I Broke Chairs At 550lbs - Now I’m 322lbs Down | BRAND NEW ME
AT 550lbs, Christopher Stanley’s weight was taking over his life. The 32-year-old of Kearny, New Jersey, battled food addiction and struggled with his weight from a young age - resulting in him being nicknamed ‘Jelly’ in high school. At his heaviest, Christopher weighed 550lbs. In 2011 Christopher decided he needed to change his ways and joined a gym but it was not until last year when he joined a 12-step support group that he has been able to tackle his eating issues. Overall, he has lost an amazing 340lbs. Christopher told Truly: “I don’t introduce myself as 'Jelly' anymore because that feels weird. The nickname was part of a personality, a whole type of person that I’m kind of not anymore.” Today, he is going to reunite with his friend Jeremy: what will he think of Christopher’s transformation?
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00I had a straight obsession with food.
00:02I never learned healthy eating habits at all.
00:05Like food was always like the coping mechanism for anything.
00:08I was just at a low point in my life.
00:10My girlfriend had broken up with me.
00:11I had lost a job and I decided I was like, you know what?
00:14I got to figure something out.
00:20I used to weigh 550 pounds and I've lost 322 pounds.
00:25I have been medically obese my entire life.
00:33I was like over 200 pounds by middle school.
00:37I was always the fat kid.
00:38My dad was heavy.
00:40My mom was like kind of fat.
00:42But like I never knew, I never learned healthy eating habits at all.
00:47Like food was always like the coping mechanism for anything.
00:51They tried their best.
00:52Like they tried but they just didn't know.
00:54There was always a problem with like the seats or the booths or,
00:58you know, getting into a car.
01:00I've broken a massive amounts of chairs and couches.
01:05I couldn't move.
01:06I was in pain.
01:07And also adding on to that, that most of the time from age 13 to like nine months ago,
01:13I was on drugs all the time.
01:16I'm 6'1".
01:18Couple that with like 550 pounds.
01:21I was like, I need to change.
01:23I can't keep doing this.
01:26When I decided I wanted to lose weight and I started going to the gym,
01:29I would maybe have like a couple days of clean eating.
01:33And then I would stop.
01:35I would binge.
01:36And then I would just ignore it.
01:38So I got down like 450 and then I got down to 320 from there.
01:42But then I gained that back immediately.
01:44My mom died in 2006.
01:47My girlfriend had broken up with me.
01:48I had lost a job.
01:49And I decided I was like, you know what, I got to figure something out.
01:52I started getting clean from drugs.
01:54And then I found this 12-step support group for my eating issues and actually addressing
01:59the eating issues instead of addressing the weight.
02:02It was like fixed.
02:04And like I was at 375 in January.
02:08And then today I'm 228.
02:13Before the COVID, I would go to the gym, hit the stairs for a little bit.
02:22On cardio-only days, I would like go do like 100 flights of stairs
02:26on StairMaster for like 45 minutes to an hour.
02:30I do a resistance band workout.
02:32I do a lot of like bodyweight exercises, like push-ups, crunches, things like that.
02:38And I go on a lot of walks.
02:47My morning routine is very different now that I do not weigh 500 pounds.
02:51I have a face care or a skincare routine that I do.
02:56None of this I did while I was 550 pounds.
02:59I never did any of it.
03:01All I did was I'd wake up and then I would eat.
03:04And then I would go to work.
03:05And that was it, you know.
03:06I rarely showered if ever.
03:09I rarely brushed my teeth.
03:12I just wanted the weight gone.
03:13I didn't address any of like my mental issues.
03:17Now, with the 12-step group, there is no question or no choice of not eating properly.
03:25It sounds very almost cultish and it sounds very intense.
03:29But what I've done is I've made a food plan for myself with another person.
03:33And that food plan has certain foods that I just don't eat.
03:38I don't just come in here and fry up a bunch of food to binge on anymore.
03:43I come in here with a plan of attack.
03:46I know what I'm going to make.
03:48Everything that I make to eat is weighed out and measured on the scale.
04:00I have not embraced my man boobs.
04:02I don't like them.
04:04I mean, I guess they were like my man boobs.
04:06And I hate that word too.
04:07There's no cool word for it, right?
04:09Those were like my biggest insecurity growing up, right?
04:12That was like my biggest insecurity.
04:13And now, from working out, I have chest muscles.
04:17And it's like a lot of skin just hanging down off of it.
04:20I'm more comfortable embracing that.
04:22And I guess psychologically, I've had to learn to embrace that.
04:26I recently went and saw a surgeon.
04:28And that surgeon let me know what I would have to do to get it removed.
04:32My insurance company, as of last week, approved a surgery to have a full
04:36abdominoplasty done on my lower abdomen and my stomach.
04:39And also to remove the excess chest skin.
04:45Today, I'm going to meet up with my best friend, Jeremy,
04:48who I haven't seen in several months.
04:50I stayed at his place for about a week or so.
04:54At that point, I was 310 pounds.
04:56He's always been a very positive and supportive person in my life.
05:03Hey.
05:05Holy smokes.
05:06What's up, man?
05:08What's up, buddy?
05:08How you doing?
05:09Man, the Instagram.
05:10Dude, you're smaller.
05:11Well, hey, man.
05:12You're in California.
05:13You want a smoothie?
05:14A smoothie?
05:15Yeah.
05:15You want to drink a smoothie?
05:16Yeah.
05:16All right.
05:16Let's-
05:17When in Rome.
05:18Yeah.
05:18Let's drink a smoothie.
05:19To watch this guy do a complete 180, to go from morbidly overweight,
05:25to be completely clean, to actually see that in real life without the help of
05:30surgery or anything like that, just through pure grit and determination.
05:35It is the most inspiring thing that I've ever seen.
05:39To anyone who wants to embark on a weight loss journey like I've done,
05:44I would say, be honest with yourself.
05:45Because if you downplay that, the results will not stick.
05:50You could just be a regular person who's like,
05:52wow, life sucks sometimes.
05:54There's a lot of problems in this world.
05:55Things aren't great.
05:57But I'm going to put forth my best effort into being the best person that I can be.
06:03That is important.
06:08Yeah.