A MAN shared photos of his incredible 300 pound weight loss – and shed light on what slimming down actually looks like.
Cole Prochaska, from South Carolina, posted before and after pictures of his dramatic weight loss journey on Twitter over the weekend.
Cole Prochaska, from South Carolina, lost more than 336 pounds in less than two yearsTikTok/@3to1fitness
The post – which has since gone viral – shows Cole before he embarked on his journey next to current picture of him shirtless and flexing.
He captioned it: “Over 336lbs down! Most didn’t believe in me but I believed in myself.”
Cole shared that – despite his incredible transformation – he still felt self conscious about his body, as his dramatic weight loss had left his with loose skin around his torso and abdomen.
He showcased it in the post, writing: “It’s very hard to share a shirtless picture but I’ve come so far.”
About two years ago, Cole said he weighed almost 600 pounds and was “at the lowest point of [his] life”.
But he decided he “didn’t want to die young,” he wrote on Twitter, where he regularly shares updates on his fitness journey.
By hitting the gym regularly, Cole was able to lose a whopping 330 pounds.
He also started ‘eating right’ and walked at least 10,000 steps a day.
He now weighs roughly 224-226 pounds and plans to have body contouring surgery to remove the loose skin.
“I’m hoping I can get my insurance to pay for it. If not GoFundMe might be my next option,” Cole wrote.
His post was flooded with words of support and offers to help fund his skin removal surgery.
“I’d donate in a split second,” one Twitter user wrote.
But commenters were also quick to praise his courage in posting showcasing this excess skin.
“There is only pride in that shirtless pic,” one said.
“I am sure this is great inspiration for others who are in a similar situation,” another added.
One even said: “Absolutely inspirational! I’m struggling to lose 30 lbs but this makes me feel like I can get there too if I just keep at it!”
In the UK, excess skin removal is usually considered cosmetic and in most cases must be funded by patients themselves.
On its page about bariatric surgery and what patients might experience after it, Sheffield Teaching Hospital wrote that someone’s body mass index (BMI) needs to be 28 or below and maintained that way for one year to be considered for funding for skin removal surgery on the NHS.
Meanwhile, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust wrote that “funding for these procedures is not automatically available and must be approved by the Clinical Commissioning Group responsible for the area where the patients lives before they can be referred” to its plastic surgery team.