Drew Manning has been in great shape all his life, playing sports growing up and being passionate about fitness, so after some people told him he didn’t know what it’s like being fat and craving sugary foods, he realized they were right and decided to experience those things first hand.

So the personal trainer came up with a year-long program where he would get fat in the first six months and try to lose weight and get back in shape in the other six. He decided to track his progress on his website fit2fat2fit.com, where he posts photos, videos and updates on his weight and state of mind throughout the whole period. His journey into the world of fast food and soda began on May 7, with an introductory video where he explains why he’s doing this crazy experiment and enjoys his first fatty food – a dozen donuts. At least he tried eating all 12 of them, but after seven, he was ready to throw up.

Manning originally planned on gaining 50 to 60 pounds during the first six months, but in only five months he’s already added over 70 pounds to his 193. On October 15 he weighed 263 pounds and had added 13 inches to his weight. As he had foreseen when he started the experiment, it’s been pretty tough both physically and mentally. The once confident muscly personal trainer now claims being fat has taken its toll, as he’s having problems in his marriage, hates the way he looks in public and has problems getting anything to fit him anymore. Even mundane tasks like bending over to tie his shoes or clip his toenails have become too difficult, and he’s realized he has been taking a lot of things for granted.

Drew also mentions he has definitely become addicted to some of the fat and sugary stuff he’s tried during these first five months. “In the beginning, I did not like soda, but now I can’t go a day without, otherwise I’ll get the headaches, bad mood, etc.” he said in an interview to Yahoo Shine.  “I think a lot of people associate the word “addiction” with drugs and alcohol, but I do believe this addiction (to America’s processed foods) is real and very similar.” He now has a BP of 161/113 but says he hasn’t felt in danger so far because if others can live years with these unhealthy risk factors, like high BP, glucose levels, cholesterol levels, triglycerides, etc. then he can handle a few more days.

“I want to give people hope and I want to inspire them and show them that it really is possible to get back in shape again if they follow basic guidelines of good nutrition and good exercise routines,” Drew Manning says about his extreme experiment, and he plans to post all the meal plans and exercise routines of his “fat2fit” period on his site, for free. Hopefully seeing him get back to perfect shape will convince them change is possible. He says “I know I’ll never know exactly what it’s like for every person that’s overweight and I don’t claim to, but at least I understand better than I did before when I never had to struggle with this. I hope to learn a lot more in the second half of my journey, from fat 2 fit.”