When Joel Reed was 19, he weighed in at 467 lbs.
Now 23, he has shed an astounding 230 lbs. through diet and exercise.
Joel said: “For the longest time, I thought I was just the fat kid or the fat guy – and that’s just how it was going to be.
“I never thought I was going to lose the weight.”
Watch the video of this inspiring man below.
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Joel avoided dating when he was big out of fear of rejection. But losing all that weight has gained him more confidence and managed to find love with Katlin.
Joel said: “I was always so scared to make a move; I didn’t date when I was heavier.”
But when he lost weight, Joel said: “I was surer of myself, prouder of myself and more likely to put myself out there.”
Joel had always been bigger than kids his age. He bought clothes at the men’s section so that he could find something that fit.
Of his childhood, Joel said: “I would definitely say that the weight had an effect on my happiness – I always put on a front, like I was the happy kid.”
Two family tragedies drove him to eat in order to find comfort.
“When I was 10 years old, my dad had a stroke and unfortunately, he passed away from that.
“I was very shocked at the time; death was never something I thought about.”
His mother followed five years later following a 7-year battle with cancer.
“I didn’t want to ask for help. I didn’t want to talk about how I was feeling – I just wanted to deal with it myself and so I started eating for comfort.”
Joel found comfort in snacks, pizzas, sodas, and eat-all-you-can buffets.
“I’d snack all day, play video games all day and then wake up the next day and do it all again.”
“To say I was unhealthy at my heaviest would be the understatement of the century,” Joel added.
Joel moved from Texas to North Carolina when he was orphaned in order to stay with his aunt and uncle. That started Joel on the journey that would drastically alter his life.
“I knew I had a history of heart attacks, a family history of strokes, diabetes, high blood pressure – basically, the cards were stacked against me.”
Before moving, his aunt advised him to have a check-up with a doctor.
“I weighed in at 467lbs at 19 years old – that kind of blew my mind when I saw that. Something had to change.”
Joel started slowly, at first taking walks before progressing to working out at the gym where he was also working at.
This is when he discovered his love of power-lifting.
Not only is Joel trying to get stronger, but he’s also becoming more technical with his lifts.
“I love competing, I’m a very competitive person.”
On December 2018, Joel met Katlin Casanova online.
“We met in person and sparks flew, we’ve been happy ever since,” Joel said.
The 26-year-old Katlin also had a weight-loss transformation of her own, starting at 400 lbs. but losing 250 lbs. ever since.
Joel said: “We really had that to bond over, which was great.”
“Joel motivates me to keep fit – he’s even trying to get me to become a power lifter,” Katlin added.
Like all who lost a huge amount of weight, Joel has a lot of excess skin. But being with Katlin has given him the confidence and assurance to accept it.
“When you’re very big, your body adds a lot of fat and your skin is going to stretch with that. Once you lose the weight and you start to shrink back, unfortunately, the skin does not shrink with it.”
Although the excess skin bothers him sometimes, in the end he sees it as a mark of achievement.
“This is a better body than I had before, I’ve lost the weight and it’s something I’m really proud of now.
“It’s almost a trophy.”
“Joel’s skin definitely doesn’t bother me; we are pretty open when we are together,” Katlin said.
Joel added, “We have moved from measuring our progress on the scale to measuring our progress by the quality of life.
“Losing the weight has definitely freed me up with what I can do and quality of life and my options for life.”
Replaced!