What happens when a young, hard working dad consumes a big portion of the great American life?
Initially, he could have been a poster boy in the billion dollar advertising industry of fast food and beer. Picture him having fun. He’s working hard and playing hard. Of course, he’s always relaxing after work with a drink in hand.
Along the way, he partners up with a pretty girlfriend and off he goes, living the dream.
Except. He gets addicted.
Processed food is dealt on every corner.
The fast life includes cheap food everywhere, all the time. Fatty, all-American burgers, loaded meaty pizzas, sugary dairy desserts and salty fried snacks.
Jimmy Arbuckle of Pennsylvania became one of those addicted guys. It happens to the best of us. It happens to millions of unsuspecting people who are simply consuming convenience. Three meals a day of highly processed foods becomes the norm. The fatigue, aches and ailments creep in. Liquid inebriants help, but only temporarily.
It was all life for Jimmy.
Until one night after work, the chest pains came. They were bad.
He was 31 years old in January of 2021.
He put his beer down and thought through the pain.
He summed up what his lifestyle had served him so far.
“That’s enough. I’ve been having trouble tying my shoes, I’ve been having trouble walking because I’m so big,” he recalled in a personal video to start recording his comeback.
He weighed 367. That was January 9, 2021.
Perhaps unlike many people in a similar predicament, he drastically changed everything that day. No slow going for this guy.
Jimmy Arbuckle became a living success story, vowing to be a motivational force to others.
Quitting something outright is often called going cold turkey but in his case he quit turkey too.
He delved into research on nutrition, and discovered a scientific ecosystem that demonstrated exactly how a whole food plant based diet could reverse much of what ails us, including the scale.
It made sense to him on many levels. A reset, an unprocessing of life sounded good.
He went online and found plant based doctors. Like Dr. Michael Greger, author of books with titles like How Not To Die and publisher of NutritionFacts.org. He found the other whole food heavyweights (skinnyweights?) who taught the value of good carbs and starches, and the downfall of animal protein…or how we’ve become Proteinaholics. He watched documentaries like Forks Over Knives with case studies. He joined social networks of like minded fans and tuned into their success stories.
For him, all highly processed foods and animal products were off the plate.
It made more sense to turn to plants instead of prescriptions. He replaced all meat and dairy with a whole food plant based diet.
Admitting that he wasn’t much of a cook was not an excuse. He said he could open cans and eat fruit. Plus, he had his partner Chelsea, a supportive and talented cook. She was open to creating meals that fit into the plan.
Texas TriTips and T-Bones were replaced with heaping piles of Texas caviar. Potatoes didn’t need to soak up the fat of a deep fryer. He went for nutritionally dense foods. In other words, your basic list of grains, fruits and vegetables.
The revamped fast food bags came from the freezer: they were the bags of vegetables topped with plenty of seasoning.
The pantry was stocked full of beans and rice.
He replaced alcohol with water. For his birthday he joked on social media that he was doing shots… of water.
The side benefits are numerous, starting with an extreme uptick of energy.
And cash.
He agrees that a lifestyle of water, beans, rice and vegetables is easier on the body and the wallet.
“I don’t need to pick up as many extra shifts on the weekends.”
And, while losing weight he gained his health back.
To be more specific:
- Thirty days into it he had lost 42 pounds.
- After ninety days eating plant based, he was down 88 pounds.
- His blood pressure, which had been around 180/100 dropped into the healthy range of 111/74.
- His blood sugar fell into normal ranges.
- He walks consistently, posting nearly 100 miles in February.
- He’s no longer pre-diabetic after 90 days.
- He “feels amazing”.
When you feel amazing, you can’t help but want to see others experience the same thing. It’s clear Jimmy’s got motivation on his mind. He shares success tips and motivational posts on Facebook with a twist of personality.
“Yesterday was the first time I fit into a 2x shirt. I was 5x in December. I’m buying a speedo for vacation in July.”
“I found my neck!”
Thanks for the inspiration Jimmy.
We’ll provide updates and photos throughout the year. Maybe even a beach picture in that speedo. Maybe.
