How This Guy Lost 60 Pounds and Shed His Dad Bod Without Going to the Gym

He followed one of the simplest diet plans possible. Like many guys, Ryan Bamford let himself go a bit after he and his wife had their first kid. "Over the span of a year or two, I creeped up to a max of 213 pounds," he says. That didn't make him terribly obese, but on his 5'7" frame, he was still noticeably out of shape.
Bamford points to his erratic diet—which often consisted of overindulging himself on buffet lunches and snacks—as the biggest contributor. "I was eating around 3,500 calories a day for a while," he says. "I also wasn't doing much physical activity at home, which didn't help," he admits
​Bamford, 26, who works in IT for the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning, says his turning point came when he had to replace his entire wardrobe—for the third time. "I was edging on size 40 pants," he says, adding that he now wears a size 28 or 30, for the sake of comparison.

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Before

To get things back on track, Bamford started to restrict how often he ate. For the first three or four months, that meant following a strict "OMAD"—one meal a day of roughly 1,200 calories—schedule of intermittent fasting. "I slowed that down and became less strict the closer I got to my goal," he says. He also gave up fast food and soda, though he says he does enjoy the occasional zero carb, zero calorie energy drink.
Unlike most people who lose weight fast, however, Bamford didn't dramatically alter his fitness routine—to this day, he still doesn't spend much time in the gym. Instead, his primary workout comes from skateboarding, which he does for at least an hour and a half a day.
"It's a really intense workout, both cardio and muscle building, depending on how you do it," he says. "I focus on a lot of flip tricks which involve tons of muscle movement, squatting, jumping, kicking, pushing, and so on. It really works out your core." In the span of a three-hour session at the skatepark, he says, he's burned more than 2,000 calories, according to his fitness tracker.

Over the span of about four months, Bamford lost close to 50 pounds. He's now nine months in and down to 147 pounds from his peak of 213—a 66-pound weight loss transformation. "I feel fantastic, I'm in the best physical shape of my life and I feel good about myself," he says. "I can also skate so much better with less weight holding me down."

Bamford's next goal is to start weight training—he has his eye on developing a six-pack for once. But for now, he's taking it slow for a change. "Going into a caloric deficit and losing weight requires some fundamental lifestyle changes, but once you've reached your goals, you can afford to let up on the gas a little," he says.
That said, there's also nothing wrong with going at your own pace, he says. "Start slow if you need to, cut out some calories here and there, and work your way up to cutting out more," he says. "Find something that motivates you and focus on how good you'll feel once you've reached your goals. It's all worth it in the end."

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