Obese Bro Loses 185 Lbs. In Seven Months, Pounds Down Protein To Rebuild Lost Muscle And DAMN Are His Results Mint

You read that right – this guy lost one hundred and eighty five pounds in only seven months. He lost almost two of me, probably at least one of you and was still able to repair his body so that it practically looks like he never weighed 445 pounds in the first place. Beginning in December 2014, Redditor I-am-the-Brute-Squad stuck to the following doctor assisted diet:

I’m male, 36, 6’5″, and started at 445 in December 2014. My weightloss milestone was 260 in June 2015. My rebuild put me at 275 in February 2016.

Weight Loss Diet:
• 130 calorie shakes (Rapid Fat Burning Program and First Step are the ones I was prescribed).
• Normal people are supposed to do 5 per day, I was at 6 shakes or ~800 cal per day.
• By the end I had been upped to 8 shakes and coconut water (~1200 cal per day) due to work.

Exercise:
• Work (8 miles of walking 3-5x per week)
• 1 hour of cardio 3x per week
• 30 minutes of weights 3x per week.
I lost about 6 pounds per week on average, but my strength went down progressively as the diet went on. About 40 pounds of the loss had been muscle.

As of June of last year, Redditor I-am-the-Brute-Squad weighed in at 260 pounds, however he was still unhappy with his body. When it comes to drastic weight loss it’s difficult to solely lose fat and not muscle, so rather than continuing his restricted diet he decided he’d lost enough weight that now would be a good time to start rebuilding what he’d lost. “Within 2 weeks of going back to solids [food] and starting my maintenance diet, 10 pounds of water weight came back, putting me at 270” he writes. “I began rebuilding my lost muscle. My weight did not change much, instead my muscle mass just short of shifted. I lost some on my legs since I wasn’t carrying 445 anymore, and regained some on my upper body.”

What does a maintenance diet look like for someone who’s 6’5”, you ask? A shitload of protein and a shitload of vegetables, in a nutshell (but no nuts, har har har):

Maintenance Diet:
• Bought a scale and weighed EVERYTHING.
• MyFitnessPal is absolutely key.
• 2500 calories and aimed for mid-to-low carbs.
• I ate as little bread as possible (it triggers my baked goods addiction).
• 165-200g protein per day (200 lbs lean mass x 0.82g per lb).
• 4-5 servings of fruit and the same for vegetables.

I went with yams/sweet potatoes, brown rice, and whole grain pasta for when I ate grains. I did not worry about the carbs in fruit – most are pretty good on the glycemic index and it would take around 40 peaches to hit the 2500 calorie mark, so I went with the “I like fruit and it’s filling so I’m going to eat a lot of it” approach.

Your diet means jack shit though if you don’t have the gym routine to turn that protein into muscle. As for his weight training, I-am-the-Brute-Squad explains that for the most part, he did three sets of five reps of each exercise, although every few months he changed it to 12 sets of three for some variation:

Day 1
• 5×3 bench @ 225 lbs
• 5×3 tri’s (cable) @ 90
• 5×3 wrist curls + finger curls (bar) @ 60
• 5×3 chest fly’s @ 215
• 5×3 skull crushers @ 80
• 5×3 reverse grip wrist curls @ 60

Day 2
• 5×3 Cable rows @ 280 lbs
• 5×3 Preacher curls @ 85
• 5×3 Lat pulldowns @ 130
• 5×3 Hammer curls (dumbbells) @ 40
• 5×3 Back extensions @ 250 lbs

Day 3
• 5×3 Leg press @ 600 lbs
• 5×3 Shoulder press @ 145
• 10×3 Calf Raises (seated) @ 340 (it wouldn’t hold any more plates)
• 5×3 shrugs (bar) @ 405
• 5×3 leg curls @ 220

While he says the last two months were rough and that his weight fluctuated a lot, I-am-the-Brute-Squad now weighs in at about 275 with 26% body fat. Rather than continuing with his rebuild, he’s now back on his original weight loss diet because he wants to reduce his body fat even further before he gets all his excess skin removed.

As for his results, let’s just say they’re MINT, SAVAGE, EPIC, A++ and nothing short of incredible:

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[Via Reddit]