Losing both his parents at a young age led Joey Morganelli to develop a food addiction

After graduating high school, he hit his heaviest point at nearly 400 pounds

Morganelli adopted a vegan diet and has lost 150 pounds — and counting

When Joey Morganelli was 13 years old, his mother died of cancer. Three years later, his seemingly healthy father had a heart attack and died in front of him.



Over the next few years, Morganelli began to push down his feelings about the loss of his parents with an intense food addiction. By the time he turned 18, he was around 312 pounds.

"You don't have to be hungry to eat. That's how I gained weight so quickly," he told MensHealth.com.

Morganelli gained even more weight after graduating high school, hitting his heaviest point at nearly 400 pounds. At the time, he didn’t understand he was using food to cope with his sadness — only that “it tastes good, and it makes me happy.”

"You don't have to be hungry to eat. That's how I gained weight so quickly."

It wouldn't be that way forever. Morganelli learned about nutrition and how to live an active lifestyle, and today, at 23 years old, he's lost 150 pounds and counting.

“I just decided that I wanted to be mentally healthier and physically healthier because I wanted to start living my life,” he said.



How His Weight Loss Journey Began

Things changed in April of his freshman year, when a microbiology professor pulled him aside to express his fears over his student’s health. He asked him to watch the Netflix documentary, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. Some people might have been offended by the professor's suggestion, but Morganelli said the film had a powerful effect on him.

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He immediately embarked on a juice cleanse just like Joe Cross did to lose weight — but found it impossible to stick to.

“I literally made two things of juice and then left class and got McDonald's,” Morganelli said of abandoning the highly restrictive cleanse — which is proven to not help with sustained weight loss anyway — within hours. “I couldn't just jump from binge eating to this."

Undeterred, Morganelli kept going on his weight loss journey. Instead of juicing, he downloaded the MyFitnessPal app and began tracking his calories, and slowly but surely began finding his own way.

“The first thing I did was give up fast food,” he said.

Morganelli then began experimenting in his kitchen and cooking healthy meals for himself, which is proven to be one of the best ways to drop pounds.

“I absolutely loved it,” he said.

Within one month of cooking for himself and giving up fast food, Morganelli lost 20 pounds and started his first job working in the kitchen of a retirement home. By counting calories, he dropped an average of 20 pounds every few weeks, getting down to 325 pounds in a matter of four months.

But his struggles weren't over. He yo-yoed for several months, gaining and losing weight again because he’d often give in to binges. It wasn’t until he had a panic attack in his car and thought he was having his a heart attack that he decided to drastically change his diet forever.

Going Vegan

"I decided to go vegan," Morganelli said, explaining that he went on a whole food, plant-based diet. Here's a sampling of what his meals look like today.

Breakfast: He eats overnight oats, which includes one banana mashed up, a cup of soy milk, a cup of oats, flax seeds, and chia seeds. Sometimes, he adds a cup of blueberries. "It tastes like a blueberry muffin," he said.

Lunch: Morganelli packs a to-go bag filled with vegetables like brussels sprouts, mushrooms, onion, garlic, and bell peppers. He will often sauté them and add in different sauces for taste. (Here are 26 recipes that'll make you love vegetables.)

Dinner: He usually has a salad — not just any salad, but a "mixing-bowl-sized salad" filled to the brim with vegetables and some form of protein, such as beans.

“I wanted to grow up and live a life that I could be proud of."

A Physical and Mental Transformation

Thanks to his vegan diet, Morganelli explained he is now down to 250 pounds. His mental health has also improved — in fact, his panic attacks have nearly vanished.

“I wanted to grow up and live a life that I could be proud of, rather than saying I just sat and at ate all day and died at 42 of a heart attack because I didn't want to face my fears," he said. "The hardest thing you can do is face yourself.”

Stacey Leasca Stacey Leasca is a journalist from Rhode Island.

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