Jose Matos nonetheless recollects the instant a health care provider instructed him he wouldn’t are living to look his two sons graduate from highschool if he didn’t drop a few pounds and get fitter.Weighing greater than 500 kilos after years of overeating, Matos had Kind 2 diabetes and hypertension.He’d already been hospitalized for a life-threatening diabetes complication, so the chance of death loomed huge.“It felt like the ground round me was once crumbling. It was once terrifying. It was once frightening. I really like my youngsters and my spouse greater than the rest,” Matos, 32, who lives in Provo, Utah, tells TODAY.com.“That was once the scariest factor — seeing myself no longer being there for them.”Nevertheless it wasn’t till every other well being scare that Matos modified his nutrition and began to workout, shedding greater than 150 kilos. He continues to paintings towards his purpose weight, and says he now not wishes blood drive medicine or a day-to-day insulin shot to control his blood sugar.The transformation earned him one of the crucial best successful spots within the 2024 “Put up Your Are compatible” contest for essentially the most inspirational health trips amongst participants of EoS Health, a series of gyms. Weight gainMatos says he was once “husky” as a kid — no longer skinny, however no longer obese both. Achieving his complete top of 6 ft, 2 inches, he was once broad-shouldered and appreciated to play soccer and rugby.“Right through highschool, you devour no matter you need,” he remembers. “Then when I began going to university, I saved consuming the similar means, however I wasn’t just about as lively as I as soon as was once.”His weight saved creeping up, and he describes his nutrition conduct on the time as “atrocious.” He ate frequently and so much, beginning at 7 a.m. and snacking till 11 o’clock at night time.Matos cherished rapid meals and would devour it two or 3 times an afternoon. A regular meal may consist of 3 burgers, huge fries and a large soda, he says. Fast, salty processed and frozen meals have been additionally a foul dependancy. Matos calls pizza rolls his “greatest downfall,” noting he may devour a bag in a single sitting.He’d wash all of it down with sugary beverages or juices, estimating he fed on about 6,000 energy an afternoon.
Matos weighed greater than 500 kilos at his heaviest.Courtesy Jose MatosIn 2021, Matos was once hospitalized with diabetic ketoacidosis, a doubtlessly life-threatening diabetes complication.The following 12 months, Matos reached his most weight of 525 kilos. However he suspects it was once nearer to 540 as a result of his toilet scale started to show an error message indicating it was once maxed out.But even so Kind 2 diabetes and hypertension, Matos additionally had decrease again ache, achy knees and different persistent ache. He attempted keto, Atkins and different diets to drop a few pounds, however at all times regained it.Then unexpectedly, every other well being scare: Bell’s palsy, which left the best facet of his face paralyzed. The precise reason behind the situation is unknown, however chance components come with weight problems, consistent with the Nationwide Institute of Neurological Issues and Stroke.The overall paralysis lasted 3 months and took a 12 months to unravel utterly. It was once a turning level.“The Bell’s palsy in truth helped give me the psychological fortitude to be like, sufficient is sufficient,” he says.Weight-loss transformationMatos, who works in advertising, says a co-worker hooked up him together with her husband, who’s a instructor.Following his recommendation, Matos stopped consuming processed, frozen and rapid meals, and taken with complete meals with a variety of protein, reminiscent of rooster, steak and fish. Top-protein meals lend a hand other folks really feel robust and happy, dietitians say.He restricted carbs and started monitoring the entirety he ate to verify he was once in a calorie deficit on a daily basis.“I really like quesadillas, however I may no longer devour that. I couldn’t have cheese in the home, I couldn’t have tortillas in the home, as a result of I might devour them. I have shyed away from having the pizza rolls, sodas,” Matos says.“I most commonly drank water. I might keep away from going out to devour.”He cooked at domestic and meal-prepped his lunches together with his spouse each and every Sunday to verify that they had nutritious foods able to move.His first-ever workout was once strolling for half-hour. He then added at-home purposeful strikes, reminiscent of squats, to his regimen.“Bit by bit, I began developing excellent conduct of exercising,” Matos remembers. 
He began his workout regimen by way of strolling.Courtesy Jose MatosOnce he misplaced some weight, he began going to the health club and specializing in push-pull workout routines for the higher and decrease frame to paintings other muscle teams. He completed with half-hour of aerobic on a treadmill or elliptical gadget to succeed in his fat-burning middle fee.Matos now works out six days every week. When he on occasion doesn’t really feel love it, he reminds himself what’s at stake.“I can have a look at photos of myself again when I used to be my heaviest and assume, ‘This man couldn’t do it. This man couldn’t stroll right into a health club. This man wouldn’t really feel permitted on the health club like I do now,’” he says.“So I do it for him. I do it for the fellow who felt like the sector was once crumbling round his ft as a result of I don’t ever wish to return there once more. That’s once I’m like, ‘Alright, let’s move.’”In July, Matos took section in a 5K Spartan Race impediment path, enjoyable a purpose he’s had for greater than a decade. The most efficient section was once proving to his sons, now 6 and 9, that “you’ll do the rest.”He now weighs 375 kilos and says he now not takes Kind 2 diabetes or blood drive medicine. His purpose weight is 240 kilos. 
“I will move run with my youngsters. I will move play football with them, opt for walks,” he says about his weight reduction.Courtesy Jose MatosHis easy tricks to others:Matos stocks this recommendation:Weight-loss medicine aren’t at all times the answer: He attempted a weight-loss drug for a few months however stopped as it didn’t lend a hand him drop a few pounds and had negative effects. “I’d simply quite do the laborious paintings, put within the time, put within the effort,” Matos says. “After I attempted the (drug), I felt like I used to be doing one thing that wasn’t who I used to be.”Create a give a boost to gadget: He credit his co-worker and her instructor husband for serving to him construct the talents he wishes to stick wholesome. “They have been instrumental in instructing me that this isn’t only a dash, it’s no longer an in a single day treatment. It’s a life-time. It’s developing lifelong conduct,” Matos says. “My give a boost to gadget has been massive for me.”Get a yearning out of the best way with a chunk of the meals: If he craves a pizza roll, he limits himself to only one.Attempt to see understanding as a privilege: His workout philosophy is: “I do know that I’ve to do it and that I wish to do it and I am getting to do it.”
