Topics: Weight loss, Fitness, Mental Health, Reddit, Health
The difficulty of losing a significant amount of weight can be enough to put you off even trying to make a healthy change, but one man who had been heavy his entire life has shared how shedding the pounds 'completely turned his life around.'
Losing 100lbs meant that he went from wearing XXL to mediums, but clothing sizes were not the only things in his life that changed. Everyone from his family to potential romantic partners started treating him differently.
"I grew up a massive introvert, rarely got any dates or women interested in me," the man who was once 300lbs shared on Reddit. "Now, women regularly flirt with me, I’ve been catcalled, and I’ve been on more dates in the last 3 years then I ever had in my entire 20s."
This change did not take the 27-year-old 6'2 Redditor long either, with them losing a third of their body weight in under seven months as a result of their diet and exercise plan - without a drop of Mounjaro or Wegovy to make their life easier.
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Losing weight and keeping it off is a long process that involves a great deal of learning, change, and good old fashioned exercise. And, almost inevitably for the unimaginative, plenty of meals that consist of just chicken breast, rice, and broccoli.
That's what the Redditor, 'MuscleCrow', swore by for most of their seven month journey, alongside walking for an hour when he came home from work and doing regular strength training with weights.
He explained: "I changed my diet, went on a keto diet for the most part, and I walked 5-6 days a week for 1 hour. Would go outside, put on music, and just walk.."
This involved restricting his carb intake, something he now dismisses as 'fear', and aiming to only consume between 1600 and 1800 calories per day. Calorie guidelines state that active men should consume 2500kcal to maintain their weight.
He has even managed to keep the pounds off, adding: "I have been maintaining it, I’ve kept the weight off for about 3 years now. Mainly doing strength training, been building up some serious muscle over the past 2~ years."
Growing up heavier than your peers is difficult, with some bullies throwing so many insults your way that they inevitably become internalized.
Even people in wider society are likely to treat you differently, something the Reddit user saw when they managed to shed the pounds.
"I rarely got compliments as a kid, or an adult, especially unprompted. Now, compliments kind of just fly my way," he shared.
But perhaps that is in part because losing the weight that he had been carrying around since childhood changed his outlook on the world.
He added: "My friends of all told me that I am much more positive person now I’m more outgoing and just generally I’m much happier overall."
For people who have never experienced it, it's hard to quantify just how widespread fatphobia is in society. But many people's first experiences of these cruelties are not on the playground, but at home.
The weight loss enthusiast explained: "My parents would mildly fat shame me as a kid, they don’t do that anymore. My dad actively tells me how good I look, and that I should keep doing what I’m doing."
Having known him as being a larger person for most of his life, the rest of his family have also been piling in with compliments after his transformation.
He added: "All my other relatives were impressed the first time when I saw them. I only see my distant relatives once a year, they were admiring my muscles at the last pool party. Lol."
Dating is a lot about confidence, something that many larger people struggle with in a society that will often tell them they are not good enough, or deserving of love. That and society's conflation of beauty with thinness.
This was only confirmed for the weight losing Redditor when he went from a XXL to a medium. He said: "When I go out, which is usually the weekends, I get flirted with at least once. Lots of arm/bicep touching."
This could partly be his increased confidence, reinforced by some of the negative side effects of being 300lbs, which he said did cause erectile dysfunction issues with 'the very few partners that I did have before my weight loss.'
But now, he says: "All my dates have ended in hookups, except for one."
While the Reddit user was clearly overjoyed at how his life had changed since losing a third of his body weight, he did have some regrets about going too far with the drastic weight loss, and some of it's most well known consequences.
"I definitely overdid it," he said. "I was so focused on my goal that I had some bad weeks where I would severely under eat, and just suffer with a hungry stomach until the next day. I definitely don’t recommend that."
'MuscleCrow' also shared that he has '5 percent loose skin' after losing 100lbs, but did say that in the two years since dropping to 200lbs he had made some progress in reducing this.
He explained: "I do have some loose skin which has gotten better over time as I’ve used a ton of moisturizer and built muscle to try and help. It’s not too bad, but I’m not at a low body fat yet to see how much more loose it would become."
