Transformation: Tyler Fleming Destroys a 198 Pound Loss!

April 2010 to January 2016  |  5 years, 9 months  |  @Unspeaking

Tyler was nearly 400 pounds, reclusive, and frightened about where his health was heading. It took the fear of dying to start, and almost six years to finish.

Where he started

Tyler was reclusive and did not have many friends. He was not taking care of himself, and his health was deteriorating in ways that were becoming difficult to ignore.

He had little pride in himself and spent his time playing online games. He is direct about why: he was good at those games, and that mattered because in real life he felt he had nothing to show. He did not have a girlfriend until he was 22, by which point he had already lost over 150 pounds.

The turning point

His own phrase is that he was sick and tired of being sick and tired. He was approaching 400 pounds and frightened about what was coming. It took fear to start him, and he does not dress that up. He was miserable living in a body he did not feel was his, and he did not know how to love himself.

What he changed

At the start, three gym sessions a week doing basic work with dumbbells and machines, and a two-mile walk on the days he did not go. He avoided free weights entirely, and the reason is worth reading if you have ever felt the same: he was intimidated by the men using that equipment and did not feel he had any right to share a squat rack or a bench with them.

He now runs a full body routine three times a week. His preferred cardio is barbell complexes, kettlebells and a morning walk.

Food came in two distinct phases. From 392 down to 290 he ran a low carb approach, mainly because it kept him full through the day. From 290 onward he switched to counting calories, eating mostly whole foods with things he enjoys in moderation, and he credits that switch with letting him hold the loss rather than sliding back into old habits.

The hardest part

Building any sense of self-worth. He says he owes the character he has now to what training taught him, which is a different answer from most people, and probably the truer one.

Two mistakes: comparing his journey to other people's, and not treating it as a lifestyle from the beginning. He had to learn that fitness was not a 90-day fix for his life and his problems.

Where he is now

The accomplishment he names is not the 194 pounds. It is learning to love himself, which he says unlocked a happiness he did not know was there. He feels normal. He can take chances and not be afraid to fail.

Three lessons: self love grows painfully slowly and sometimes has to be replanted before it grows back stronger; consistency decides whether you succeed at anything; and he is capable of whatever he decides to do.

The only insufferable rejection is rejection of oneself. Tyler Fleming

His advice if you are starting today

Do it for yourself. Doing it to impress anyone else will wear thin and you will quit when it gets hard or boring, or when the results do not arrive as fast as you expected.

Take something from every stretch you have suffered through and build a stronger version of yourself out of it. Pay attention to what is being taught while you are enduring something you did not choose. Build a will that gets you through the diet and the morning cardio, and then through everything else.

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.