Real life weight loss: "I was hooked on soda, weighed 400lbs – now I'm ripped"

AT 410lbs, David Roden realised enough was enough and has now lost around 200lbs - nearly half his body weight. By the time David, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, was 15 years old, he weighed 300Ibs and had super high blood pressure. 

He told our sibling YouTube channel Truly: “I was 18 years old, weighed over 400Ibs and just fluctuated over the next few years till I was 22 which is when I really made the shift to take more control of the actions I was doing in my life." 

With an addiction to diet soda, David drank 15 to 20 cans a day and would drink privately rather than publicly. David knew he had to cut his weight in half and had a vision of looking 200Ibs lighter. After hitting 50Ibs down, everything changed and he felt in control to make it work. 

Watch David's inspiring weight loss story below:

David continued: “I remember looking at myself in the mirror, and broke down crying. I changed not just physically but mentally and spiritually on how I treated myself and others around me. After that it was just a massive shift." David believes in working out, eating healthy and dropping the ego in order to push yourself even further. 

David told Truly: “When you push your limit of what you think you can do and you push beyond failure of what you think is failure, the brain just goes, 'I’m a champion and I can do anything'!”

"The idea of losing 200lbs seemed so astronomical, that I'd never really tried," said David. "But I read a book that said 'if you lose 2lbs a week, in 200 weeks you've lost 200lbs', and I thought 'hey, I could do that!'".

David's decision to live "an accountable life" meant monitoring what he ate, what he weighed and when he got his workouts in. Monitoring your progress is absolutely key to weight loss, as one study published in 2008 showed participants who kept a food journal actually doubled their weight loss progress.

You can also keep track of things with one of the best fitness trackers or best fitness watches. These handy tools will log your calorie expenditure, your sleep quality, the number of workouts you've done, your heart rate, and so much more. Usually, this data will be presented in an easily accessible way through the accompanying app. Fitbit, for example, provides simplified sleep scores, stress scores and more to take the guesswork out of staying healthy.