Always a busy person, Brandon explains “it’s not about finding time for your health, it’s about making health your life.” While fast food always seemed like the quick and easy fix for hunger in the past, he found that with a little research, eating healthy can even be easy on the SDSU campus. Brandon enjoyed salads from Cuicicalli, steamed vegetable bowls from Panda Express, and all fruit smoothies from Juice It Up. Choosing lifestyle changes over crash course diets, he gave up fried food, quit drinking soda, substituted complex carbohydrates and whole grains for starches, and treated himself to a variety of five fruits and vegetables every day.

Brandon ’s new lifestyle not only improved his overall long-term health outlook, but he is also enjoying the benefits of clear skin, less stress and a stronger immune system. He is the essence of perfect health and now has the self esteem to match.

Three years and 108 pounds later, Brandon is an ARC employee and Hip Hop exercise class instructor planning on pursuing a career in the fitness industry. Brandon is a SDSU inspiration. Not because he lost 108 pounds, but because he changed his life and has made it his new life to help others change their lives too.

While his family now calls him “Olive Oil” they do so lovingly and in appreciation for the example he has set for them. Brandon ’s newfound healthy lifestyle has inspired the rest of his family to take their health seriously and get moving. His mom found that she loves walking outdoors and his aunt has made a strength training routine using canned foods and water bottles as dumbbells. Brandon says the key to success is “doing what you love and making it a lifestyle.”