Science- Bryan O'Keeffe lost 137 pounds in the space of seven months by moving to a remote village.
- O'Keeffe told Insider he learned three main fat loss lessons.
Bryan O'Keeffe lost 137 pounds in the space of seven months in 2022, as Insider previously reported, after over a decade of trying different diets and fitness fads that never worked.
He took a drastic approach — disappearing to a remote Spanish village, quitting his job, and cutting off all contact with his family — but he did it, albeit quicker than is advisable for others with a modest amount of weight to lose.
In a TikTok video showing him surprising loved ones after returning home from isolating himself for seven months, he said he decided to focus on being mentally resilient and building discipline rather than the number on the scales.
O'Keeffe told Insider he learned three main lessons that were key to him losing weight successfully.
@the.okeeffe #weightloss #discipline #transformation ♬ Happy Up Beat (Medium) - TimTaj
Analyze your previous attempts
O'Keeffe said his past weight loss journeys were "always one step forward, two steps back."
Last year, however, he stopped to analyze what had triggered him to give up and go back to his old ways.
"My triggers were food delivery and nights out with my family and friends," O'Keeffe said. "My answer to this? Building a bubble around myself so these triggers can't get in the way."
While he accepts that disappearing for seven months is not practical or sensible for most people, he encouraged others to reflect on their previous attempts to lose weight and put measures in place to set themselves up for success.
Blocking takeout apps on your phone could be one way of removing temptation, O'Keeffe suggested. Research suggests that having easy access to high calorie foods can thwart a person's attempt to manage their weight.
"There is always a solution," he said. "You just need to find the ones that work for your own triggers."
Embrace discomfort
Challenging himself in his workouts and pushing himself out of his comfort zone was important, O'Keeffe said.
Instead of seeing exercise as a way to burn calories, O'Keeffe used it as a way to build discipline and mental resilience by pushing himself harder in every workout.
He pushed himself to exercise even when he didn't want to, and gradually became more comfortable with being uncomfortable, he said.
"The benefits of this will spill over into other areas of your life but, from a weight loss perspective, it helped me maintain my calorie deficit when I wanted to eat more because now I had built the mental resilience to deal with cravings, hunger, and the desire to binge," O'Keeffe said.
Weight loss is simple in theory — create a calorie deficit by consuming less energy than you use — but it's not necessarily easy. A deficit of 250-500 calories per day is recommended for weight loss, but it will vary from person to person.
"Seeking discomfort every day built the discipline that put me in a position to adhere to my deficit for the seven months I needed," O'Keeffe said.
Eat foods you love
If a diet eliminates all the foods you enjoy, you won't be able to stick to it long-term, O'Keeffe found — and dietitians agree.
"You need to have the freedom to have a chocolate bar when needed and not feel guilty about it," he said. "There are no good and bad foods. Just good and bad amounts of each food item."
O'Keeffe is "crazy about food," he said, and he spends a lot of his free time watching cooking shows.
"I found ways to enjoy all the foods I loved by cooking calorie-hacked versions that could fit my calorie deficit," he said.
For example, O'Keeffe makes a lighter version of a burger and fries using chicken, low-fat cheese slices, sandwich slims instead of a burger bun, burger sauce made with fat-free yogurt instead of mayonnaise, and fries cooked in an air-fryer.
"I applied these calorie-hacking techniques to every meal I ate and I never felt like I was on a diet my entire journey," he said.