see his transformation in photos

Ethan weighed 550lbs at his heaviest and admitted he was “in hell” and in constant physical pain.

“It was really uncomfortable for me. I was in hell. I was miserable. I was not comfortable,” he told the MailOnline. “There was never a moment of any day where I was physically comfortable.”

He added: “It was hard to breathe, it was hard to walk around, I had to have seat belt extensions. There was for a long time, this feeling of ‘leave me alone and I want the world to change to suit me,’ and then I had this conversation and I was like, ‘that’s never gonna happen.'”

Ethan had lost 250lbs by 2005 after hiring a personal trainer and turning to the keto diet, which is based on the principle of a high-fat, low-carb eating plan in which 75% of your daily calories are made up of fats, 20% protein, and 5% carbohydrates.

However, with such extreme weight loss, Ethan was left with significant loose skin on his body. “I’m smaller, but nothing is tighter at all. The apron around my abdomen was the worst of it. It looked like a gut under my clothing,” he recalled thinking at the time in an interview with Men’s Health in 2025. 

Ethan had resorted to wearing mostly baggy clothes to try to hide his loose skin, but in 2008, he underwent his first of two excess skin removal surgeries, removing excess skin from his abdomen, hips, lower back, and buttocks.

“Skin is a really tricky thing, because you work so hard to try to get to a point where you feel, quote, unquote, normal,” he told Men’s Health. “But there’s not something that can magically remove the skin.”

Two years later, Ethan’s weight had crept back up to 400lbs, but after he began cycling and extreme dieting, he dropped back down to 220lbs and looked noticeably slimmer by October 2010.

However, he wasn’t “happy” with his progress and underwent a second excess skin removal surgery in 2012. “I still looked bulky and flabby in the upper part of my body,” he told the publication. “And I wasn’t happy with that.”

Ethan began to gain weight again, and by 2016, he had returned to 400lbs. “This idea of having a body that looks the way I want it to look – I think it doesn’t exist,” he told Men’s Health last June.

According to the outlet, by 2018, Ethan weighed his food, discovered carbs that worked for him, and learned a workout plan that helped him create a long-term plan for his weight loss. “That’s where I really figured out how to live the rest of my life,” he said.

By 2019, Ethan had 9% body fat and a set of enviable abs he proudly showed off in a topless spread for Men’s Health. “I’m at my absolute pinnacle,” he said at the time. “I spent 35, 40 years without taking my shirt off in public. The shadows haven’t been enhanced. There’s loose skin. There are scars. This is who I am.”

Ethan has managed to maintain his healthier lifestyle and frequently shares workout posts and inspirational messages on social media.

While he still battles with excess skin, he would rather have that than go back to his larger frame. “I don’t love it, but I like it more than if I was to fill it out with fat,” he said of his loose skin.

Since losing weight, Ethan has been able to achieve fitness goals he never thought possible, including riding a full marathon on a rowing machine and bench-pressing 405lbs.

“I am so utterly impressed with what I’ve been able to do physically,” he said. “That doesn’t mean I’m never self-conscious or don’t want to binge eat sometimes. I’ve had to do deep introspection.”