Phil Gates

Progress Photo Dump 05/30/25. Late push day after working all day. It’s been a constant barrage of emotions lately both good & bad trying to keep moving forward while at the same time doing my best to protect my peace & self respect. There are times I feel undeserving because of past circumstances I’ve allowed myself to be in & it’s difficult to remind ourselves that we are worthy of all the beautiful things life has to offer because God deems it so through faith; not because you’ve achieved a certain financial status or something. It’s also difficult to know if certain things are really genuine or not at times but the most difficult thing I’ve found is to surrender & have patience in the path God laid out for you; to remember that it is already done & you just have to make space to allow for it to happen as he’s planned it. Our impatience, expectations, insecurities, etcetera tend to get the better of us at times & we give in to our emotions thinking we are not where we should be in life but in reality we are exactly where we need to be at that moment. I’ve been blessed to have amazing people throughout my life & continue to have more amazing introductions into my world. God has blessed me with a special soul sharing a peaceful love & energy I resonate so comfortably with. I feel like I’ve been searching lifetimes for her & wasn’t sure she existed or that it was even possible. S**t, I still don’t know honestly because my human faults always try to find proof when there doesn’t need to be, not to mention the whole “I‘m not sure if I deserve this” nonsense that tends to occupy my brain when I overthink. Real or not it’s irrelevant cuz who tf knows… All I know is that in the past few years so many changes & shifts in my life led to so many “coincidences” that I have no doubts he’s been watching over me the whole time & it has led me to the understanding of possibilities that could be so much better than I could ever imagine. I know it will only get better. I used to believe that it was I who always found a way when in reality it was him who has always led the way & I am truly grateful. Thank you.

Progress… April 2, 2025. Was a pretty decent leg day but kept it somewhat light to deload & work on my rom & mobility. Spammed 1000 pull-ups though because I can & you can’t do s**t about it. Took me a few hours. An hour of cardio afterwards along with some quick ab exercises. 2nd image was a little over a year ago. I lost myself & was going through a lot in my life. Still am to some degree but slowly trodding towards progress everyday. I was 6’ tall with a size 40-42 waist at 235lbs bad weight but still skinny fat even when I dropped it a bit. Currently size 32-34 at 210lbs somewhat lean but working on it. Being highly active most of my life I definitely don’t advise doing it my way as I am in the gym way too much lol. Sooo… a bit off topic but I find it funny that some people are so miserable with their existence that they choose to throw shade at someone else’s accomplishments. No matter how small the accomplishments are, it took that person effort & the most valuable thing we have on this earth… time. I get some of the strangest f**ktards in my DMs apparently having things to say about what I post. Funny because I been posting since I was a fat ass & you had nothing to say then. It makes it even more disappointing when it’s actually coming from people you know or people you care about or done s**t for. If you know me you know what I’ve been through, what I’ve done, & the kind of person I am. If you don’t then I applaud you for your efforts with the f**kboy s**t & your opinion honestly doesn’t matter to me. I’ve taken some L’s in the past few years & it took everything I have in me to keep going. Alone. No one checked in on me. No one motivated me. Not even those who I was there for at their lowest. And that’s fine. I did it & will continue to do it myself as I’ve always done. I always win, even when I lose. So everyone that showed their ass through my loss & benefitted off of it trust I have no ill feelings or hold any grudges. It was the cost of removing you from my life. And I’m good with that. And I’m good with being the bad guy in your story. And I’m good with never having to answer your call or dm lol.