A man has shared how his love of beer, snacks and socialising saw his weight balloon – and how he turned his life around to become a triathlete.
When Matt Izzo stepped up on the scale and saw it hit 16st, he knew something had to change.
With the help of his girlfriend – who also committed to a fitness journey – the 40-year-old started off by going for short walks, before challenging himself to run a mile and pushing himself further every week.
The weight soon began to drop off him, with Matt having lost over 64lbs in just nine months.
He has not only overhauled his life but since getting fit, the Floridian has taken part in 12 triathlons.
“I started off at 235lbs,” Matt told Jam Press.
“However, I avoided the scales for a long time so at my heaviest I could have weighed even more than that.
“It took me around nine months to lose the weight and at my lowest I was 160lbs.
“I’d lost the weight two times previous, and then gained it back. I was really struggling with my self image which strained my mental health.
“I had a morning where I couldn’t sleep and I ended up going out for a walk near my house.
“I challenged myself to run a mile which is not really a big achievement and I managed to do it.
“I was proud of myself, but I thought it shouldn’t have been that hard to do.
“I told myself I really needed to change and get in shape from this day and from that moment I put my all into becoming a healthier person.
“When I got home that day I got on the scales and it was more than I expected, that made me even more committed to changing.
“The first thing I did was download the app MyFitnessPal so I could track my food intake and monitor my weight too.
“I did have the occasional treats but in my calorie limits. For example I love peanut butter and M&M’s so I’d have that but make sure to weigh it all out first.
“I also started cutting down on drinking. I liked beer which has a lot of calories.
“But I also found the idea of going to the bar as something preventing me from changing my ways.
“For example I’d be at the bars drinking beers and then ordering bar snacks like potato skins or wings. I just knew to really get in shape I had to remove myself from this environment.
“I wanted to make exercise part of my daily routine so I decided to do lots of walking with sprint intervals.
“After a few months of this I got over my fear of attending a gym, I joined one and started lifting weights.
“I made sure a gym session was part of my daily routine as I enjoyed being in the positive environment that was improving my physical and mental health, rather than going to the bar.”
Matt may have been committed to changing his ways from day one, but like many he did have his fair share of challenges during his weight loss period too.
He added “It was difficult knowing the process would take about nine months, but at the same time I knew nine months would pass anyway so it was better for me to be improving myself during that time.
“A lot of my life centered around unhealthy habits like socialising at the local bar or watching sports while snacking.
“I also wanted to educate myself and learn more because I didn’t just want to improve physically, but to improve my entire body, mind and spirit.
“I still drink now from time to time but it’s much less frequently than I did while I was overweight.
“I was lucky my partner Courtney was also losing weight at the same time so she was there to support me.
“She has now lost over 100 pounds.
“She helped me with the food side, cooking healthy meals and changing my eating habits.”
Matt did not only lose weight, but completely changed his life after weight loss and building up his fitness.
He also started to compete in triathlons and has now managed to compete in a dozen over the past two years.
He added “The biggest blessing to me is my self image and mental health has massively improved, I use to hate myself and now my outlook has completely changed.
“Competing in triathlons was never something that I’d aspired to do, I just went swimming one day and the thought came to me in the pool.
“I decided to sign up to one in New Jersey with 24 days notice to train. It was a 0.6 mile ocean swim, ten mile run and an 18 mile bike ride.
“I knew I wasn’t prepared but I had the courage to get up and start. Once I’d finished I was so proud of myself!
“I’ve now competed in around twelve triathlons and my favourite was the full distance iron man in Florida which is 2.4mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and 26.2mile run.
“I definitely look back and think it’s crazy, six years ago I was sat on the couch but that’s also not going to help me finish a race.
“I appreciate my progress from different perspectives and my biggest achievement to date is losing weight in the first place.”
