My Tinder match made a fat joke that ‘stung like a dagger’ — but I got the best kind of revenge

David Landsel
·5 min read
brody balinski weight loss
Brody Balinski, a tech consultant from Miami, used a hurtful interaction on Tinder as motivation to lose 100 lbs. and start a new life.

He’s living well.

A cruel remark from a Tinder match motivated a Miami man to lose a whopping 117 pounds and change his life for the better.

Brody Balinski, 29, was tipping the scales at 271 lbs. and struggling to button his size 42’s when he crossed paths online with an unlikely source of thinspiration.

Balinski went from struggling into a size 42 waist to slipping into size 28s in less than a year, he said. Brody Balinski / SWNS
Balinski went from struggling into a size 42 waist to slipping into size 28s in less than a year, he said. Brody Balinski / SWNS

“We’re just exchanging text messages [one day], keeping it very casual,” the tech consultant recalled. “It’s a couple hours into the work day.”

Balinski had been trying to give his newfound friend some motivation, he told South West News Service.

“I text her and she says that she’s still in bed, and my response was ‘OK — time to get up and get motivated!'” he recalled.

“And her response to me was ‘that means a lot coming from someone with a 34 BMI’.”

He says the comment “stung like a dagger through the heart.”

The 29-year-old was practically living on takeout meals, often ordering from two restaurants every evening. Brody Balinski
The 29-year-old was practically living on takeout meals, often ordering from two restaurants every evening. Brody Balinski

“I don’t know why that [comment] hit. I was just like ‘I have to make a change as a result of this’.” he said.

Balinski never replied to the comment and never spoke with his catty critic again — devoting his energies instead to losing more than 100 pounds in 10 months, and working on getting a ripped physique.

Now down to 180 lbs., says he’s overwhelmed by attention from women and is with the girl of his dreams — the type he “would have always wanted.”

After ten months of eating healthy and establishing an exercise routine, the pounds began to fly off. Brody Balinski
After ten months of eating healthy and establishing an exercise routine, the pounds began to fly off. Brody Balinski

To reach his goal, Balinski switched to a strict Keto diet — high fat, moderate protein, low in carbs.

“I was putting butter in my coffee in the morning,” he said. “I was cooking bacon for breakfast and then I would save the bacon grease from the tray and use it like a dressing on salads.

“Every single day of that diet when I would get sugar cravings or when I would pass the snack aisle in the grocery store, I just thought of that message on replay,” he recalled.

A Keto diet turned out to be the key for Balinski. Brody Balinski
A Keto diet turned out to be the key for Balinski. Brody Balinski

“How deep it hurt.”

In the past, he’d been ordering in from multiple restaurants many evenings. Now, he was eating chicken breast with salad for dinner.

After losing the weight, he started exercising, walking then running, up to four miles per morning. After that first ten months, he was down to a size 28 waist.

“It was quite the journey, but it didn’t even like feel that difficult to be honest,” he said.

“It was quite the journey, but it didn’t even like feel that difficult to be honest,” he said. Brody Balinski
“It was quite the journey, but it didn’t even like feel that difficult to be honest,” he said. Brody Balinski

“There was a lot of motivation behind it.”

Now, Balinski says he’s got way more confidence, and a sense of self-worth he was missing before.

“The default self-perception I had was that most women found me disgusting,” he confessed.

Brody’s Before Diet

  • Breakfast – A couple of slices of bread, a muffin and a pastry

  • Lunch – Large pizza/Indian takeout

  • Dinner – Two takeout meals: pizza or Indian food or pancakes, two eggs, sausages, hash brown and toast

  • Snacks – Biscotti, breakfast biscuits, chips, candy, Nature Valley bars

  • Drinks – 12 pack of beer

Brody’s After Diet

  • Breakfast – Oatmeal with sugar free sweetener, high-protein low fat yogurt

  • Lunch – Bowl of rice, beans, chicken breast, guacamole

  • Dinner – 6 oz. chicken breast, mixed vegetables including brussels sprouts, red and yellow peppers and mushrooms, broccoli, dessert of mixed fruit: strawberries, mangoes and blueberries

  • Snacks – Protein shake with mixed fruit: strawberries, mango and blueberries

  • Drinks – Sparkling water

The exercise regime

  • One to one-and-a-half hours of exercise every day.

  • Mon/Wed/Fri: Upper body including biceps, triceps and chest.

  • Tue/Thu/Sat: Lower body including legs.

  • Sun: Pure cardio to burn as many calories as possible.

“And so I kind of based all my interactions on that assumption that there wasn’t much flirtation coming from my end of things because it was just an assumption that ‘OK, this person is not going to be interested in me at all’,” he said.

He doesn’t feel that way now.

“There’s an element of higher self confidence, or self esteem. There’s a game to flirting, a little back and forth,” he said.

Balinski said he has more self confidence and a heightened feeling of self worth after his experience. Brody Balinski
Balinski said he has more self confidence and a heightened feeling of self worth after his experience. Brody Balinski

“And I can kind of play that game a little more, just because of that self confidence.”

Balinski has been enjoying a new relationship for the last couple of months.

“She’s very athletic and was probably out of my reach those years ago”, he said.

And as for the cruel commenter, he never heard from her again. But he knows what he’d say to her, if they crossed paths.

“If I was going to talk to her, I would actually say thank you to her now,” he said.

“What she said to me was exactly what I needed to hear.”