Dropping from 346 pounds to 246 didn’t happen with a magic pill or trendy diet.
It required a complete overhaul of daily habits, mental patterns, and lifestyle choices.
Steve Theunissen, who became the 2023 Online Coach of the Year, recently shared the 12 specific habit changes that saved his life and transformed his body.
His journey from near-death with type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease to incredible health offers practical strategies anyone can implement.
Jump to:
- Putting Personal Health First Without Guilt
- Finding Movement That Doesn’t Feel Like Punishment
- Swapping Foods Instead of Restricting Volume
- Getting Creative With Recipe Replacements
- Adding Accountability Through Calorie Awareness
- Strategic High-Volume, Low-Calorie Options
- Ditching Diet Mentality For Lifestyle Change
- Shifting Training From Powerlifting To Muscle Building
- Rejecting Temporary Diets Permanently
- Stopping The Hiding Behind Baggy Clothes
- Reconnecting With Lost Hobbies
- Building Something Meaningful
Putting Personal Health First Without Guilt
The foundation of Theunissen’s transformation started with something that felt uncomfortable: prioritizing himself.
I was in a position where I was the super dad and the provider and I was taking care of everybody, but I wasn’t taking care of myself.
At 346 pounds, he was so focused on being the perfect provider that his own mental and physical health completely deteriorated. Every muscle in his body was cramping due to advanced type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
Making himself a priority wasn’t about becoming selfish. It was about creating sustainable balance so he could actually show up as his best self for others.
Finding Movement That Doesn’t Feel Like Punishment
Traditional cardio equipment bored Theunissen senseless, so he discovered something different: hiking.
When he moved to South Carolina for work, he started picking random points on maps and exploring for 4-6 hours every Saturday. Sundays brought shorter 2-hour hikes closer to home.
The biggest benefit I found from doing this was just feeling the boost in my mental health. I was getting away from work and phone and my problems and all my thoughts and I was just getting out in nature and soaking up that sun and the vitamin D and the calm.
This weekly escape provided massive movement without feeling like exercise. The mental health benefits exceeded even the physical transformation benefits.
Swapping Foods Instead of Restricting Volume
At his heaviest, Theunissen consumed an estimated 7,000-9,000 calories daily through massive dinners followed by late-night binges on ice cream, tortilla chips, and four packs of ramen at midnight.
His first dietary change wasn’t calorie counting. It was food quality.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
I didn’t think about restricting calories. I thought about swapping in healthier foods. And at that point, I made the 100% light switch change to eating good, to taking care of myself with meats and fruits and vegetables and not restricting calories.
This single change led to 40-50 pounds of fat loss without tracking a single calorie. He dropped from roughly 7,000-9,000 calories to around 3,500 daily just by choosing nutrient-dense whole foods.
Getting Creative With Recipe Replacements
Complete deprivation leads to failure. Theunissen knew he needed satisfying alternatives to his trigger foods like pizza, nachos, and ice cream.
His strategic swaps included:
- Egg crust pizza instead of thick-crust delivery
- Homemade jalapeño poppers with fresh ingredients replacing tortilla chips
- Half a watermelon nightly instead of ice cream
- Meat and vegetable-based meals that provided volume and satisfaction
These weren’t perfect replicas, but they satisfied cravings while supporting health goals rather than destroying them.
Adding Accountability Through Calorie Awareness
After dropping from 346 to the mid-280s, progress stalled. That’s when Theunissen implemented calorie monitoring.
He didn’t obsessively weigh food or log every bite in apps. Instead, he maintained mental awareness of approximate daily intake and set personal accountability measures.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
For someone with binge eating tendencies, this meant learning to eat one plate, then waiting an hour before returning for more. Simple habit controls that created lasting change.
Strategic High-Volume, Low-Calorie Options
Managing binge eating required having safety foods available when cravings hit hard at day’s end.
Theunissen’s go-to volume foods included:
- Entire jars of pickles and pepperoncini peppers
- Three large diced tomatoes mixed with plain Greek yogurt and hot sauce
- Watermelon in large quantities
Even if I ate a whole jar of pickles and a whole jar of pepperchinis and three tomatoes, yeah, it might be 300 350 calories, but it’s better than adding 4,000 or 5,000 calories.
He discovered that 90% of cravings disappeared once something filled his stomach. Getting volume without caloric damage became a critical strategy.
Ditching Diet Mentality For Lifestyle Change
For 17 years, Theunissen lived in perpetual “start Monday” mode. He’d begin restrictive diets, fail by Wednesday, then promise to restart the following week.
This cycle kept him trapped until he made a mental shift from temporary dieting to permanent lifestyle evolution.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
For two full years, he ate almost exclusively meat, fruits, vegetables, and some dairy with minimal complex carbohydrates. This wasn’t punishment—it was necessary given how severely type 2 diabetes had ravaged his body.
The commitment to nutrient-dense foods as a lifestyle rather than a temporary fix made all the difference.
Shifting Training From Powerlifting To Muscle Building
During his most depressed period, Theunissen gravitated toward powerlifting—grinding out heavy weights with low volume and minimal reps.
His transformation accelerated when he transitioned to more traditional bodybuilding or “power building” with moderate weights and higher volume.
This approach revealed the muscularity hiding beneath excess body fat and created the well-rounded physique that eventually landed him recognition from Men’s Health alongside Jillian Michaels and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Rejecting Temporary Diets Permanently
Beyond just adopting lifestyle changes himself, Theunissen recognized he needed to mentally unlock from diet culture entirely.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
As a coach, he now sees clients trapped in the same cycle he experienced: believing they’ll complete a diet then return to previous eating patterns.
We need to take this concept and throw it out the window. We need to start analyzing the bad habits or the things that get us in trouble and not just be perfection.
Progress requires daily work on habit improvement and damage control rather than flipping a light switch to instant perfection.
Stopping The Hiding Behind Baggy Clothes
Even after losing 100 pounds, Theunissen continued hiding behind big beards, glasses, and oversized clothing.
Making the mental transformation proved harder than the physical one. But when he stopped hiding—trimmed the beard, ditched unnecessary glasses, bought clothes that actually fit—people started treating him differently.
This wasn’t about becoming a fashion icon. It was about putting his best self forward and signaling self-respect.
The external shift reinforced internal confidence and completed the transformation puzzle.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
Reconnecting With Lost Hobbies
During 17 years of marriage and fatherhood, Theunissen gradually disconnected from personal interests like playing guitar, watching baseball, and adventuring.
Rebuilding his life meant rediscovering what brought him joy. Reading books he’d always wanted to read. Playing guitar despite being rusty. Engaging with hobbies purely for personal fulfillment.
It was like meeting myself all over again. It made me feel like myself again.
Building Something Meaningful
The final habit change was perhaps the most impactful: starting a website and YouTube channel about fitness.
What began as simply talking about something he loved evolved into an extraordinary career. Theunissen has now written over 1,000 articles, created 3,700 YouTube videos, and beat out 200,000 competitors to become 2023 Online Coach of the Year.
Finding purpose beyond personal transformation provided lasting motivation and the opportunity to help countless others struggling with similar challenges.
His story proves transformation isn’t just about the number on the scale—it’s about reclaiming life, health, and identity one sustainable habit at a time.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
