A former fast food fanatic has explained the habits that left him weighing 30st 7lbs and shared the simple weight loss hack that helped him shed more than half his body weight. At 18 years old Max Radovanic could barely get out of bed. He’d have to rock back and forth to build momentum just to stand up.
“I get asked a lot about what I ate to get to 430 lbs (195 kg),” Max said. “The answer? A lot. And not the good kind.” Max, now 22, doesn’t sugarcoat his daily intake, which topped 15,000 calories. Max said he would start the day with ‘two breakfast burritos stuffed with ham, sausage, bacon, potatoes, eggs, and cheese’ and wash it down with two huge sugary coffees and two chocolate bars.
For lunch, Max would head to McDonald’s for eight burgers, with another double helping of takeways with milkshakes for dinner.
Max’s peak weight of 30st7lbs brought him to breaking point. “At that weight, I was barely mobile. It got to the point where walking a single mile felt like an impossible challenge,” he said.
“Once I’d decided I needed to lose weight, or I’d be stuck in a body I hated for the rest of my life, I started thinking of ways I could begin moving again – even just a little. There was a small walking path near my house, and my goal was to reach the end and back without having to call my mum to pick me up.
“I remember that mile felt brutal; my legs hurt, my joints hurt, I could barely catch my breath. But I kept going. The next day, I was sore, but I got up and did it again. After three months, that walk started to get easier, so I doubled the distance.”
Max then started looking at his diet and worked on changing that, too. “In the beginning, I was obsessed with tracking calories and macros. I didn’t miss a day of calorie counting for four years. I thought everyone should track every calorie, every protein gram,” he explained.
“But eventually, I realised that calorie tracking was doing more harm than good. I was obsessing over every bite, binging if I went over, and feeling anxiety around food. So, I quit tracking cold turkey. I stopped worrying about how much I was eating and focused on whole foods.”
It took Max four years to lose over 200lbs. “People see the transformation photos and think it happened overnight, but it didn’t,” he insisted.
“It was a slow process, building habits one at a time. I didn’t even hit the gym until I had those first walking and dietary habits down. It sounds ridiculous, but I’m glad I was once morbidly obese. Being overweight was tough, no question about it, but I don’t think I’d have the habits and discipline I have now if I hadn’t gone through that journey.
“Losing the weight taught me consistency and grit, skills I’ve applied to every area of my life – whether it’s my career, my relationships, or just getting up every morning to stay active. If you’re on a weight loss journey, try applying the habits you’re building to other parts of your life. I can almost guarantee you’ll see a big improvement, just like I did. So, I’m genuinely grateful for having gone through that, because I wouldn’t be the person I am today without it.”
Max’s simple weight loss hack? Allow a cheat meal every week.
“I went two years with zero cheat meals, and it wrecked my metabolism. I ended up on 1,600 calories a day, and I was still feeling terrible,” he said. “Now, every Friday, I let myself go all out – a cheeseburger, fries.” Max added: “It keeps me motivated throughout the week. Knowing I have that one meal to look forward to makes it easier to stay on track the other six days.”
He also urges people to ditch the scale.
“Throw away your scale,” he advised. “After losing over 200 lbs, I realised it’s the worst way to measure progress. Body weight can fluctuate 10 to 15 pounds in a single day, especially if you’re a big guy like me. Instead, use photos and measurements to track changes. Week to week, I could see the difference in the mirror, even if the scale wasn’t budging.”
Another lesson Max has learned is that the number on the scale doesn’t define his progress.
“It sounds trivial, but seeing the same number day after day can make you feel like you’re failing when you’re actually losing fat. I’ve seen people quit because the scale didn’t reflect their effort, but it’s just water fluctuations. I take progress photos now and focus on how I feel instead of what I weigh.”
Today, Max’s mission is to help others through their own weight-loss journeys by sharing the insights he learned the hard way, working as an online transformation coach and content creator. “A lot of people are looking for a quick fix, like a magic weight-loss peptide,” he laughed. “But the truth is, it’s about discipline and consistency. You can’t rush a transformation.”
If there’s one thing he hopes his Instagram and TikTok followers take away, it’s that transformation doesn’t happen overnight.
“If you’re just starting, don’t get overwhelmed. Start small, build those habits, and apply what you’re learning to other parts of your life. Losing weight helped me become a better person physically and mentally. It’s worth every sore muscle and every tough day. And remember, you don’t have to be perfect – sometimes, you need that cheat meal to keep going,” he concluded.