"Food became a total escape," he states. "I always considered it my drug."

The load kept piling on through adolescence and beyond. At 18, he soon started smoking. He started to drink heavily when he was 22. All the while he continued to eat unhealthy foods day and night.

On his blog, I've Said It All Before, Colao gives examples of his regular meals at that time. One included two burgers, a sizable soda, large Fried potatoes and chicken nuggets, totaling more than 2,400 calories.

By 2010, Colao was drinking up to 10 drinks in one night and smoking two packs super slim of any nicotine products a day. But after those scary symptoms kept waking him up, he made a pact with himself to alter.

"I stop smoking and stopped eating everything that was bad," he states.

Colao's parents bought him a treadmill because he was uncomfortable exercising in a gym. "That's what really solved the problem probably the most -- being able to gain the both mental and physical stability and exercise by myself," he recalls.

He soon started when walking and slowly worked his way up to jogging and weightlifting.

Colao overhauled his diet too. He stopped eating junk food, fried food and red meat and drinking soda. He forced himself to obtain accustomed to healthy alternatives while allowing himself to indulge in small things so he wouldn't feel overwhelmed.

He was motivated to alter his eating habits by realizing how much time he would have to exercise to lose from the foods he was consuming.

Within the initial few months, Colao dropped 50 pounds. Losing drove him to continue, lida original and he set a goal of losing 200 pounds.

As he had lost down to 305 pounds, Colao experienced a difficult breakup and eased on his counting calories and exercising habits. 6 months later, he had gained back 40 pounds.

Scared he'd continue gaining weight, they got back on the wagon.

"I became so angry at just how bad I'd gotten again, which i forced myself to obtain back in line," he remembers.

He began monitoring his caloric intake again and started exercising two hours each day, five days a week.