How I Lost 150 Pounds and Kept it Off, an Interview with Trey Cotton

I reached out to Trey a couple weeks ago to interview him for our blog. I have known Trey for about 10 years having worked with him as a recording engineer back when he was in a band I was recording and we have kept in touch via social media since then.

Trey has lost 150 pounds over the past couple years and has not only kept it off but has been on a journey to show people how he did it, and the kind of results you can get when you put in hard work.

A few months ago I sent him a bottle of our Arnica CBD Pain Reliever, 350MG when I saw he was running and biking a lot. I know the kind of knee pain you can have from these activities, especially the days after a tough workout, and I knew that I relied on our roll-on pain reliever myself.

He and his wife, Tifanie, both started using it and have made it part of their routine as well. On top of their social platforms they co-host a podcast as well which you can find here.

This post will be the first in a series of posts interviewing folks who have found our products to be helpful in their day to day life. I hope you enjoy it and get something out of it like I have. If nothing else the inspiration to get to work creating the life you want… because it is always the right time to get healthier.

You have gone through a lot over the past few years. Not only losing weight, but it seems to me that your mental wellness and overall fitness have improved dramatically. What pushed you to embrace the change needed for such dramatic results?

I hit a point that I knew I had to make a change. That point was stepping on the scale and seeing 297 pounds, essentially my “rip cord” number of 300 pounds. In the process of learning how to lose weight, I started adding certain exercise elements, including gym time, walking, running, etc.

I wasn’t just doing things to see results. I was trying to find things I liked and wanted to continue doing. Because going in I knew this had to be sustainable. So this time, when dabbling in different things I had to find things that would stick because I enjoyed them.

For me, calories in calories out (CICO) was the base, topped off with macros, intermittent fasting, and eventually running.

 

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It’s the little things today that will add up to huge things tomorrow. . . Don’t let all this uncertainty bring you down. Don’t give up on yourself. You got this! #cico #progresspics #intermittentfasting #weightloss #fitness #fitfam #dontgiveup #yougotthis #motivation #keepitup

A post shared by Trey Cotton (@losttowin) on Apr 9, 2020 at 10:15am PDT

It seems you have a great partner in your wife, and both of you have really pushed yourselves to be well and not try and fit into any sort of “ideal” body type. How is it having someone to help motivate you every day?

Me and my wife have been together since high school. She always knew me as being overweight and then was with me at my heaviest. She has always been a positive influence, even without pushing things on me.

When I went to her saying I wanted to lose weight, she said I should do it for health benefits and not to hit a certain body image. I didn’t feel pressure from her. She’s been a fit person as long as I can remember and for the most part she showcased healthy relationships with food and exercise.

She was a huge asset in the resources she gave and saying it was okay to have untracked meals or days when calorie counting wasn’t the focus.

What has been your daily eating regimen? Do you have a standard breakfast, do a lot of weekly meal prepping, or is it just a day by day thing?

I am answering this as of how I do things today. My daily eating regiment consists of trying to hit 2,500 calories a day…and that’s really about it. I do still intermittent fast (IF), so I just have coffee in the morning.

While science has shown there could be added benefits of IF, I’ve liked it as a way to help control the calories I have each day. When possible, I like to meal plan, whether that’s just having dinners lined out or the entire day of eating planned the day before.

But life happens, and sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

What about your workouts? Are they scheduled, or do you simply fit them in as you can? Any tips on getting into a routine?

I just took a new job recently, which has changed my schedule enough that I’m trying to reestablish a routine. For the most part I’ve always been a fit-it-in type of person.

Whether that’s cycling, running, or the gym, I’ve mostly just gone when my body feels like it’s ready to go. As far as advice for routine, try to look at the big picture of what you want to accomplish and not the small factor of when you need to get it done.

Because that can lead to you throwing in the towel if you miss a Monday morning workout, versus picking back up and getting something done later.

Technology has changed dramatically over the last few years. Do you have any favorite phone apps or gadgets that you use to keep yourself accountable and/or motivated?

MyFitnessPal is my number one go-to app for food logging. Strava is my go-to app for exercise because it can log cycling, running, and swimming.

Those apps coupled with gadgets like my Garmin 530 for cycling and my Apple Watch allow me to see metrics and give me a baseline for how to improve my fitness.

You recently did an insane 30 day food challenge. What was that all about, and how did it go?

If by insane you mean incredibly delicious then yeah, it was insane. My wife and I follow a fitness person named Jordan Syatt who showcased how calories in calories out is the end all be all for weight management.

To do that he ate a Big Mac every day for 30 days and lost weight. This was to disprove people who think that weight loss means you can’t have your favorite foods. We found this idea intriguing and decided to do our own challenge.

We ate at least one New York style slice of pizza (500+ calories a slice) every day for 30 days and were able to lose weight using the principles of CICO. Over the course of 30 days I frequently had 2 slices of pizza a day, while still logging food daily to know I was staying within my calorie goals.

I also still enjoyed PB&J sandwiches, cookies, protein bars, etc. Heck, I would say I enjoyed a beer or two as well.

My confidence was in the math. Because we knew what our calorie expenditure was and what we were taking in we were both able to lose weight, me losing 2.5 pounds.

In case you’re curious, I would totally eat pizza again today.

 

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The Pizza Challenge. A simple idea inspired by @syattfitness where I would eat a large slice of pizza for a meal, every day, for 30 days. But why?? . . When people start diets or trying to start managing their weight in general, their first notion is to just eliminate all the foods they love because they assume those food to be evil. This concept usually ends with people giving up early because they have created an unsustainable diet. . . While not all foods are equal, calories are. You can lose weight while still eating the foods you love as long as you are in a caloric deficit. . For this, @flexinfreedom and I both said we would make a at least one slice of @empireslicehouse a meal for each day for 30 days. We would weigh in daily, as well as continue with normal exercise schedules and other meals and snacks would be normal. . We picked pizza because at the end of the day, we really love pizza. But also, because pizza gets typecast as this evil food. But in the end, it’s all calories. . . By the numbers: -55 slices of pizza (1.8/day) -148.2lbs (5/1/2020) to 146.2lbs (5/31/2020) -BP tested lower at end of month (113/69 to 107/60) . The weight each day was even able to show all the things that make people want to quit. It shows the spikes, and valleys, and stalls that are everyday weight. But if people can zoom out and see the bigger picture, the trend shows down. . If nothing else, hopefully this will help show that it really just come down to calories. . Wanna know more? Ask questions below! 👇 #cico #weightloss #macros #nutrition #pizza #intermittentfasting #weightlosschallenge #pizzachallenge #bigmacchallenge #caloricdeficit #fitness #diet

A post shared by Trey Cotton (@losttowin) on Jun 3, 2020 at 6:45am PDT

In 2 years do I want to be thinking “I’m so glad I did that,” or, “I wish I would have?”

Any final words, tips, or motivational bits you’d like to share?

For me the journey took 2 years, and I knew it would take a long time to get to where I wanted to be at the end of my weight loss journey.

But in the past, thinking of that 2 years was always overwhelming enough to where I just didn’t start.

You have to ask yourself, “In 2 years do I want to be thinking ‘I’m so glad I did that’,” or, “I wish I would have.”

Are there any books you recommend?

Death by Food Pyramid: How Shoddy Science, Sketchy Politics and Shady Special Interests Have Ruined Our Health by Denise Minger showed me what macros are.

It talks about what foods are, what they’re made up of, how they’re digested, and what they do. It helped me to understand that all food is just food.

You can follow Trey on the platforms below:

A huge thank you to Trey for taking the time to answer my questions. It’s amazing to see what can be achieved when you have the determination. I hope you enjoyed this interview.

If you have any questions ask them in the comments below or reach out to Trey via Instagram.

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