PINE BELT, Miss. (WDAM) -Determination, sweat, and heavy lifting are all part of Bo Kilsby’s everyday life now.

“There are no shortcuts,” Kilsby said. “There’s no easy way to lose weight.”

This was the mindset after realizing his health was at stake…weighing nearly 400 pounds in 2019.

” I was morbidly obese,” said Kilsby. “I had a BMI which is a body mass index of 50. I was pre-diabetic. All kinds of health-related conditions have since gone with the weight.”

Kilsby made a life-changing decision, losing hundreds of pounds with no thought of looking back.

“So, I decided to have bariatric surgery and since then I’ve lost about 140 pounds and I’ve been in the gym six days a week.”

Kilsby said about 80 percent of his stomach was removed, which is standard for this procedure.

“It’s a vertical sleeve gastrectomy,” Kilsby said. “It’s actually done laparoscopically, and they remove about 80 percent of your stomach and make your stomach smaller.”

However, it wasn’t the surgery alone.

“It helps you get where you need to go but you still have to put in the work,” said Kilsby. “You still have to diet and exercise to be successful.”

After taking a few weeks to heal from the surgery, Kilsby adopted a fitness routine and that’s when he said he saw a change.

So many may ask, what’s the secret to keeping the pounds off?

Revolution Fitness owner Amanda Micka said she not only admires Kilsby’s transformation, but also his drive to not give up.

“Be consistent,” Micka said. “That’s the key to any success in the gym or fitness journey is being consistent.”

Micka, said she and her husband see the most foot traffic and new memberships during this time of year.

However, Micka said both tend to drop because people set unrealistic goals.

“That just sets yourself up for failure,” Micka said. “You know if you’re not a morning person or if I want to lose five pounds in the first week or whatever. Or doing like a crash diet that they can’t stick to.”

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