Back in December of 2013, Zach Moore was declared morbidly obese, weighing a staggering 500 pounds.
The father and husband from Pierson, Florida, even revealed that he recorded a goodbye message to his family after a bout of food poisoning left him hospitalized and fearing for his life.
At his heaviest, Zach's diet consisted almost entirely of fast food. He said: "For breakfast, I’d probably eat three or four Egg McMuffins with a two-liter bottle of Coca-Cola.
"I’d probably drink three to four two-liter bottles per day.
"For lunch, we’d eat pizza. Going to Pizza Hut and getting one pie for myself and one for the family was normal.
"Dinner would be something like French fries and hotdogs and hamburgers."
Check out Zach's incredible weight-loss in the video below:However, Zach's perspective on his lifestyle changed forever when one particularly large meal landing him in hospital. Recalling the terrifying order, Zach said:
"I stopped and got Panda Express and a family meal and I ate a whole thing of orange chicken.
"I got food poisoning and lost 60 pounds in a week. It was all vomiting and diarrhea. While I was in the hospital, I started to think 'I’m gonna die'.
"I actually recorded a goodbye message to my son and my wife. That’s when I committed to myself and put effort behind losing weight."
The dad-of-one admits that thinking about leaving his son fatherless was a huge factor in overhauling his lifestyle: "I knew that obesity kills. I didn’t want my son to be visiting my tombstone. I didn’t want to put my kid through that. I just wanted to be a better dad.
"I couldn’t teach him anything or play with him. It was terrible."
In early 2014, Zack cut out beef, pork, and carbs from his diet, with the goal being to lose enough weight so that he could qualify for gastric bypass surgery.
By the time of his surgery in May of 2014, he was down to 392 pounds. But despite his weight loss, the surgery did not go smoothly.
"My surgery was supposed to be two hours, but it lasted seven," Zach said, adding: "I flatlined on the table and was fatter than the doctor thought."
Fortunately, Zack survived, and following the operation, he dropped a further 110 pounds over the summer of 2014.
"By August 2015, I was 170 pounds," Zach revealed.
However, despite the tremendous weight loss, Zach was then forced to undergo surgery to remove his excess skin. He said: "That was terrible. I was under anesthetic for nine hours. I had 2,400 stitches.
'They did a butt lift. They went up my sternum. They went into my armpits and reduced the breast size."
The doting dad has now taken to farming and attempts to lead a self-sufficient - and healthy - lifestyle.
Throughout his weight-loss journey, Zach has been educating himself on nutrition, revealing: "I understand nutrition now. If food has high fructose corn syrup in it, I won’t touch it.
"If it has a lot of sugar, I don’t touch it. I avoid soy, wheat and gluten. I do a mix of keto and paleo nutrition."
Admitting that he never hits the gym, Zach admits that he has been able to lose and maintain his impressive weight-loss thanks to eating vegetables he grows on his family's farm.
"I lost my weight without working out. I can’t get to a gym and I don’t live near a gym. I lost my weight through nutrition," Zach said.
"We grow beans, sprouts, tomatoes, really anything that I like," Zach said. "I have over 100 chickens on my farm.
"I’ve also got ducks, guinea hens, and turkeys. I’ve had goats and horses. We’re also starting to grow a huge garden.
"My wife is into garlic and onions. She grows onions and potatoes. Right now we’re also growing green beans, celery, and garbanzo beans."
However, as a man who used to drink four bottles of cola a day, there are still certain things Zack misses from time-to-time:
"I miss candy. I had a sweet tooth. If I smell fried food at the fair and stuff, the aromas are amazing, but I don’t desire food like I once did."
At his heaviest, Zach was not expected to survive to the age of 40 - fortunately, he turns 40 in just a few months.
But he was able to change his life alone, and Zach was sure to thank wife Amber for sticking by him through his journey: "Without her, I would have failed. I know that.
"She drove me to every surgery. Amber’s always been there. She’s been my everything."
