A man who cut off all communication with his family and moved to Spain to lose weight left his family stunned when he arrived back home 10 stone lighter. Bryan O'Keeffe weighed 24 stone 2lbs (338lbs) when he made the decision to move to Mallorca towards the end of 2021 to try '' a different approach'' to achieve his desired weight loss.
Seven months later he arrived home to Cork almost unrecognisable as he tipped the scales at 14 stone 5lbs (201lbs), leaving his friends and family gobsmacked. Bryan, who said he had tried everything he could to lose weight, thought it was time to try something new so he headed for the Spanish island and cut all communication with his family and friends to focus on himself.
For six months, he stuck to a strict calorie limit of 2,200 which he lowered to 1,750 for the final months, the Daily Star reports. He also exercised every day for around five hours.
The proud slimmer shared the details of his hard work to his Instagram account under @the.okeeffe. Bryan said: "In 7 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 revealed that he began his journey with gentle exercise such as walking for 90 minutes a day for the first fortnight. However, this soon became a tough five-hour a day routine as 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.
His dedication meant that he was able to achieve a 2 and a half stone weight loss and was able to run a 5k in 34 minutes less than nine weeks after moving to Spain. 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 kept his weight loss journey a secret, having only shared his goals to one friend, Colm Keenan. He called home twice a week to talk with his Dad who suffers from Alzheimer's disease when he knew his mother wouldn't be in their home.
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