Body transformations are our bread and butter here at DMARGE. We love seeing blokes who’ve been struggling with their weight (and often their mental health alongside it) find a way to turn everything around. In an effort to democratise the secrets behind their fitness success, we share some of our favourite stories.

When you’re trying to shift some of those extra kilos, it’s all too easy to get bogged down by complex diets, high-tech supplements, and overly elaborate workout regimes — trust me, we’ve all done it. However, a recent firsthand account from one especially dedicated man reveals that when it comes to weight loss, one thing matters far, far more than the rest.

The Fundamentals

The man in question — who posted his transformation to Reddit’s r/ProgressPics subreddit and goes by the username ‘FvanSnowchaser‘ — embarked on a short and sharp journey to revamp their health and physique. But make no mistake, making a significant change in such a short time frame — just over 4 months in total — requires a lot of dedication.

What exactly was his process? Well, as the title of his post neatly summarises, it went something like this:

“No alcohol, lots of protein, yoga, and weights.”

FvanSnowchaser

If you’d like a little more detail, however, you’re in luck. It turns out that the poster is a big fan of Dr Mike over at Renaissance Periodisation (as are we). When asked how he lost the weight so quickly, the poster responded as follows:

“I watched “fat loss dieting made simple” YouTube videos by Mike Isratel of Renaissance Periodization. I tweaked the numbers a bit to suit me. My average caloric intake was just over my BMR each day. I prioritized protein (1.3-1.5 grams of protein per pound of starting body weight). I did a bunch of yoga, weights, and cardio but didn’t factor that into calorie intake so on the days I did extra cardio, I had a bigger deficit.”

FvanSnowchaser

While I never mean to trivialise Dr Mike’s vast knowledge — and strongly recommend you watch the video in question — much of this boils down to a CICO (Calories in, calories out) approach. In short, you have to be in a calorie deficit; you have to burn more calories than you consume. We’ve explained this process at length elsewhere.

The Only Thing That Matters

While calorie control is what makes the number on the scale go down, sticking to your calorie deficit in the face of life’s many temptations is the real challenge. That’s why the poster made it clear that it was only “once I got my mind right that the fat started melting off”.

Getting your mindset right is definitely one of those things that’s easier said than done but, lucky for us, the poster shared his thought process on this:

“The real question is: why have you been inconsistent before? If you are like me, it’s because you momentarily lost sight of your goals, and that opened the door to treat meals and slacking off on exercise. The key to my success is when I solidified the vision of my goals and firmly entrenched that vision in the forefront of my mind. Every action I take has to be filtered through that vision.”

FvanSnowchaser

Whenever you get greeted by temptation or possible roadblocks, you have to stop and ask yourself some serious questions: “A coworker brings yummy treats to work, so they taste better than having these abs feel? No. I’d rather sit on the couch after work than go for a quick run, but will that help me maintain my success? No.”

It sounds simple and, quite frankly, it is simple. Does that mean it’s easy? Absolutely not. To whoever’s reading this and wants to embark on their weight loss journey, we wish you all the best of luck.