An Irish man has lost a whopping eight stone after being told he was "morbidly obese" at just 18-years-old motivated him to change his lifestyle.
Gianluca Tramontozzi, from Co. Offaly, started his weight loss journey weighing 140 kilos, and now after seven years of banishing his unhealthy habits has lost over 44 kilos.
He told RSVP LIVE: "My goal at the start was to lose weight and maybe try to impress people, but more recently, I just want to be happy.
READ MORE: Irish woman loses 13 stone in just over a year after overcoming life-long battle with food addiction
"I started off at 140 kilos, and this morning I was 94 kilos, my lowest was 88 kilos, but that was during lockdown ."
Gianluca said he knew he had to make a change after returning from a trip to Italy and realising that he could no longer buy clothes in a normal shop.
He said: "I am Italian. When me and my dad went back to visit Italy, I was struggling to buy clothes. I was 44 in the waist, and things weren't fitting me.
"I could only buy clothes in XL shops, so they only sell big clothes that go up to 6 or 7 XL. I remembered when I walked in, I felt really embarrassed, and something clicked in me."
After visiting his GP, Gianluca came to a scary realisation that he was now "morbidly obese".
He said: "A couple of weeks later, I went to the doctor for just a check-up, and he just turned around and said, 'I don't like to say this, but you're morbidly obese.'
"He said, 'the way you're going, you will be struggling with diabetes and heart problems,' I remember I broke down that night."
He added: "I tried loads of diets that would work for others but just didn't work for me. I was trying things like diet teas and starving myself. It worked for the first couple of weeks, but then I put the weight back on because I was just so unmotivated, I wasn't myself."
"When you're that big, and I don't want to say it's easier, but if you just restrict certain things, you are bound to lose weight pretty quick."
After trying out a few different diet plans, Gianluca said cutting out just two foods from his meals made the biggest change.
He said: "I tried one dietitian who said 'eat the food you like, but you have to cut out certain things', so the one diet that worked for me was cutting out dairy and snacking. It was really hard at the start, but I say in the guts of two or three weeks, I was down 15 kilos."
"We had a treadmill , and I remember saying I am going to run until I can't stop. A minute in, I was out of breath, so then I just started walking, and even though it wasn't a lot, it was helping me lose a certain bit of weight."
Finding a sustainable way to lose weight can often be difficult for people trying to shed the pounds. However, Gianluca said he has found a love for training and exercising each day makes him happy.
However, he explained that the seven-year journey hasn't been all plain sailing and said he had met several challenges along the way.
He said: "There were times I didn't want to train, I would overeat, I would stress eat, but if I find a stride, I won't stop. I see now I don't want to stop going to the gym because I know I will struggle to get back into it."
Since starting his weight loss journey, Gianluca has made a name for himself on Tik Tok, having over 123K followers.
"At the start of TikTok , I was posting the random trends that were going around, and I built a little bit of a following. Then one day, I just posted a video about my weight loss journey, and I remember within a week, I jumped up 50 thousand followers, and I thought maybe this is something I could start making my niche."
Gianluca shares his top tips with his followers on how he went from 140 kilos to 96 kilos and how they too can live a healthier lifestyle.
He said: "Find your purpose. If you want to do it for somebody else, you can try it, and it might work, but if you find a reason to do it for yourself and you want to be genuinely happy, that will be such a big help."
"It is going to take time. It is not going to happen overnight. Just be patient. I am 96 kilos now, but I started at 140 kilos, and that took me the guts of 7 years to lose."
"Don't be afraid to ask for help, even if it's just people like me on social media. Just send the message, I have done it, and they will give you tips on where to start. Just be open about it, be positive and don't expect it to happen overnight because it won't."
READ MORE: Tipperary beautician who 'tried every diet under the sun' loses astonishing 19 stone
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