A young Chinese doctor has gone viral for his rapid weight loss, shedding 25 kilograms (55 pounds) in just 42 days and then entering and winning a professional bodybuilding contest.

At the end of 2024, Wu Tian Gen, a 31-year-old surgeon at Hubei’s Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, weighed 97.5 kg (215 lbs), the heaviest he had ever been, but by the end of January 2025, the 1.82m tall doctor had shed over 42 kilograms and was in such an amazing physical condition that he won a bodybuilding competition. How did he do it? Well, he didn’t share every detail, but it was a combination of personal ambition, physical training, and a carefully thought-out diet. Even so, losing so much weight in 42 days is nothing short of impressive.

Wu Tian Gen, a surgeon who usually helps obese patients lose weight by performing gastric bypasses, knew he had to shed a few pounds in order to avoid developing serious health problems. Tests revealed that he had a fatty liver, so he challenged himself to lose weight to enter a bodybuilding competition. In the beginning, he trained for two hours a day, while also performing his regular duties, which included three surgeries per week, two days of ward visits, as well as daily research and consultations.

Tian Gen would get up at 5:30 in the morning, do an hour of cardio, go to work, then do another hour of cardio, and finally soak his feet in hot water and take a hot shower before bed to promote blood circulation. In the days leading up to the contest, he increased his training time to four hours a day instead of two.

Although the 31-year-old doctor didn’t reveal too many details about his diet, his trainer, Shi Fan, a renowned Chinese athlete who won the Overall Fit Model championship at the IFBB World Fit Model Championships in Lithuania last year, said that training was the main factor of his weight loss achievements.

“Wu’s training intensity exceeds that of many professional athletes,” Shi told SCMP.

Asked what his motivation was for his rapid weight loss program, Tian Gen said that he hoped to become a model for overweight people struggling to shed some extra pounds. Ironically, he claimed that he claimed that he didn’t back “drastic, short-term methods” that call for people to eat “very little”.