Nothing brings a bigger smile to our face here at BroBible than when we hear a story from a reader who looked at himself in the mirror, realized he needed to get his life together, and made some changes to be the best Bro he could be. After all, that’s what being a true Bro is all about — Being the best version of yourself at all times, no matter the circumstance.
Over the past year, BroBible reader Jared Zaworski decided he was sick of the weight he put on over the years. He was 24 and ballooned to 302 last October. But he couldn’t bare the idea of hitting the mid-way mark of his 20s at over 300 pounds. So he got off his ass and did something about it, dropping over a hundred pounds over the course of a year.
His physical transformation is an inspiring one — he did it without crossfit or hitting the gym once, proving that taking care of yourself can be done the old fashion way with enough grit and determination.
I spent last night trading e-mails with Jared, asking him to elaborate on his journey. Here’s how he explained his metamorphosis to BroBible:
My name is Jared. About 7 months ago I was 302 lbs. I was 24 years old and told myself I couldn’t be 25 and be over 300 lbs, so I figured it was time for drastic changes. I wanted to lose 100 lbs by my birthday on October 6th. Today is the 26th of October and I’m 190 lbs.
I completely cut out all soda and sugar based drinks, started drinking a gallon of water a day and cut out bread and all fast food. I lost almost 60 lbs in the first two months and got addicted to the results I was seeing. So I just kept going. Losing 110 lbs in 7 months isn’t easy, but is definitely obtainable if you stick to your diet and do a lot of cardio. I love basketball so I played a lot of that and also started jogging with some sprints involved to get the heart rate up. I also incorporated box jumps.
The one thing I’ve prided myself in is that I have no set foot in a gym once. You don’t need a gym to meet your fitness goals. You can jog, do push-ups, and do sit-ups anywhere. Now that I’m at a weight where I feel comfortable, I started weightlifting to tone up and build some lean muscle.
I asked him to elaborate on why he felt like it was important for him to lose the weight without hitting the gym. It was partially out of principle, partially because his core workout was cardio and pick-up basketball:
To be honest, I wanted to show that gyms are overrated… I would just jog about a mile and a half to my buddy’s house who had his own basketball court and play every day — either by myself or get a good pick up game going. After the game was over, everyone would be dead tired and would drive home. I would then jog the 1.5 miles back home. I think that really jump started the weight loss.
How is Jared’s life different now that he’s dropped weight? Work is way easier now. And he’s the go-to guy in his friend group when it comes to inspiring them to make changes:
My favorite thing about the weight loss is people asking me for tips on how to do it and saying I have inspired them to start their own journey.
When it comes to my social life, I have always been a social person — what people would call me the life of the party. I party less because drinking definitely doesn’t help the weight loss, but I’m still a bro a heart so it’s hard for me to turn down a good turn up. When it comes to girls, its funny to me — I’m pretty sure they are more shallow than guys. Not saying I was abstinent before, but losing the weight has helped in that area. Lol.
I do landscaping and pressure washing(..mobile detailing) for work, so not carrying around 110 extra lbs has been a big help.
Huge congrats to Jared. May his story be motivation to get off the couch this winter and start making big changes. If he can drop over a hundred pounds in a year with lifestyle changes and not an expensive gym membership, you can too.