At just 15 years old, Nicolas Garratt reached a peak weight of 400 pounds. Bullied at school, he says he hated himself and felt like a “freak, a monster.” Over the course of four years, he successfully lost 200 pounds by incorporating key strategies into his lifestyle. Now, at 19, Garratt is an aspiring fitness influencer on Instagram, sharing his journey with thousands of followers. Garratt's journey highlights the importance of dedication, healthy habits, and mental resilience in achieving weight loss goals. His success story serves as an encouragement for others facing similar challenges. "I want to help people do what I did," Garratt notes.
Garratt's Early Struggles with Weight
Nicolas Garratt's weight struggles began at just five years old with a diet high in junk food. Every year, he just kept getting heavier. By age 15, he weighed a staggering 400 pounds. Based in South Wales, Garratt fell into a destructive cycle with food, consuming between 4,000 to 6,000 calories daily - “anything that I could get my hands on,” Garratt recalls. His diet included hamburgers, pork pies and ice cream. He made bacon, Nutella and melted cheese sandwiches. Ostracized by his peers and feeling like a “freak, a monster,” Garratt would distract himself by binge eating and drinking alcohol.
At his highest weight of 400 pounds, Nicolas Garratt found himself at a low point in life. He could barely move. “My mother had a rule that I had to go for one walk per day. She was trying her best. But just walking around the block, it would make me cry - the back pain was so bad. My ankles - so much pain. I just wanted to stay in bed all day at that point,” Garratt says.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought an unexpected sense of relief. It was 2020 and he welcomed the lockdowns that came during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I was happy. I was relieved when COVID happened because I didn’t have to leave the house,” Garratt, now 19, tells TODAY.com. “We had to quarantine, and I was relieved that I could just stay in and not have to see people. I would only go out in the nighttime when it was dark.”
Every time he was stressed, he would distract himself with food, estimating he was eating between 4,000 to 6,000 calories a day.
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The Turning Point: A Doctor's Warning
When Garratt went to see a doctor about his anxiety, the physician told him he was on his way to a heart attack. “My doctor told me I was on my way to having a heart attack. That was my wake-up call," Nicolas recalled.
The teen says he’d lie awake at night, thinking about where his life was going, and worried he’d end up like people he’d seen on TV who were so obese they couldn’t get out of bed. He was determined to change. He absolutely hated himself and deeply wanted to change. "I was extremely lonely and felt isolated from the world."
His turning point came after several stark realisations, including when he noticed his seatbelt no longer fitted.
Initial Attempts and Setbacks
By early 2021, Garratt had lost about 140 pounds with extreme fasting. Determined to change, Garratt experimented with extreme fasting. He warns others against trying this unhealthy approach.
Because he lost weight without gaining muscle, the teen still felt fat and still hated himself. However, losing weight without gaining muscle did not assuage his self-hatred: “I was very unsatisfied. I thought, 'I’ve done all this for nothing. What was the point? I lost all the weight and underneath it’s just this ugly person that I still don’t want to be,'” Garratt recalls.
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He started drinking again, eating more and regained 50 pounds.
The Path to Sustainable Weight Loss
Months later, the sleepless nights full of anxiety about the future returned, with Garratt thinking, “You can’t do this to yourself.” Shifting his approach to weight loss, Garratt stopped fasting and joined a gym in January 2023, lifting weights and sticking to hourlong daily walks outside or on the treadmill.
The gym made a big difference for both his physical and mental health. He’s made friends and likes being part of a community of like-minded people who keep him accountable. Spending time with friends, hitting the gym, and growing his social accounts have all become crucial parts of his daily routine.
Key Strategies for Success
Over the course of four years, he successfully lost 200 pounds by incorporating four key strategies into his lifestyle.
Consistent Exercise
Regular physical activity became a cornerstone of Nicolas's routine. He started walking again, and now walks an hour a day on a treadmill and outside. He does several bicep exercises to maintain his physique.
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Healthy Eating
Transitioning to a balanced diet played a crucial role in his transformation. Garratt tracks his calories, aiming for 1,400 a day. He focuses on eating healthy food such as chicken breast, vegetables and complex carbohydrates, which break down slowly to provide long-lasting energy for exercise. He’s also found that adding vegetables and salad to every meal has helped him feel fuller and more satisfied while still maintaining a caloric deficit.
Calorie Counting
Garratt maintains that diets are secondary to calorie counting, claiming calorie tracking was the most crucial component of his success. At 18, he discovered MyFitnessPal, which taught him how to maintain a calorie deficit, as opposed to following restrictive eating patterns."I didn't know about it when I began, and I wish that I did," he said.
The app became crucial to his success, helping him lose over 5st 5lb in just one and a half years. It allowed Nicolas to track calories, maintain a balanced diet, and develop a sustainable relationship with food.
Carbohydrates are Fuel
Though dieters often malign carbohydrates, Garratt stresses that they are not evil and are, in fact, necessary fuel for training. This tip echoes the advice of dietitians who suggest that workouts should be front-loaded with carbs to sustain energy and maximize effectiveness.
Mental Resilience
Maintaining a positive mindset helped Garratt overcome challenges. Garratt cites a shift in mindset as the greatest contributor to his achievements.
Support System
Surrounding himself with encouragement and accountability was vital.
The Importance of Calorie Counting
Calorie deficits are important for weight loss. Failing to monitor calories carefully is one of the key reasons people fail to lose weight. The NHS recommends a calorie deficit of around 600 calories per day, so if you're not sure how many calories you're eating, this could be preventing you from losing weight. Track your calories and be strict with it, as this is the best way to ensure consistent weight loss.
What you eat is also very important, and you should be sticking to a healthy, balanced diet. Nutrition expert Elizabeth Sherman confirmed this, noting that eating more whole foods can significantly improve weight management due to their thermic effect. In other words, higher-protein diets can promote high energy expenditure through resting metabolism. The less processed the food is, the more energy your body requires to break it down.
Garratt's Transformation and Advice
At 5 feet, 8 inches tall, Garratt now weighs 196 pounds, noting he’s gained a fair amount of muscle. Now 14st 4lb lighter, the slimmer documents his transformation on Instagram, hoping to inspire others on similar journeys.
“I feel a lot more confident, a lot more optimistic. I feel like a completely different person,” he says. “My life has changed dramatically," Nicolas said. "I feel like a different person and get treated like one. I have so much more energy, confidence, and self-respect."
“Now when I have problems, I never feel I need to distract myself with food or alcohol.”
Garratt’s advice to others trying to lose weight is to start by counting calories. Garratt said he’s also found that adding vegetables and salad to every meal has helped him feel fuller and more satisfied while still maintaining a caloric deficit. But his No. 1 tip is for people to work on their mindset and keep going despite failure along the way. He always tries to be optimistic about the future and considers determination to be more important than motivation.
Even when you’re not motivated to exercise, you can still be determined to go the gym, Garratt says. “Even when you’re not motivated to exercise, you can still be determined to go to the gym,” Garratt said.
“You’re going to fail 100 times, but it wouldn’t be a true journey without getting back up,” he adds. He hopes his fitness journey will inspire others to make changes and, more importantly, persist in spite of setbacks: “You’re going to fail 100 times, but it wouldn’t be a true journey without getting back up.
“Determination is what makes you get back up.”