From sloth to bodybuilder.

Craig O’Brien, 21, grew up as an exceptionally lazy and unhealthy young man. He told The Scottish Sun:

“I was literally the definition of a couch potato and at school on my lunch break I would buy chippies, rolls and sausages and bags of sweets. You name it, I ate it every single day, Monday to Friday.”

Finally, when Craig reached 224 pounds at 42% body fat, he realized he had to turn his life around and took his first steps into fitness:

“I had no idea what I was doing and thought all I had to do to lose weight was to do a bit of cardio. I didn’t realize how important diet was, so I would still eat a lot of crap such as sweets, pizza and other kinds of junk food.”

Craig realized that a moderate amount of cardio with little change in diet is not enough to achieve serious results.

“I lost a little bit of weight but I still didn’t like the way I felt or looked, despite going to the gym for one hour of cardio every day,” he said.

So Craig started lifting weights and in around a year’s time he had, dropped from 42% body fat to just 12% at 154 pounds.

“Throughout doing the weights and going to the gym all these years, I have figured what works best for my body through experience and know what works for me and what doesn’t.”

Craig now works as a personal trainer. He has his eye on the competitive bodybuilding scene, with the ambition of taking the stage next year.

His diet now consists of a high frequency of low calorie meals – 6 per day that he organizes around his training.

“In order to lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit, so I like to keep calories as high as possible and do more activity throughout the day, such as cardio after my workouts, or simply moving around during the day rather than just sitting down.”

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