This Man Was Once 400 Lbs. and Incapable of Working — Now He’s a Personal Trainer

Luis Trigo once weighed 400 pounds. His body fat was at 65 percent. He lost his job as a warehouse manager because he couldn’t physically handle the work. His life consisted of self-pity, ridicule, and a daily intake of fast food and alcohol. Finally, he reached that nightmare of weight — closer to a quarter ton than any human being should be. Trigo was rushed to the hospital in 2011 with heart palpitations. It was the veritable wake-up call.

“When I was rushed to emergency care weighing 400lbs,” the Atlanta resident told the Sun newspaper, “it was a turning point for me.”

Before embarking on his body and health transformation, every day Trigo would typically go through mounds of fast food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, including pizza, fried chicken, double cheeseburgers, and, of course, soda. All of that packed him inside a 52-inch waist.

To transform into the man he is today required a great deal of effort and a change not only in his eating habits, but also in his thinking and attitude. To tackle fitness, Trigo took up weight training and HIIT (high-intensity interval training). “I gave up all fast food, and then I cut out processed carbs such as bread, pasta, and rice. I also quit sugar from nonfruit sources like soda and fruit juices.” He eventually adopted a ketogenic (high fat, low carb) diet.

Within a few months, Trigo lost much of his excess weight, but it took him a few more years to lose the final 45 pounds.

Now, some 245 pounds later, he spends his days as a personal trainer and has drawn a steady following on social media, where he often posts encouraging, honest messages like the following:

“On this long, grueling campaign towards fitness … I had quite a few moments I just wanted to be that 400lb guy, just throw in the towel, make an excuse, be the victim.

“Lonely … cutting myself from the outside world, physically and emotionally in pain due to holding onto my past. My mind told me to drink alcohol again to numb the thoughts, eat till I was stuffed to fall into a deep sleep. Man, it was tempting.

“But, that’s when the breakthroughs happened. That’s when shots at redemption arrived. That’s when I overcame and became stronger; when I kept moving forward.

“Just take that first step, message me if you have to.”

“I feel like I am already living the dream by personal training and making a difference in others’ lives every single day,” says Trigo.

Plenty of attention is paid to people who live in the spotlight and undergo massive weight loss — often with the benefit of high stakes, monetary rewards, or teams of professional motivators behind them. That’s why it’s refreshing to see regular people like Luis Trigo turn their lives around the way he did. Given where he started, and how he got to where he is today, we don’t think it’s a stretch to believe that anyone else can make the same change.

Read more from Yahoo Style + Beauty:

• Josh Bartosz Lost 141 Pounds: ‘Raising My Standards and Setting New Goals Keeps Me Motivated’

• Bride Who Lost 113 Lbs. on Instagram Before Her Wedding: ‘I Don’t Want to Sugarcoat My Journey’

• Mama June Talks Weight-Loss Surgery With Dr. Oz: ‘You Have to Put Work Into It’

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