ABOUT MUSCLECHEF DAVE NATHAN

I was born and raised in the rainy city of Seattle. There I spent 29 years of my life, going to college and laying the foundations for the career choices I have made so far.

My fascination with lifting weights at the gym started when I was 16 years old and has never diminished. In highschool I played Basketball, ran track and wrestled and in the off season I would lift weights to improve my strength and endurance. I can remember getting up at 5 a.m., long before any of my classmate awoke, and making my mother drop me off at a local gym that was the epitome of the sweaty and grungy muscle-head gyms that were popular back then. Today those types of gyms have all but vanished, being replaced by the mega-million dollar franchise health clubs. A professional power lifter named Willie taught me how to perform a proper squat. His limbs were as thick as tree trunks. His life was ruled by how many plates he stacked on the bar.

After High School, I attended college at the University of Washington, majoring in Microbiology and Biochemistry. Yes, I was a lab geek. Even with working full time on the weekends and taking full semester loads I was still able to keep my commitment to weightlifting. It didn't matter how late I was up studying or drinking beer, I still set the alarm for 5 a.m. and dragged my roommate out of bed to go work out at the university gym everyday. I can remember doing lunges down the length of the aerobics floor, feeling the burn and the adrenaline rush through my body.

It was in college that my fascination with food developed. I had always loved to eat. I was a regular at the all-you-can eat pizza buffets and 5 Big Mac lunches were regulars on the menu for me. Yes, I was being gobbled up by America's love affair with fast food and I was rapidly becoming fat as a pig. At this point, I started cooking for roommates, family, friends and girlfriends and I quickly became enamored with it. At first it was Hamburger Helper and Rice-A-Roni, but soon I ventured out on my own and started reading cookbooks and cooking magazines and inevitably became intrigued by the countless possibilities.

Finally, after five long stressful years, I graduated college and became a full-fledged science nerd in a laboratory. By then I tipped the scales at 240 lbs and was portly looking with a double chin. There wasn't an ounce of self-esteem in me. I hated my body and myself. It was obvious that, despite going to the gym every day, my diet was not fitting into the fitness equation. Something had to be done.

When I attended my first bodybuilding show, the Emerald Cup, and bought a subscription to Muscle and Fitness Magazine my life was forever changed. It was an epiphany. I can remember going cold turkey, trading those Big Macs for cans of tuna and the 48-ounce Big Gulps for protein shakes. I saw instant results in the form of strength and muscle endurance, but I wanted more than just that. I set a goal to compete as a bodybuilder. Reaching that goal will be forever burned into the very depths of my soul as the single most excruciating and life-altering year I have ever experienced.

In the course of that year, I transformed my body from that of an average overweight male into a lean vascular statue, weighing 212 lbs and 3% body fat. It was anything but easy. By the week of my first contest I was ready to quit and head to the pizza parlor. I remember telling my wife that nothing else mattered in life except being able to EAT. I think I could've eaten a cardboard box at that point. I used to make my wife eat her dessert in the garage of our house and to immediately hide the evidence in the trash so as not to tempt me. But I made it to the contest and competed on stage in front of thousands of strangers wearing nothing more than a string bikini. I took fourth out of six bodybuilders and although I had higher hopes than that I was happy with my placing. Afterward I swore to myself that that I'd do it again and again, each time honing my body to look better and better. When I competed for the first time, I saw that bodybuilding is not about winning or losing against your peers, it's about achieving your personal goals.

Around the same time, I felt the urge to return to college and earn my culinary degree in hopes of someday becoming a chef. I traded in my white lab coat for a white chef's coat and my microscope for a bag of knives. I trained in four-star restaurants under talented chefs who taught me all the tricks of the trade that you don't learn in school. I learned to be creative and efficient. At the same time, I learned that to be a chef requires working 12-16 hours a day without breaks. The culinary industry is the toughest most demanding field I ever known, but it can also be one of the most rewarding. Over the years I've become an expert at Asian, French and Italian cuisine and have cooked my way through every other aspect of the culinary world. It seems the biggest question on everyone's mind is "how do I look like this and work in a restaurant surrounded by all the good food." The answer: Willpower. Other than using my tasting spoon that is with me always to adjust seasoning, I don't eat the food I prepare. I show up to work everyday with cans of tuna and chicken breast. But as a chef, I have also learned that eating right doesn't have to mean eating boring.

After being a chef and a bodybuilder for so many years I decided it was time to meld the two professions together. When I meet someone, either at the gym or on the street, who wants to improve their physical attributes, the very first thing they ask me is "what do I eat." What we eat is 90% of getting that Adonis-like body that we all strive for. Hence, the need for a website that offers advice on not only the subject of eating healthy, but on working out as well.

By the way, if you're interested. . . I'm still in the first half of my thirties, stand 6' 2" and currently compete at about 235 pounds.

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