Transformations Series: John Glaude

At the beginning of 2013, 20-year-old John Glaude weighed 360 pounds and significantly lacked self-confidence, but he would make a conscious decision to lose weight and stick to a plan. Within two years, the El Cajon, California native never expected to lose 170 pounds or become a viral sensation for his weight loss efforts, though he's done both. In our latest edition of our Transformations Series, we'll be highlighting John Glaude's inspiring battle against weight and self-confidence issues. Best known for his Youtube channel, ObesetoBeast, and the viral video seen below, John's self-perception has improved drastically over the past two years through exercise and meal management. Over the course of the past two years, John stuck to a vigorous diet and exercise schedule, dropping to under 200 pounds. In November of 2014, at 22 years old, John felt comfortable enough to go on camera shirtless and share his biggest insecurity: his skin. While John felt somewhat apprehensive about posting the video, he set out to inspire others to feel comfortable with how they look. However, in the end, it was his own confidence that would get a major boost from the video. "In the video, I talked about how I was comfortable in my skin and it was the first time I've ever meant it," Glaude said. "People tell me this video helped them out, but they don't realize how much the video helped me out. It was like therapy for me." However, John wasn't always so comfortable with his body image. At a young age, John was bed-ridden for weeks after having a hernia removed and put on significant weight. The weight would stay with him throughout grade school, and John's confidence was often challenged. After receiving the nickname "Cupcake" in high school, John wore the name so others couldn't use it as an insult. "When you're in high school and you want to fit in, you make fun of yourself. It was a defense mechanism for me," Glaude said. "But the thing is, when you're doing that on a daily basis, you start to believe what you're saying." John's weight issues would continue throughout high school and his remaining teenage years. However, John said "something clicked" upon watching Miami Ink, one of his favorite shows, in early 2013. As a tattoo enthusiast, John decided that he wanted to feel comfortable having tattoos on his body outside of his forearms, and found the inspiration to lose weight. "In my head, I realized that losing weight is possible but it's up to only me to do it," Glaude said. "It clicked when I was watching the show that I am the person that had put this weight on and was the only one that could lose it." Though John couldn't afford a gym membership at the time, he began his transformation by drastically changing his diet. Through countless hours of research on nutrition and healthy eating, John would start counting his calories and macronutrients (proteins, fats, and carbohydrates). Over the course of the next few months, John lost 20 or 30 pounds from changing his eating habits alone. "I had no extra cash to afford a gym membership, but it was almost a blessing in disguise," Glaude said. "Changing my diet first helped me realize that what I eat is so much more important than how many calories I burn at the gym." Eventually, John found the budget to get in the gym, though his knowledge of exercise was limited. Apprehensive at first to do anything but cardio, John spent his spare time researching fitness techniques and expanded his workout regiment as he became more comfortable in the gym. John stuck to a strict exercise schedule and an even stricter diet, and began to notice significant progress in his weight loss. After meeting a friend at his gym who was very active on Youtube and social media, John considered starting a social media presence of his own. Eventually, John launched Instagram and Youtube accounts to share his progress, finding encouragement from the online community as he shed weight. After dropping more than 150 pounds in less than two years, he was constantly asked about his skin and decided to share his biggest insecurity on the internet for all to see. "The loose skin was something that I wanted to share from the get-go on Youtube," Glaude said. "It was a question that people were always asking on social media and Instagram and something that I was trying to become comfortable with." John said he never expected for the movie to go viral, though it quickly made it to the front page of Reddit and would eventually earn John a guest appearance on The Ellen Show. The video's widespread popularity never fazed John, however. "Don't let loose skin stop you from losing weight, because loose skin is so much better than everything else I used to deal with," Glaude said. "I was just trying to show them that it's not the end of the world if you have (loose skin)." Today, John weighs in at 190 pounds and says his confidence has never been higher. Holding himself to a strict fitness regiment, John is in the gym on a daily basis and uses both a 6 Pack Fitness Expert Beast Duffle and an Elite Voyager Backpack to help maintain his diet. While John intends to continue exercising and eating healthy on his own, he's even more passionate about inspiring others to do the same. "I can't explain how good it is to feel like I've found something that I want to do for the rest of my life," Glaude said. "I want to help people with this. I want to show people that losing weight is possible, whatever their situation might be." To keep up with John's inspirational story, check out his Youtube channel, ObesetoBeast, where he regularly updates his fitness progress. As always, be sure to check out the 6 Pack Fitness blog for more fantastic stories in our Transformations Series. *Images courtesy of the ObeseToBeast Facebook page and John's Instagram account: obese_to_beast