In the summer of 2020, couple Zach and Cassidy together weighed nearly 1,000 pounds. While they were generally happy with their lives together, they always knew they both needed to lose weight. However, it was hard to get motivated.

There was one incident that finally gave them a wake-up call. Zach and Cassidy were picking up an air conditioner from someone’s house that they bought on Facebook Marketplace, and Zach fell down the stairs when trying to carry it down.

Zach hurt his back pretty badly and landed in the hospital. What’s more, when the hospital staff tried to take MRIs and other tests, some of the equipment wouldn’t even work on him due to his size and thickness of his fat. It was then they both knew they really needed to make a change.

The two both struggled with weight throughout their whole lives. For Cassidy, being overweight, along with metabolically related disorders like diabetes, ran in her family, so she was genetically dispositioned to have extra weight on her. Even as a child she was overweight.

The two had attempted to lose weight in the past, but they put a lot of effort toward exercising. And while exercise is a huge component to losing weight, it wasn’t enough to move the needle.

So, they began to really focus on the nutrition component of things. They began to embrace meal prepping what they ate each day, which helped them stay on track and finally start really shedding the pounds.

Zach had trouble meal prepping in the beginning. He always thought that with enough exercise he’d be able to lose weight, but after eating well he realized how important proper nutrition really is.

“I thought that it would be like a 60% exercise thing, 40% diet,” Zach admitted. “In my opinion, I think it’s probably more like 80% what you eat and how you eat it and 20% exercise.”

Also, sustaining their diet was one of the hardest things Zach and Cassidy had to do. However, once they realized how well it was working, it was easy to keep that change in their relationship with food and commit to this new lifestyle that mde them feel so good.

“You have to want it for you,” Zach says. Since July 2020, Zach and Cassidy have lost over 500 pounds together, and they truly look amazing. Hear more from this incredible couple’s weight-loss journey in the interview below!

Have you ever lost a substantial amount of weight? What are some of your best weight-loss tips?