Transformation: Joshua Neighbors Loses an Incredible 92 Pounds!

January 2015 to July 2015  |  6 months  |  @Joshn68

Joshua decided on New Year's Eve that he wanted to be around long enough to watch his son have children, and to remember his son's life clearly. Everything else followed from that.

Joshua also reported going from 37% to 13% body fat over these six months. Those are his own estimates from 2015 rather than clinical measurements, and consumer body fat readings of that era varied enormously, so treat the weight and the lifts as the reliable numbers. Losing this much this quickly is also uncommon and reflects a very high starting weight, six days of lifting and twice-daily cardio.

Where he started

Joshua was disappointed in himself, and for most of his life he had been, in his words, the fat kid. From sixteen to twenty-two he was an alcoholic.

The good things happened alongside it. At eighteen he found bodybuilding and met the woman who is now his wife. Two weeks before he turned twenty-one, his son was born. From eighteen to twenty he trained constantly and drank the whole time.

By twenty the gym had gone entirely. His son being born and a heavy work schedule slowed the drinking down, but he could not kick it. Then, in August 2014, he was in a car accident that left him with compression fractures in four vertebrae, stair stepping in several others, and a dislocated shoulder.

The turning point

New Year's Eve, 2014. He decided he was done drinking, and the reason he gives is specific rather than general: he wanted to live long enough to watch his son have children, and to have clear memories of his son's life.

On 20 January he was cleared to train again. He started at three days a week. Within three weeks he was at six and eating clean.

What he changed

He taught himself first, working through training content until he felt he knew enough to start. The programme was a six-day bro split: chest and triceps, back and biceps, legs and shoulders, repeat. Over time he layered on twenty minutes of fasted cardio in the morning, training after work, and another twenty to forty minutes at night.

Food was deliberately plain. Eggs and egg whites, chicken, lean beef and tuna for protein. Brown rice, the occasional tortilla, and whatever vegetables he wanted for carbs. Fats came from the eggs and meat, plus olive oil, almond butter, avocado and cheese. After the first eight weeks he loosened up and allowed a cheat day.

The hardest part

Three things, and the first two are about ego. He was not as strong as he had been, and he could not stop comparing himself to the version of him that was. His back limited him badly at the start, coming off the fractures. And he did not yet know enough about nutrition or how to set his macros.

His three mistakes follow from that: being too hard on himself about food, expecting to lift anywhere near his old numbers, and measuring himself constantly against the past.

Where he is now

The lifts he names are a 515 squat, a 495 deadlift and a 335 bench at 195 pounds. Getting under 200 was the second milestone. The third is the one that actually reads as the point of all of it: being able to run around with his son without feeling like he is going to die.

What he learned: nutrition and how to manage it, self-control and self-worth, and how to point an addictive streak at something that does him good.

Everyone slips. Just get back up. That ONE cookie didn't ruin it. Joshua Neighbors

His advice if you are starting today

Enjoy the training. The first two weeks are the hardest and you will be less sore after them. Take nutrition seriously and weigh your food for the first six months so you actually learn what you are eating. Eating well does not have to be bland. And read constantly, because the information is the tool.

Results vary. This customer's results are not typical and depend on individual effort, training, nutrition and consistency. Statements on this page describe one customer's personal experience and have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. No product mentioned is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.