A man shares what he ate in a day before and after losing 125 pounds and keeping it off

• In 2019, Chris Terrell started a weight loss journey that would see him lose 125 pounds.
• It took him 2 ½ years but he's maintained his weight for 1 ½ years.

In 2019, Chris Terrell started a weight loss journey that would see him losing 125 pounds over 2 ½ years. As he previously told Insider, he made small changes and gradually built up his healthy habits.

Terrell, 38, started by swimming for 20 minutes three times a week and only eating when he was hungry.

After struggling to lose weight for decades, he has maintained his weight for 1 ½ years.

Terrell told Insider how his diet has changed during his journey.

Indulgent foods are still part of his diet

Before, he would have indulgent treats and fast food every day, always ordering the largest portions available. He hasn't cut these foods out because he enjoys them, but now has them perhaps once a month, rather than every meal of every day.

"My normals have now become my special occasions," Terrell said.

Every day, Terrell went to McDonald's for breakfast and out for lunch with his colleagues. He regularly got take-out on the way home and enjoyed it with other snacks while playing video games until around 2 a.m., when he went to bed.

Terrell estimates he used to easily eat 4,000-5,000 calories a day.

Chris Terrell's pre-weight loss diet

• Breakfast: Two McDonald's Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit Breakfast Sandwiches, large latte
• Snack: Bag of chips
• Lunch: Five Guys Double Bacon Cheeseburger with Bacon and Cajun fries, plus large amounts of tomato ketchup
• Afternoon snacks: Starbucks Frappuccino or latte and whatever was in the office break room
• Dinner: Large Pizza Hut pizza
• Evening snacks: Popcorn, hot dogs, Cheez-Its, Wheat-Thins, Doritos

What Terrell ate depended on the lunchtime specials at nearby restaurants, so Wednesday might have been Five Guys, Monday could have been buffalo wings, and Thursday chicken fried steak.

"If these lunches were my big anchor meals, it would've been fine," Terrell said. "I don't think there's anything wrong with any of those meals. It's just I maximized breakfast, I maximized lunch, I maximized dinner, and I maximized evening snacking."

He also went to the movie theater at least once a week where he would get a large popcorn and liberally douse it in butter, eat some, then top it up with more butter: "Now I have learned that I was having anywhere between 2,000 and 3,000 calories of popcorn."

Decreasing portion sizes gradually

Terrell didn't give up his popcorn habit completely to lose weight. "Four times a year, I go gorge myself on popcorn, I still do that," he said. But he doesn't do it every time he goes to the theater, and he considers it his meal.

He also enjoys lighter, smaller bags of popcorn as snacks.

To lose weight, Terrell made really small changes. For example, he used to order two chicken sandwiches, four Polynesian sauce pots, and a side of chicken nuggets at Chick-Fil-A, before skipping the sauce, then one day the nuggets, too. A little later, he cut down to one chicken sandwich, fries, and one sauce, which then became just the sandwich and sauce.

"I just started slowly making little swaps," he said. Terrell would tell himself to get a small portion, but that he could go back for more if he was actually hungry. He rarely was, he said.

When Terrell moved out of his weight loss phase and transitioned to maintenance, he incorporated more, larger snacks into his diet to ensure he was eating enough to maintain his weight.

Terrell's weight loss diet

After losing weight, Terrell returned to calorie surplus to help him build muscle and then went back into a calorie deficit to lose some of the fat that comes with bulking, as it's known.

Terrell's diet in a calorie deficit is a far cry from what it was a few years ago before he lost weight. Instead of going to McDonald's every morning without thinking, he waits until he's hungry to eat.

• Breakfast: One to two packets of oatmeal with protein powder
• Snack (if hungry): Orange, Kind bar, or small serving of nuts
• Lunch: Grilled chicken sandwich
• Snacks: Orange, protein bar, granola bar, beef jerky, almonds, protein shake
• Dinner: Chicken teriyaki bowl with rice, beans, and vegetables
• Snacks: Small bag of popcorn, small candy bar, caramel rice cakes, or piece of chocolate

When it comes to his evening snack, Terrell doesn't worry about nutritional value and simply eats whatever he fancies, but a smaller portion than he used to, he said.