In 2015, Jeffrey Kendall's mom suffered a traumatic brain injury. The hospital released her, but it wasn't because she got better. It was because her condition had plateaued and insurance would no longer cover her treatment. Jeffrey moved in to his mother's Connecticut home to help care of her, and the harrowing experience took its toll: he became overweight, unemployed and depressed. "Looking at myself at the time, I was in a long-running battle with self-image and depression," Jeffrey told Best Life.
But one day everything changed. A friend went through a bad breakup, and asked Jeffrey to join him at the gym to provide some motivation to exercise. Jeffrey agreed, and slipped in a regular routine of weightlifting, push-ups and yoga.
"It started off small. We met up and did some light workouts with a 45-pound barbell and made an agreement to do push-ups every day. Soon I started waking up and starting my day with a walk in the sun, listening to the Beatles or some sort of music that lifts the soul or adds a little strut to my step. I’d then head home and help with my mom, then later in the night, I started doing yoga!"
Personal trainers are expensive, but YouTube has tons of free workout videos where gurus offer advice. Upon discovering this gold mine of content. Jeffrey decided to take things up a notch. He started high-intensity interval training, body-weight workouts and an inspirational yoga guru named Adrienne who “provides a wonderful platform for self love." In addition, he changed his diet, quitting binge-drinking and late night snacking. "It’s much easier to motivate yourself not to eat a cookie than to run a mile," explained Jeffrey. " I was a victim of late-night snacking. I ended up finding that eating a later dinner helped with that, so when you eat can be as important as what you eat."
Flash forward two years, and Jeffrey's lost an incredible 70 pounds, and grown out his wavy, luscious locks. Other people have lost a dramatic amount of weight, but this 26-year-old man's transformation is unique. When he shared his before and after photos on Reddit, he got a lot of compliments. One user wrote, "Seriously, that dude was one epic jawline." Another user wrote, "You went from Hagrid to Fabio!" And many users pointed out that now he looks just like a Disney prince - Prince Adam from Beauty and the Beast. Jeffrey embraced the comparison, and put together a quick cosplay on Instagram.
He pulls off the look pretty well. Too bad they didn't cast him that live action Beauty and the Beast film.
Jeffrey went from beast to beauty, and hopes his transformation inspires others who are at difficult places in life. "I’ve lost a lot of weight, a lot of sadness, and a little facial hair," he on Reddit. "I’ve gained a whole new appreciation for life. Remember to always love yourself."
