A man who went to live in the wilderness in Mallorca for seven months shocked his family when he came home 137lbs lighter. Bryan O'Keeffe, 34, weighed 24 stone 2lbs (338 lbs) towards the end of 2021 when he moved to Mallorca.
He had tried diets and exercised before - as well as having a gastric balloon fitted. Looking for a different approach, Bryan moved to Mallorca last November, cutting communication with most of his family and friends.
For six months he stuck to a calorie limit of 2200, which he dropped to 1750 a day for the final month, and exercised for five hours a day. In a video, which has now gained over 1.2million likes on Bryan's TikTok, @the.okeeffe , he can be seen showing up on his friend's and family's doorsteps to surprise them with his weight loss - Bryan now weighs 14 stone 5lbs (201 lbs), reports BirminghamLive.
Bryan 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 1% better."
Bryan began with gentle exercise, walking 90 minutes a day for the first two weeks. He introduced weight-lifting six days a week, swimming three times a week, and running three times a week - using the NHS Couch to 5K app.
Nine weeks after moving to Mallorca Bryan, then 21 and a half stone, was able to run his first 5K in 34 minutes. At 20 stone, Bryan completed a triathlon in one hour and 47 minutes. He increased his running distance, first running a half marathon in early July of this year.
Bryan tracked "everything", including his sleep, calories, and steps, and stuck to a lower limit of 200g of protein per day. Bryan said: "It was months of absolute suffering. The first three months I couldn't do anything other than eat, sleep and exercise.
"The rest of the time, I was lying on my sofa. I was hobbling just to try to go to the toilet. After the 4th month, my body got used to the constant pounding and it wasn't quite as bad."
Bryan only told one person, friend Colm Keenan, about his weight loss. He called home twice a week to speak with his Dad who has Alzheimer's disease.
He said the transformation must have seemed like a "miracle" when he returned home to Cork in mid-July to visit family and friends. Bryan said: "What people on the outside perceive to be miracles are just daily habits compounded over a period of time."
Bryan credits a lot of his motivation to the book Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins. He said doing analysis from the booked helped him realise that a lot of his calories were consumed with friends and family whilst out drinking or enjoying a meal. He also struggled with the temptation of living in a "food delivery zone" with tons of takeaway options. To combat this Bryan decided that the isolation of rural Mallorca would be necessary to break his bad habits.
Bryan said said: "I actually ate delicious foods like hacked versions of burgers and chips, hacked protein ice cream, and protein brownies. I am a cooking fanatic so I spent a lot of time finding recipes that made me feel like I wasn't on a diet. I would save most of my calories for the end of the day which meant I could still get that feeling of being full."
Bryan said he feels "more fulfilled than ever". He added: "It was a lot of suffering but in a way I loved every minute of it".
