00:00I went to my doctor. He said, if you keep going down the same path, you won't live to be past 30.
00:05It was a literally do or die and that's when I took my life into my own hands and I started to
00:10do whatever it took to lose weight. At my heaviest, I weighed 365 pounds. At my lowest weight, I got
00:17down to 230 pounds. I used to avoid mirrors and now I just look myself in the mirror and I feel
00:23confident, feel happy.
00:28Growing up overweight was very difficult. I was born in Ukraine. My parents are Russian
00:34and so coming to this country, I had no idea what the language is. Being overweight didn't
00:39help the matter. So they used to pick on me, my clothes, my appearance, my accent. I was always
00:44secluded. I was always by myself. It was so easy to play video games for 16 hours a day,
00:51obviously skipping school, and then picking up the phone, ordering whatever my heart desired.
00:57I would just sit there and I would eat without any care in the world of what this food is doing
01:02to me. Aside from all the self-esteem, confidence issues, just doing everyday daily activities was
01:10very difficult for me. Things like walking up a flight of stairs, maybe carrying groceries from
01:15the supermarket. I used to be drenched in sweat. It all came together to the point where it was
01:20just normal for me. The turning point was when I went to my doctor. He said, at this weight,
01:28if you keep going down the same path, you won't live to be past 30. It was a literally
01:35do or die. It's either you do this and you lose weight or you die in the next few years.
01:43That's when I took my life into my own hand and I started to do whatever it took to lose weight.
01:50At my heaviest, I weighed 365 pounds. At my lowest weight, I got down to 230 pounds.
01:59I work out about six times a week. I have a routine. I have momentum. It's what I enjoy
02:06and I love it. I was so focused on that number that I never felt satisfied with myself,
02:11but you have to just appreciate yourself. Any single small win, maybe it's you're looking
02:16better in the mirror. You should celebrate that. I used to avoid mirrors. I used to avoid
02:21photographs, videos, any type of media like that. Now, I just look at myself in the mirror and I
02:27feel accomplished. I feel happy. Right now, I'm going to go on Facebook Live and I share people
02:35realistic advice on how to just lose weight the right way. I provide as much information as I can
02:41just so people can take that and just improve their life with it. A few months ago, I left my
02:47regular career to be an online weight loss coach. I know how hard life is when you're overweight.
02:54Welcome to our daily dose where every single day, I'll be sharing some tips and some advice on how
02:58to just reach your weight loss goal in the simplest and easiest way possible. I feel like
03:02it's important for me to help people live the life they deserve and transform their bodies and their
03:06mind because I wish I would have had somebody help me when I was talking out. Now, your whole
03:12journey should have, you know, a factor of how do I include the things that I love? How do I eat the
03:17foods that I enjoy? Vlad is one of my best friends and I've known him for over, I would say, 15 years
03:25and he's been with me every single step of the way. I'm gonna cook for him a meal that I haven't
03:30made for him before. It's actually been a stable in my nutrition for about 8 to 10 years. I have
03:36helped him lose weight previously because I feel like it's my duty to at least help some of my
03:42friends go in the right direction because I've been there myself. Wow, I remember you were only
03:48eating like Chinese food and pizzas. This is so different. It's all about making every meal taste
03:54as enjoyable as possible whether it's by adding different seasonings that you like, different
03:59sauces, right? Not making you feel like eating better is a chore because if it feels like a chore
04:05every single day, how long can you do it for? Looks great, thanks. You overdid it with the sriracha.
04:14Sriracha is key to any hot sauce. Flavor is key.
04:20How's the eggs? Awesome. You might have overdone it on your secret sauce a little bit. I've been
04:25eating that sauce for almost a decade. To me, that's like almost nothing. The more, the merrier.
04:30Alex and I met back in third grade. As the years went by, I remember seeing him getting larger and
04:38larger. I saw him at his, you know, worst, like his heaviest, his biggest and now I'm seeing him as
04:45at his best. I do believe that Alex's transition and his focus on his physical health
04:53completely changed his mental health. He is much more confident in everything he does.
04:59For my next goals, I just want to impact as many people as I can. I love helping people lose weight,
05:05honestly. It makes me feel great. Not even the weight loss, but just the way they feel. Even if
05:10I can help one person just become better and just live the life they deserve, that alone makes me
05:17feel accomplished. I just want to be like a little better than I was yesterday. Little by little,
05:22it'll add up over time. It's my motto, I guess, just a little bit better.
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