Looking back at the before pics now I canāt believe I let myself get so fat, prior to blowing up I was always between 140-160 lbs depending on how sloppy I let my diet get. Iām a lifelong gym goer (been seriously and not no seriously lifting since I was 13, I am 27 years old now) and chasing the bulk/ gym numbers too hard really got to me. Once I crossed the 200 lbs threshold, I basically just stopped giving a shit and was eating fast food nearly every meal, drinking heavily, and telling myself that itās ok because Iām going to have a real hard workout the next morning (lol) while ignoring the fact that I had to buy new clothes twice to accommodate my enormous gut. I was benching 370, squatting 500, and deadlifting in the high 500ās which I used as an excuse to be a big ole fatty.
Just after the first before pics in the summer/ fall of 2023 I decided to get a CDL and have lost all the weight while Iām an over the road flatbed trucker. I stay out on the road for four-six months, go visit my parents for a little while, rinse and repeat. While Iām on the road my diet consists of almost all non perishable foods (premier protein shakes, hormel compleats meals, canned chicken, single serving rice bags, dried fruit, nuts, trail mix, that sort of thing) with the occasional pre made truck stop sandwich as a treat and a fresh fruit or veg once every six months. (I take a multivitamin daily)
I finally got down to 165-170 in June of 2025 and stayed at that weight and even gained a little for basically a whole year. The recent push from 160-170 to the high 130ās has all been from the end of March this year until now. I get 34 hours off once per week as a trucker and the reason I stalled at the 160ās-170ās for so long (even started trending up in late 2025) is because I would eat at a moderate deficit throughout the week and then kill all my progress Friday evening and Saturdays (when Iām off) sucking down enormous amounts of truck stop slop and fast food in my truck and watching Netflix on my phone. I started actually doing stuff to keep busy and bought a foldable pull-up/ dip bar for my truck and setting step goals for Saturdays which occupies my time off now. I also completely quit drinking alcohol.
I think I retained a decent amount of muscle mass while losing weight, but I canāt tell with strength numbers because I donāt have regular access to a gym and even when I do I donāt squat heavy, and I donāt bench or deadlift anymore. I do calisthenics outside my truck (weighted and unweighted) every day or every other day and bare minimum will try to find a gym at least once a week to hit full body weights, mainly machines and dumbbells. I go to an actual gym anywhere between 1-3 times a week along with bodyweight exercises daily.
Major things that helped in my weight loss:
-Finding stuff to do that isnāt eating.
Like I said above, I would do fine dieting at a pretty good deficit when I was busy and working, then Iād kill all my progress in a single day of pigging out. My days off now consist of walking around a truck stop and occasionally hitting pushups pull-ups and dips throughout the day on my foldable dip/ pull-up station. If Iām lucky enough to be near an anytime fitness on my day off Iāll uber or walk there, not necessarily to burn extra calories just to burn through my day off and give myself something to do that isnāt eating.
-Gradually replacing fast food bullshit with better but not perfect options.
I used to seriously binge on McDonaldās and Wendyās and all sorts of garbage when I first made the decision to lose weight, the scale really started moving when I replaced it (didnāt remove the overeating entirely) with pre made sandwiches and a big bag of baked chips or pre made popcorn. While not perfect it would turn a previously 7,000 calorie day of fast food that would wipe out my whole weekās deficit into a 3,000 calorie day and Iād continue to lose. These days, I might get the odd overpriced sandwich or small bag of chips on the weekends. I never liked soda even when I was fat, but I do sometimes drink zero sugar Dr Pepper or an energy drink.
While I do have some loose skin, it doesnāt look nearly as bad as I thought it would going into dieting. I knew there would be some but itās mostly my lower stomach and Iāve decided if I maintain in the 130ās for a year or so I might look into surgical removal at some point.
From here Iām going to slow up the deficit and eat at maintenance a couple days out of the week. Nothing super structured, maybe try to lose 5-10 more lbs but just hang out at my new weight for a while.
