Your Recipe For Weight Loss Success: Passion: MensHealth.com

Robert Blair nearly died on the ski slopes.

 

Buried in backcountry snow and separated from his snowboard, the 32-year-old Seattle man struggled to dig himself from beneath piles of powder. The effort nearly gave the 312-pound man a heart attack.

 

Not this year. The man who hit the slopes at 8 a.m. only to head home, exhausted, by lunch, is doing what he loves carrying 59 fewer pounds. He credits cardio and Belly Off! with his success—and his excitement.

 

“I’m excited to go snowboarding now because [before] I used to get winded pretty easy—I’d have to stop a lot on the slopes,” he says. “Now I have a feeling … I’ll be able to make it down runs without even breaking a sweat.”

 

He used to hate cardio, but knew it was crucial to dropping the pounds that were getting in the way of his life. He began incorporating 20 to 40 minutes of cardio 5 times a week ever since beginning his weight-loss crusade in November. He drastically cut his portions at the same time—first with Weight Watchers, then by following an abridged version of the Belly Off! diet.

 

He joined the program in May, adding three weekly workouts to his cardio regimen and and dropped from 312 pounds to 253 pounds.

Prepare for your own season of a lifetime: When you’re playing or training for an activity you love, workouts don’t feel like work.

 

“Take a guy who loves basketball—that guy will kill himself out there, but never will he say he’s not having fun,” says Belly Off! trainer David Jack.  “You’re getting layers of value getting involved with something that sets you free—also getting a good fitness workout out of it.”

 

And, of course, the resulting weight loss will improve your on-field performance.

 

“Put on a 20 or 30 pound vest and walk around—just keep it on for an hour, take it off, and it’s tremendous the difference you will feel when that vest comes off,” he says. “When you trade body fat which can’t produce energy and is a burden we have to carry with us with lean muscle which can produce energy and force and strength, you’ve made an unbelievable exchange.”

 

Blair’s seen that energy not just on the slopes, but at work—where he’s more productive—and with his wife, where his relationship’s fresh and new.

 

“I’m me, but better,” he says. “I’m like the 2.0 version of myself.”

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