Man Loses Over 300 Pounds With the ‘Walmart Diet’
At twenty eight years of age, Pasquale “Pat” Brocco weighed over six hundred pounds. Living with the label ‘Fat Pat’ for most of his adult life, Pat was told by his doctor in no uncertain terms- his high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels were reaching fatal levels, and if he didn’t take immediate action he was in serious danger of suffering from a major stroke and possibly even death. Spurred to action by the threat of impending heart failure, Pat decided to take control of his life and his weight.
After returning home from receiving news of his dire health situation Pat, then 28, took a picture of himself in the mirror. “I was disgusted”, Pat informed ABC news. “My stomach was down to my thighs. My chest was hanging down here.” Having recently become a father, Pat was compelled to improve his health for the sake of his family. Aware that he urgently needed to lose weight but too large to even use the machines at the gym, Pat resolved to walk to his local Walmart each time he was hungry.
Pat’s local Walmart in Avondale, Arizona is a little over one mile from his home. Pat developed a regular routine in which for every meal he would walk to Walmart, purchase his mead, and walk home. Using this routine Pat covered six miles a day, which at first was extremely difficult for his large frame. Pat explained that he’d never walked six miles before in his life before beginning his unconventional fitness routine. Low impact cardio has a cumulative, beneficial effect on the human body, and after two years and four thousand miles, Pat had dropped over 200 pounds in weight.
How Did He Lose Weight?
The key factor in his drastic weight change, stated Pat, was changing his eating habits. Previously eating only high sugar and sodium foods rich in saturated fats, Pat made a conscious effort to clean up his diet and focused on eating only vegetables, lean meat, sweet potatoes, quinoa, leafy greens and steel-cut oats, and did away with junk foods and fast food entirely. Pat was was also subject to a crash course in dietary regulation- “Once I figured out dairy was my downfall,” stated Pat, “ I took it out of my diet, and instantly I started losing weight again.”
Once Pat had reached 400 pounds, he began to incorporate weight lifting, resistance training, and treadmill running into his fitness regime. Soon, Pat was able to use the machines and equipment at the gym he was previously unable to work with effectively, and his fitness gains skyrocketed. Pat developed a hardcore cardio routine to burn fat quickly and effectively, consisting of a combination of deadlifts, squats, power cleans, sprints, crunches, pushups and dumbbell rows to build muscle while annihilating fatty deposits.
Whats Next For Pat?
Pat lost so much weight that he began to suffer from large amounts of loose skin, a common occurrence in previously larger individuals that lose huge amounts of weight. Originally quoted $42,000 USD for surgery to remove the skin, Pat’s doctor offered to discount the surgery to $25,000 USD after becoming moved by Pat’s inspiring story. Pat reached out to the internet community via popular crowdfunding app GoFundMe to assist him with the costs of the surgery, stating that anything is possible with hard work dedication and consistency, and that individuals that want to lose weight and lead healthier lives don’t need surgery, starve themselves or take magic pills to achieve results.
Advised by specialists and doctors to take drastic surgical action such as gastric bypass surgery, Possible Pat made the decision to earn his health through hard work and dedication and share his struggle with thousands online, who connected to his discipline and collectively helped him reach his GoFundMe goal and complete the surgical procedure to remove his excess skin. Pat had over 30lbs of excess skin removed with drastic improvements in his appearance and self confidence.
Pat soon began to post his progress online via social media sites such as Facebook and his instagram account, and quickly began an inspiration to millions of people worldwide as they tracked his dedication and progress. Previously known as ‘Fat Pat’, Pat now labels himself ‘Possible Pat’. “I’m setting an example for my son so he can be Possible Pat too” stated Pat when explaining that the inspiration and motivation for his weight loss campaign has always been his son.
Possible Pat now has almost 100,000 followers on instagram and continues to share his inspiring fitness story with the world. Now with goals such as reaching 280 pounds at 11%, body fat, Pat has lost 325lbs, beaten obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure, and now shares his experience with his fans online, offering to help with recipes, meal plans workouts and motivation to help others as he helped himself.
Possible Pat has demonstrated to the world that every epic journey starts with a single step- even if it’s only in the direction of the local Walmart.
