my self-worth to how I looked. If I wasn’t shredded, I didn’t feel confident. I had low self-esteem and convinced myself that who I was underneath wasn’t good enough.
It wasn’t just about the way my body looked. It was the story I was telling myself. And it went back further than just fitness. It went back to things that were said to me growing up. Things I believed about myself. Opinions I valued way too much. I carried all of that into adulthood, and it fueled my workouts, my nutrition, and my sense of identity.
I know what it feels like to look in a mirror and only see flaws. I know how it feels to walk around in public looking like “the fit guy” while inside you feel anxious, cold, hungry, and insecure. There were times I was extremely lean, and all I could think about was how I still wasn’t lean enough. I was irritable, I was freezing half the time, and I was still unsatisfied.
That kind of mindset is exhausting. And if you’re in it right now, I get it. But I want you to know that it doesn’t have to stay that way.
These days, I take a different approach. I build myself up instead of tearing myself down. One of the core pieces of the YLF Framework is the one-minute mirror session. You stand in front of the mirror, look yourself in the eyes, and say positive things out loud. And let me be real with you, the first few times you do this, it’s uncomfortable. It feels weird. You probably won’t believe what you’re saying.
But over time, it starts to shift. You start to believe it. You start to soften that voice in your head that’s been criticizing you for years. You start to look at yourself from the inside/out, and everything changes.
I built Your Level Fitness to be the alternative to the mainstream fitness industry. I’ve spent years in marketing. I’ve sold ads, written copy, and managed campaigns that play right into people’s insecurities. I know how powerful the messages are. I know how easily we can get pulled back into those thoughts. That’s why everything I create with YLF is designed to help you build confidence from within.
Fitness should never be about punishing yourself. It should be about building a better relationship with yourself and your body. You’re going to be eating and exercising for the rest of your life. That relationship matters. How you talk to yourself matters. How you view your progress matters.
You don’t need to wait until you look a certain way to feel good about who you are. You can feel that way now. You can choose to start reinforcing a new belief system. You can choose to appreciate yourself now while still working on growth.
There are people out there who wish they had your body, your strength, your mobility, your mindset. That’s not meant to compare. That’s just a reminder that what you have is already valuable. The real shift happens when you start to see that for yourself.
I don’t want you to go through the rest of your life stuck in a mental prison. You don’t have to be driven by insecurity forever. You can make the decision to believe in yourself from the inside/out. And when you do, you’ll build a life rooted in strength, clarity, and confidence.
This is what I teach inside The YLF Experience. If you’re ready to break free from the old patterns and build something real, join me there.