Meet: Tony (The Anti-Jared)
Age: 33
Occupation: Managing Partner for a restaurant
Where he lives: Florida
Height: 5′6″
Weight: 208
Pounds Lost: 212
How long it took to lose the weight: 1 year
How long he has kept it off: almost 6 months
Here’s someone who failed at weight loss over and over, but came back for one more round and won! Tony told me he couldn’t lose the weight for good until he really got to know himself. And apparently, he got to know himself pretty darn well, because he lost more than 200 pounds! Stop by his blog – The Anti-Jared – he’ll motivate you, challenge you, and amuse you. Tony – here’s your Weight Loss WooHoo! - Just FatFighterTV’s fun way of celebrating healthy weight. 
How Tony gained the weight:
“I’ve always been an over-eater. I’ve never been able to really control exactly how I eat. Some people would say, ‘Oh my God, I just had a Quarter Pounder!’ I would eat five or six of them. I never ate in front of other people. I always ate by myself. I would spend $30 at Taco Bell, I would spend $35 at McDonald’s, and I just got to the point where I was 420 pounds.”
I’ve had a problem with weight my whole life. I’ve done diets my whole life, as well. This has just been an ongoing struggle.
“I lost a little bit of weight in high school, so I was down to 175, then I would go up to 240… then down to 215, up to 275… down to 255, up to 315… down to 230, then I just ballooned up to 420. I guess my biggest fear was if I would have failed one more time, I’d be over 500 pounds.”
Wake-up Call:
“Last January, I started coughing up blood and I would get numbness in my arms when I was laying down. I would basically look up and say, ‘When am I going to die? When is it time?’ I went to the doctor and he did a physical. My cholesterol was over 300. My blood pressure was 220/180. He had to give me medication at the office just so I wouldn’t leave with that kind of blood pressure.
“At 420 pounds, it just was really hard to live – I couldn’t go to the bathroom properly, I couldn’t put on a seat belt, I couldn’t fit in a lot of cars. The hardest thing was that I couldn’t do a whole lot of things for my wife, like she would need me to do some chores around the house and I just never had the energy to do them. I just got to the point where I was tired of being selfish. I was tired of eating so much and not caring about anyone else around me.”
How he shed the pounds:
“I decided I had to make a change because I can’t just get a picket sign and say, ‘Close down all McDonald’s’ and ‘No more processed foods.’ I can’t expect the world to change around me.
“I made a choice to change the way I eat for the rest of my life. I switched to fruits, vegetables, beans – they were foods I’d actually never eaten before! I’d never eaten a fresh apple – I would eat apple pie, I would eat apple fritters, but I never really just sat down and ate a fresh apple. It was really new to me and it was kind of exciting and I enjoyed it! I realized I’m not going to gain 200 pounds by eating three heads of cauliflower, so I could eat that kind of stuff. Something clicked in me – if I change the way I eat, I can do this for the rest of my life.
“I had never exercised before this. When I first went to the gym, I went on the treadmill for like a minute and I couldn’t do any more. But the next day, I came back and I did two minutes… then four minutes… Eventually, I would workout twice a day for an hour at a time.”
Weekly workouts:
“I workout 6-7 days a week. I do weight training 3 days and cardio 3 days. I like the elliptical machine – I usually do that for 60 minutes then a little bit of calisthenics, like jumping jacks, for 10 minutes after that.”
Diet Philosophy:
“Diets are like snowflakes. No two are going to be alike. Until you find something that works for you, you’re never going to be successful with it.”
Tips from Tony:
“Don’t fool yourself. Just because on the box it says ‘full of fiber’ or ‘lowers cholesterol’ doesn’t mean it might be healthy. You really need to do your research on your products.”
Tony’s Weight Loss WooHoo!:
“There are so many great things – I’m able to be normal, I’m able to put on a seat belt. When my wife asks me to do something, I’m able to do it and not be tired. At work, I’m able to run around. I never lost weight to be in a size 34 pants and I never lost weight to wear a Large shirt. I always did it so I could do normal things. That’s the most important thing to me – when I realized I could do things normal people could do, I said WooHoo!
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“Diets are like snowflakes” – I love that! It’s so true. I’m glad you found your snowflake, Tony!
Want to see who else got a Weight Loss WooHoo!? Check out the Wall of Fame!
If you know of someone who deserves this honor, just let me know – send me an email at sahar [at] fatfightertv [dot] com
Awesome job Tony!! Woo Hoo for sure!!
Yep, his story awesome. And how about that workout schedule!
Amazing results! That’s commitment!
[...] Need a little motivation? We always do. Luckily there’s this amazing weight loss success story. Read today’s Fat Fighter TV Weight Loss Woo Hoo! [...]
Nice going Florida state-mate!!
I think that is in the Bible,”man know thyself.” Glad you did and it will get me back in touch with who I am. I got lost along the way taking care of everybody else accept myself. Now that I am by myself, I need the self-motivation to get up and do something more. Food is a key component and I know I feel better when eating fruits and vegetables like you but you know the not so good for you food is the easiest to get a hold of. Great you have an understanding wife. My ex’s were just the opposite but I know I can’t wait on someone else to make me happy or move. Thanks!