We’ve covered a lot of weight loss journeys here at DMARGE — from Daniel Radcliffe getting ripped to the ‘World’s Fattest Man’ turning everything around, we’ve reported on them all. None of these body transformations, however, came with such a bitter pill to swallow as this one…
The 41-year-old Redditor — who goes by the wholly relatable username u/LifeisAwesome_HahaJK — posted his progress pics to the site’s dedicated subreddit, revealing a total body recomposition that had left him 3lbs heavier overall (165lbs to 168lbs) but with a leaner, stronger, superhero-like physique of which many men would be furiously envious.
WATCH: Post Malone Tells Joe Rogan Quitting Coke Is Behind 30kg Body Transformation
Getting Started
If you’re looking to totally recompose your body like this man has, the first step is stripping back the fat which so many of us find building up much quicker than we’d like. When it comes to shedding those pounds, nailing your nutritional game is always the most important and usually most punishing step.
You need to partake in a ‘cut’ by maintaining a strict calorie deficit over an extended period of time, just like Zac Efron did before filming Baywatch. Here are some general nutritional guidelines to follow, but bear in mind that nutrition varies from person to person:
- Calculate your calories: To lose body fat, you must create a calorie deficit by consuming fewer calories than your body burns. Calculate your daily calorie needs and subtract 250-500 calories per day to create a gradual calorie deficit.
- Consume enough protein: Protein is essential for preserving muscle mass during a cut. Aim for 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day.
- Limit carbohydrate and fat intake: To create a calorie deficit, you will likely need to reduce your carbohydrate and fat intake. However, it’s important not to eliminate these macronutrients entirely, as they are still essential for optimal health and energy levels.
- Eat plenty of fibre: Fibre-rich foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains can help keep you feeling full and satisfied during a cut.
- Stay hydrated: Adequate hydration is essential for optimal health and can also help curb hunger and cravings.
It’s important to note that a successful cut requires patience and consistency. It’s not advisable to try to lose too much body fat too quickly, as this can lead to muscle loss and other health problems. Aim for a gradual, sustainable rate of fat loss, and be sure to listen to your body and adjust your nutrition plan as needed.
Once you’ve stripped away as much fat as you desire, the next step would then be to begin a controlled lean bulk — use Tom Hardy’s Bane bulk as an example of how not to do this — that will help you slowly build up muscle mass in place of the disappeared fat. It’s a hard but rewarding process, as the poster themself explains:
“Long time coming. Just wanted to share the fruits of my labor, mostly due to vanity, but also in the hope that it can reveal what’s possible when you decide to get your act together in your 30s…”
u/LifeisAwesome_HahaJK
Hard Truths
So far, it all sounds simple and pleasant enough. Don’t get me wrong, it takes a hell of a lot of discipline and consistency to pull something like this off, but here at DMARGE, we’ve seen people pull off feats as impressive as this and, frankly, even more so in the space of only a few committed months.
And this is where the unwelcome truth revealed in this Reddit post comes into play… as part of the formatting rules in the r/progresspics subreddit, all posters have to share how much time has passed between their ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos. In this case, the transformation took a massive 11 years.
M/41/5’8” [165 lbs to 168 lbs] (11 years)
byu/LifeisAwesome_HahaJK inprogresspics
If you want to totally change your body for the long term, especially if you’re entering your middle years, the hard truth is that it’s likely to take quite a while. While so many of us desperately scour the internet for weight loss fads and quick fixes, especially as we enter the New Year, the fact of the matter is that these things take time.
Not only does building muscle take forever — a lot longer than trimming fat, for the record — but bedding in the lifestyle changes and habits that facilitate the change can be a process years in the making. Don’t get it twisted, the last thing we want to do with this information is put you off making a positive change, but it’s important to understand just how much dedication something like this takes.
Power to this poster for sticking at it and making his dreams come true — it’s no mean feat.