These Simple Diet Changes Helped This Guy Lose 75 Pounds in 9 Months

At his heaviest, Matthew Izzo couldn’t bring himself to step onto the scale. His best guess is that he probably weighed around 250 pounds. What he knows for certain: He didn’t feel good about himself, though he wasn’t fully aware of it at the time. “Looking back, it’s a night and day difference, but part of our brain always craves comfort, so you may not realize you feel as bad as you do,” he says.

Izzo, 36, who works as a supervisor for Dish Network in Roseland, New Jersey, says the turning point that led him to get back in shape arrived over Labor Day weekend about three years ago. Izzo and his girlfriend, Courtney, had overindulged a bit—as people have the right to do over a holiday weekend—and neither of them could sleep. “The part of me that knew I had to make changes took control that night,” he says.

The next morning, Izzo challenged himself to run a mile—and he got through it. While it counted as progress, deep down, Izzo knew a mile here and there wasn’t going to cut it if he wanted to get back in shape. After all, he’d been regularly hitting his daily 10,000-step goals, but without much of a noticeable impact on the scale or in the mirror. Like so many people who reach a weight loss plateau, Izzo had to face a hard truth: The problems were in the kitchen, too.

So, he began to do his research: He logged his food, and eventually, he got over his fear of the scale. He also joined a gym, and started to incorporate principles of Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 framework. “I love how it promotes compound exercises and offers a lot of flexibility,” he says. He also—we swear!—says he did routines from the Men’s Health Book of Muscle. “Years ago, I had done part of the beginner program and gave up before finishing. It was important to me that I finally complete it,” he says.

Then he turned back to his diet, distilling his eating habits down to some healthy, no-frills basics. For breakfast, that meant steel-cut oatmeal. Lunch was a turkey and ham sandwich. Dinner? Some kind of lean animal protein, quinoa, and veggies. Nice and easy. He also allowed himself three snacks per day—trying to stick to healthy bars, nuts, and fruits. Perhaps more importantly, he cut out booze, too.

Matthew Izzo

In addition to his daily walks, Izzo also started to incorporate HIIT-style cardio sessions, as well as regular weight training. “I had a pretty good idea what I was doing,” he says. “It wasn’t a question of motivation, which comes and goes—you can’t control it. What I did was I set a goal and focused on it almost exclusively for about nine months.”

In that time, Izzo lost roughly 75 pounds, completing a dramatic weight loss transformation. (Better yet, his girlfriend, Courtney, joined him every step of the way, achieving an almost identical pound-for-pound weight loss.) By mid-2017, Izzo had reached his goal of 160 pounds, and with the physical change came improvements to his self-image. “I feel great as a result, and the harder I push myself physically the better I feel,” he says. As a result, he adds, he’s also taken steps to improve his mental health, and feels happier and more confident than he has in years.

Now he hopes to help other people achieve the same outcome. “Deep down, I think we all know what the right things to do are,” he says. “Unfortunately there are no quick fixes or easy solutions—it takes time and commitment. You will have to give up many of your past habits. But if you set a goal, work out a plan, and make the necessary adjustments, you will be successful.”

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