Ben Bloom Wanted To Be Taken Seriously And Lost 120 Pounds

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Health and Fitness - The Huffington Post




Ben Bloom Wanted To Be Taken Seriously And Lost 120 Pounds



Got a success story of your own? Send it to us at success.stories@huffingtonpost.com and you could be featured in our I Lost Weight series!







Name: Ben Bloom



Age: 25



Height: 6'2"



Before Weight: 310 pounds







How I Gained It: I grew up with a complete disregard for physical activity, employing any excuse I could to avoid gym class. I was most comfortable sitting around playing video games as a kid. My diet was horrible as well: I drank bottles of iced tea and soda and snacked on junk food every day. Favorites included anything deep fried or made entirely of sugar. I was fat my entire childhood, and things only continued to get worse as a teenager. I was often the butt of jokes and rude comments. The people who weren't rude to me didn't take me seriously.







Breaking Point: At age 17 I went for a physical to get my driver's license. I stepped on the scale reluctantly, revealing my weight to be over 300 pounds. After some blood work, the doctor revealed that I had high blood pressure and that diabetes was looming. This wasn't my main motivation though. The mirror was. I looked at myself, horrified. "Who is ever going to take me seriously?” I thought. "How am I ever going to get a girlfriend?"







How I Lost It: I began lifting weights in high school and never stopped. It took me a few years to learn what I was doing, but I never quit. Every single exercise was something completely new to me. I had some great mentors at my high school, kids who already knew what they were doing and a couple of really cool coaches who took me under their wing.







I lost around 130 pounds the first year and a half of lifting. My senior year of college, I decided to get more productive academically and physically and really learned how my body works. As I took more of an interest in weightlifting, I began teaching myself about nutrition. I've been training heavily and keeping my diet in check, allowing me to make more great progress adding muscle while staying lean. Now, after much trial and error, I follow a very bodybuilding-centered lifestyle, hitting every muscle group and following a strict diet of meats, veggies, fruit, eggs and nuts, with carbs only to fuel workouts, not for indulgence. The key to transforming your physique is to transform your lifestyle. There is no other way.







Everything has turned around 180 degrees. I've achieved a build that is well above that of the average Joe walking around the streets. I'm a pretty big dude, and with that comes automatic respect from strangers. Before, I would get harassed for being fat. Now, I'm often asked, "What sport do you play?" or "How often do you hit the gym?" It's a really nice contrast to be respected rather than ridiculed.







After Weight: 190 pounds



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The Huffington Post publishes photographs as they are submitted to us by our readers.







Check out more of our inspiring weight loss stories below:









HuffPost Workouts: Songs (Literally) About Running



It doesn't matter if you're looking for fast beats, thumping base or inspiring lyrics, motivational tunes can be found in just about any musical genre.







But sometimes, we just might find ourselves looking for a more literal uplift. The next time you find yourself needing someone to just tell you to get out there and run already or some extra oomph to help get you up and over that next hill, hit play on the songs about running below.















Running Up That Hill -- Chromatics



Run Boy Run -- Woodkid



Running -- No Doubt



We Come Running (Tiesto Remix) -- Youngblood Hawke



Runnin' Down A Dream -- Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers



Born to Run -- Bruce Springsteen



Every Chance We Get We Run -- David Guetta feat. Tegan & Sara



Run Like Hell -- Pink Floyd



You Better Run -- Pat Benatar



Run The World (Girls) -- Beyoncé










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