Man is unrecognizable after losing 285 pounds in incredible weight loss transformation

Everyone gives in to food cravings once in a while, or maybe more often for others, for many different reasons. With that, there are many reasons and motivations to lose weight as well.

For Dustin Silas Brown of Chicago, it was to make his father proud and to get his health back.

But as someone who had always struggled with weight problems and who had always been the ‘fat kid’, Dustin knew that it was going to be a long, hard, and painful journey.

There was a point when he weighed as much as 475 pounds. He ate whenever he needed comfort from his anxiety and depression. Despite being aware of his unhealthy relationship with food, food was also Dustin’s escape.

But because of a promise he made to his father before he passed, Dustin finally made the decision to lose weight.

Between 2006 and 2009, Dustin lost a total of 250 pounds. With this weight loss transformation, Dustin went down to 217 pounds. He used the pain and grief of his dad’s death in 2004 to motivate him to shed the pounds and lead a healthier lifestyle.

But despite this massive weight loss, he slowly gained the pounds back over the years. According to Dustin, he got so heavy that he started having walking problems. His legs couldn’t support him anymore. It even got to a point where he had to ride a scooter to move around.

Admittedly, he knew that over-exercising and over-restricting his diet wasn’t a healthy and sustainable way to lose the pounds for good.

In December 2016, Dustin made a visit to a doctor for a sleep study. When it was time to get his weight―something that he never did at home―his weight didn’t register on the scale. The staff had to bring in another scale that could calculate his weight.

And that’s when Dustin found out that he weighed 415 pounds. In January 2017, he began another weight loss journey. This time, he promised to “do it right and in a sustainable way”.

With all the lessons learned from his earlier weight loss transformation, and having forgiven himself for getting back to that position, Dustin realized that weight loss is only a math equation, and that the real struggle will happen mentally.

Amazingly, Dustin lost weight all on his own. There were no weight loss or diet medications and surgeries. But what was different this time was he did things that he hadn’t tried before. 

For instance, Dustin took up boxing. Although it was hard at first, he got into the swing of it the more pounds he lost. It was slow going in the beginning. But as time passed, Dustin could stand up, sit back down, and hit more for longer periods.

He also began walking, running, kayaking, and other activities he couldn’t do before. Dustin realized that doing these things didn’t have to feel like exercise, too.

He danced frequently in his kitchen, something that he really enjoyed. For Dustin, it’s important to like what you’re doing, because how else can you keep doing it if you hate doing it?

More importantly, Dustin wasn’t in a hurry to lose weight.  Another valuable lesson he learned was when you shed the pounds slowly, they’re likely to stay off.

Part of Dustin’s weight loss transformation is forgiving himself every day. If you keep looking at your past mistakes, there’s no way you can move forward.

Since 2017, Dustin has lost 285 pounds. And his incredible weight loss transformation has also gone viral on social media.

His TikTok account, @losetogain3, has over 440,000 followers and 12.5 million likes. He hopes to inspire and uplift people in this supportive online community who are struggling to lead healthier lives and are facing the same challenges he did back then.

Dustin now weighs 190 pounds. He no longer suffers from high cholesterol, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and diabetes.

Watch Dustin’s inspiring video below and follow him on TikTok.