Oct 23, 2009 by Nick

Sportsvite Member Profile: Brian Keller

Brian Keller is on a journey. No, he’s not road-tripping it to Vegas or heading down I-10 for a Seminoles football game. Keller is on a journey to achieve the new him.

Sports have always played a large role in Keller’s life — both personally and professionally. He grew up an avid sports fan and credits his father, a football letterwinner at Central College in Pella, IA, with introducing him to the world of sports. He’s been a rec athlete since his youth, trying his hand at sports like baseball, basketball, football, tennis, golf, racquetball, soccer, and volleyball along the way. “I’ve never claimed to be an all-star,” says Keller. “But, I really enjoy playing and the camaraderie that comes along with participating in team sports.”

Brian is a guy who always puts other people before him. Unfortunately, this neglect began to impact his health. “I’ve always been a heavy person, as I was around 200 pounds in high school, got as heavy as 270 in college, and kept around 280 during my years out of college,” says Keller. He continued on his downward spiral after relocating to Central Florida in 2006 for a new job opportunity. From 2006-08, Keller became a self-described “workaholic.” He was working long and erratic hours that made exercising and eating healthy a challenge. Other than a brief period of a positive regimen that resulted in a weight loss of 30 pounds, his waistband was beginning to grow larger month after month. In 2008, the only exercise that fit into his schedule were the Thursday night company softball games - and most of the cardio came from the errant throws back to the pitching mound following a putout at first base. The calories burned during the softball game were then almost immediately nullified by post-game wings and beer at the sponsor bar.

Outside of his company softball team, Brian’s “best friends” were Burger King, McDonald’s, Taco Bell and any other fast food chain that had a drive-thru window. He was eating this junk food 3-4 times per day and consuming in excess of 4500 calories and 200 grams of fat every day. Keller’s weight ballooned to 358 pounds and he knew things had to change. “It’s pretty safe to say that I was killing myself. Thankfully, my eyes were opened to the destruction I was inflicting upon myself at the end of 2008 and it was time to change.”

Brian decided to quit his job — a tough decision in such a poor economy — and leave Florida to move to Virginia Beach to be near his supportive family and “hit the rest button” on his life. “Leaving my job and friends behind in Florida was a difficult decision, but I really didn’t have a choice,” said Keller.

Shortly after settling down in Virginia Beach, Keller joined Coastal Fitness and hired Kevin O’Hara as his personal trainer. He also started attending Weight Watchers meetings on a weekly basis. He had lofty weight loss goals that could only be achieved by a complete overhaul of his diet and an intense exercise regimen. He worked extremely hard in the gym and turned his back on his old fast food friends. His exercise plan included two-a-days to burn calories and jumpstart his metabolism.

After 6 months of training and eating better, Brian has gone from 358 to 252 - a total weight loss of 106 pounds (his goal is to be at 215 or lighter). He’s lost a total of 62 inches from his body, 16 of them from his stomach. His cholesterol has dropped 56 points and his glucose has dropped 18 points. Also, his resting heart rate has gone from 80-85 bpm to 63-65 bpm. These changes have resulted in increased energy and stamina that allows him to work even harder in the gym.

Brian has been a member of Sportsvite for over two years and now has a new reason to use the website. “I initially signed up for Sportsvite to manage my corporate softball team. Since my relocation to Virginia Beach, I’ve begun to use it to search for teams, leagues and other players that are compatible to me. I can’t wait to find a softball team in the spring to incorporate team sports into my cross-training.”

He continues to train on a daily basis and watches what he eats very carefully. “I have to remind myself that they didn’t build Rome in a day,” he said. “And maintaining my weight will be as big of a challenge as it was to lose the weight initially. I’ve been blessed with a supportive family and friends and owe it to them to continue to work hard.” That’s very typical of Brian Keller - always putting others before himself.

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