A man has revealed how he lost 10 stone after going into the ‘wilderness and off the grid’ where he adopted a strict diet and fitness regime.
Bryan O’Keeffe, 34, from Cork, Ireland, decided he needed to do something drastic after reaching 24st 2lbs towards the end of 2021.
Having tried ‘all the diets and exercise fads’ – and even gastric band surgery – he knew he had to try something different.
The entrepreneur then spent seven months away in Majorca secretly transforming his body through diet and exercise.
But the move also saw him cut communication with friends and family – before he surprised them with his incredible transformation upon his return home.
Bryan O’Keeffe, 34, from Cork, Ireland, was fed up with weighing so much and not feeling happy with his body after he reached more than 24st at the end of 2021
In a video on Instagram documenting his weight loss, Bryan shared how he wanted to wear other clothes and feel confident and happier with himself and his body
Bryn lost a huge amount of weight after going on a wilderness retreat and not speaking to his family for months
For six months straight, Bryan stuck to a calorie limit of 2,200, which he dropped to 1,750 a day for the final month, and exercised for about five hours each day.
On Instagram, he wrote: ‘So I decided to move out to the wilderness and go off the grid where I could have no excuses.
‘I called my friends and family and told them I wouldn’t be talking to them and got to work.’
On a later video, he can be seen showing off his new slim look to his loved ones, weighing 14 stone 5lbs.
He said: ‘In seven months, I never took a day off. I lost count of the amount of injuries I got but I refused to quit and just kept training through the pain.
‘Every day, I just tried to do one more rep, one more length, one more kilometre – whatever I could do to get one per cent better.’
He added: ‘It’s not easy. There’s no shortcuts. It’s showing up every day no matter what.’
Bryan – who began his challenge in late 2021 – explained how he began his weight loss adventure.
Many obese people are happy with their weight but Bryan was determined to become thinner and healthier
Bryan recorded the moment that he showed off his new figure to his stunned family who couldn’t believe the transformation
Bryan is now a weight loss instructor and regularly posts on Instagram about tips he has learned
He began with gentle exercise, walking about 90 minutes a day for the first two weeks. That transformed into a more gruelling five-hour-a-day regime.
He introduced weight-lifting six days a week, swimming three times a week, and running three times a week.
Just three months after his move to the Balearic island, Bryan, then 21 and a half stone, ran his first 5k in just over half an hour.
Shortly after, weighing 20 stone, Bryan completed a triathlon in one hour and 47 minutes.
He also slowly increased his running distance, running his first half marathon in July this year.
During his weight loss journey, Bryan tracked ‘everything’, including his calories, steps and sleep.
He also stuck to a lower limit of 200g of protein per day.
At one point he wanted to cave in and have a McDonald’s – but he didn’t bother as the nearest one was an hour’s drive away.
Bryan said: ‘It was months of absolute suffering. The first three months I couldn’t do anything other than eat, sleep and exercise.
‘But after the fourth month, my body got used to the constant pounding and it wasn’t quite as bad.’
During the seven months, Bryan only told one person, his friend Colm Keenan, about his weight loss journey.
He called home twice a week to speak with his dad who has Alzheimer’s disease when he knew his mum was out of the house.
Bryan now works as a weight loss coach and regularly posts tips on Instagram and TikTok.
He also insists that he still eats carbohydrates – and that he would never have been able to stick to a diet which involved cutting them out.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk