How This Ex-‘Biggest Loser’ Contestant Kept In Shape

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Age: 24
Weight before: 273 lbs
Weight after: 160 lbs
Time it took: 6 months

Ralph Du knows all too well the stereotypes people have about the overweight.

“No one really took me seriously, especially at work,” says Du, a business owner. “All they thought was that I was this cute fat guy who always joked around.”

Worse, people thought he was a slacker. “They would often decide, the moment they see me, that I am someone they really can’t rely on because they assume that fat people are lazy people,” he recalls.

Motivated to boost his image, Du initially decided to overhaul his sluggish lifestyle by getting into sports like boxing and basketball. Unfortunately, all his efforts barely made a dent on the scale.

It was only when Du made it to Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition Doubles—where he competed for 5 months before he voluntarily dropped out of the competition—that he was able to lose significant amounts of weight. He would later realize, though, that the biggest challenge in his weight loss journey would happen outside camp.

“When we were inside the camp, our food choices were very limited to the healthy ones. Outside, I was exposed again to fast food, street food, and everything fattening,” he recalls. “There was one point where I gave up, and that was the time where I gained so much weight in such little time.”

It took him months before realizing that maintaining weight is a mental challenge. After all, “you know the workouts,” he remarks. “You know the diet, so you need to beat that voice inside your head saying, ‘You’re already outside the camp. You can get back to the sedentary life you used to loved.’”

To get back on track, Du started working out again. He would normally do weight training on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; high intensity and fast-twitch trainings on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays; and hit the road for some cardio on Sundays.

“There are no excuses once you decide to be fit and commit to be a better you,” he says.

To further lose weight, Du adhered to a ketogenic diet—a high-fat, high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. “I would normally eat chicken, steak, fish, beef, pork,” he explains. “Basta I always avoid basic carbs like bread and rice.”

After six months of hard work, Du lost 113 pounds. Now, he is happy that people treat him more seriously. “When I am in front of people, I can feel that they trust me. They are now more confident to tell me things—whether about business or personal,” he says.

If you want to take your fitness to the next level, Du suggests you keep these things in mind:

If it ain’t sore, you need some more. “I never leave the gym till my body’s sore. I work every single muscle every single day. And yes, even if I’m sore today, I would still work out the next day—but it would be a different exercise.” (Remember, though, that soreness is different from pain.)

Pain is your ally. “You’d rather work out and experience DOMS than feast on food and suffer from diseases like diabetes.”

A little patience goes a long way. “Not everyone loses weight fast. This is very important because majority of people get demoralized when they don’t easily see results. Always think that the fit people you envy and stalk on Instagram worked hard to achieve their body.”

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