14 DAY TRIAL // Some people would rather die than gain a few pounds, while others can't seem to find in them the motivation they need to lose weight. Part-time personal trainer Drew Manning is somewhere in the middle, but his experiment will help him understand both sides.
Because he's never been anything but healthy and in incredible shape, Manning decided to start a very odd and dangerous experiment: for half a year, he'd get fat by doing exactly the opposite of what he's been doing for the rest of his life.
The other half of the year he dedicates to getting back in shape, as he explains in the video below, embedded at the end of the article.
He'd make sure to document his entire journey from fit to fat and back to fit again on his website, in a bid to help others in their struggle for a fitter, healthier body.
To get fat, Manning did what many of us are probably already doing: he started eating junk food and stopped working out.
He's now a few weeks from the first deadline, and he's already shot from 193lbs (87.5kg) to 263.3lbs (119.5kg), but he plans on packing even more weight until the fattening time is up.
Starting with the first days of November, Manning will begin his journey to his fit self of a few months ago: he'll come up with a healthy eating plan and will slowly start working out again.
Getting fat wasn't that bad, he makes it clear in some of his blog posts, but the lack of energy and low self-esteem are two of the most terrible downsides of the experience.
He's had days when he literally felt like crying and when he wanted but couldn't stop eating. Now, he knows firsthand how hard it is to break the cycle of unhealthy eating and get back on track – and he hopes he will have motivated his followers to do it with him.
“People that are overweight have to overcome both physical and emotional barriers when it comes to losing weight. I hope to have a better understanding of this through my experience over the next year,” he says.
