It’s getting to that point in the year when everybody is starting to realise they need to get their summer bodies real quick.
For some of us it’s too late, but for Jeffrey Kendall, he’s been working on himself for some time, and people on Reddit are absolutely blown away.
The 26-year-old posted a series of before and after selfies, highlighting his 70 pound weight loss, and people are comparing him to Prince Adam from Beauty and the Beast.
In threads online, people couldn’t help but make the comparison – something he wholeheartedly embraces.
Yet things weren’t always as easy for Jeffrey – two years ago he was overweight, unemployed and ‘extremely depressed’. He was living at home with his mother in Connecticut so he could look after her, following a traumatic brain injury.
Speaking to Best Life, he said:
My mother was being released from rehab hospitals back to her home after seven months away; she wasn’t better but she had plateaued and that’s where the insurance ends.
Looking at myself at the time, I was in a long-running battle with self-image and depression.
Things changed when one of his friends asked him to go to the gym with him after splitting up with a girlfriend. Jerry agreed, and things changed from there.
Jeffrey said:
It started off small. We met up and did some light workouts with a 45-pound barbell and made an agreement to do push-ups every day.
Soon I started waking up and starting my day with a walk in the sun, listening to The Beatles or some sort of music that lifts the soul or adds a little strut to my step.
I’d then head home and help with my mom, then later in the night, I started doing yoga!
On YouTube, Jeffrey found a lot of work-out inspiration and tutorials, including HIIT exercises and started adding these to his routine.
Yet he said his biggest changes were to his diet, which in his mind, is the most important change you have to make, in order to lose weight.
He wasn’t strict about his diet, though, he’d just try to monitor his calories and live in moderation.
He continued:
It feels good to see rewards from what’s been years of work, really.
I’ve had long-running battles with confidence and self-worth and these things don’t magically go away, but I feel like I can at least hold my head up and be equal to the person across from me.
All-in-all it’s been a little over two years since I was tired of being sad in my bed, wondering if it was possible to ever be who I wanted to be. Now I’ve found I was that person all along.
To showcase the positive message of finding his best self, Jeffrey posted on Reddit with some before and after pics with the caption: ‘I’ve lost a lot of weight, a lot of sadness, and a little facial hair. I’ve gained a whole new appreciation for life. Remember to always love yourself.’
