Matthew Rivera couldn’t find relief in anything after he went through a family crisis.
The resulting depression caused him to indulge in overeating and before long, he was weighing 487lbs.
However, he took control of his life once again and lost almost half his body weight. Find more of Matthew’s story in the video below.
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Video credit: Rumble
Due to his unhealthy escape from the worries in life, the now 27-year-old started gaining weight even when he was a student at high school.
“My parents got separated when I was 12, around seventh grade,” Mathew told Barcroft TV.
“Shortly after they got divorced, I slowly started to lose contact with my dad. And since I didn’t really want to talk about it, I started to get sad.
“I just isolated myself, and I didn’t really have anyone to hang out with much, so something that would make me feel good was food, and I would always gravitate to food.”
Mathew gained 487lbs in a few years, and that’s not hard to believe as he claimed he could easily take 8000 calories per meal.
He said: “I started overeating. I easily ate about 8,000 calories. I really didn’t care for food as far as investing time into it. I never cooked, I never prepared anything.
“It was really easy for me to just ignore everything and just focus on eating because it was so easy, it tastes good, so it made me feel good.
“Food was my only escape.”
Though Mathew loved the escape in the form of eating, he wasn’t unaware of the fact that it could create even bigger problems.
Speaking of the effects of his unlikely weight on his daily life, Mathew said he wasn’t even able to sit comfortably in a car. His weight which was a constant burden on him also caused him back pain and other issues.
He even faced social isolation as he started avoiding family and friends because of his badly kept appearance.
“It started to affect my relationship with my family, especially with my mom. I couldn’t answer phone calls from her, I wouldn’t respond to texts from her, and I got to a point that one time I moved out of the house,” he said.
A family relative of Mathew, Rafael Medina revealed how worried the family was for the obese.
“I remember we used to be really worried about Mathew and his weight gain back in the days,” said Rafael. “He kind of isolated himself from the family and he would just keep to himself.
“We were pretty concerned about him for quite some time.”
Thankfully, there came a point in Mathew’s life when he decided to earn what he had lost. After realizing that he can still lose weight, Mathew started doing tireless exercises alongside following a diet plan.
“I just started walking. And little by little, I started to progress to more intense workouts,” said the 27-year-old.
“Once I started to lose weight, saw some results, I was like: ‘Damn, I could do this!’ I made my own program and started to watch what I ate and I made a regular workout routine, and I just stuck to that.”
After Mathew stepped in his weight loss journey with full determination, it took him no more than two years to shed 242lbs.
Speaking of his amazing transformation from 487lbs to 245lbs, he said: “It really helps me to be precise so I like to measure everything.
“I like to count calories. I’m not very strict on what I don’t and do, but one thing I try to keep away from is dairy because I like how I feel off of dairy.
“On a daily basis, I like to rely on shakes, something quick and very convenient. Sticking to stuff that’s very easy and quick to do really helps me stay consistent.”
Mathew’s life is now improving as his relations with his family and friends have started to strengthen again.
He said: “When I started to lose the weight, I started to share it with my family. It really helped me out mentally because they started to see I was doing better for myself.
“It really helped me gaining confidence and I was able to reconnect with all my family.”
Mathew has still much to do as he’s left with drooping skin after all those exercises. He is now opting for surgery to get excess skin removed from the body.
He said: “Hopefully by sharing my story and my journey with others, it might inspire others to push themselves.”
Replaced!