Man loses 300 pounds and gains it back; vows to lose it again

PHOENIX (FOX 10) - It was a tremendous success story. A few years ago, a 600-pound Valley man lost 300 pounds on his way to a healthier life that he had never known. But it wasn't long before all of his accomplishments were erased because of bad habits. As our Matt Galka tells us, quitting isn't an option - and he's on his way to doing it all again.

The discipline, sacrifice, sweat, perseverance it takes to go from 600 pounds down to below 300 pounds is nothing short of remarkable. But what if you had to do it again?

"I stepped on the scale and I was at 601," said Cory Cavazos. "When I saw that number, I said, 'What the hell is going on, do something!'"

Cavazos is over 600 pounds again. But it was just about three years ago when he had finished up his first weight loss journey - shedding half of his body weight and becoming a real weight loss success story.

"That was strictly just working out and eating good," Cavazos said. "It's no magic pill or anything like that."

Cavazos had worked with trainer Matt Hoodie at Transform Scottsdale. A regimented diet and exercise program helped him the first time around. But after leaving that structure, he reverted back to old habits and finds himself right back where he started.

Hoodie and Cavazos are teaming up once again to lose all the weight and more a second time around. Hoodie himself knows the struggle - he once tipped the scale at over 300 pounds.

"Usually, you'll see the weight come back more, so when there's a major life change that occurs, that triggers stress that wasn't there before," Hoodie said. "Stress that wasn't common when you were losing the weight. But that's the most common [thing], when something major changes and the routine is disrupted."

Cavazos, who works for a heart doctor, says he doesn't want to go down a path he might not be able to come back from.

"You work for a heart doctor and you're 600 pounds, do the doctors care about you?" Cavazos said. "Does anyone care about you, and yeah they care."

"If you die, you die," Cavazos went on to say. "Those other people are not going to go anywhere, you only have the one life and that's something I've really hung on to. I'm in this for me, and just like anyone else is in it for themselves, too. I know that sounds kind of selfish, but I think when you're at the weight I'm at, you [have] to be a little selfish to make this type of huge change."

The road won't be easy - few things that are worth it are. But the lifts, the work, the determination - can all pay off. Both Cavazos and Hoodie say they're more committed this time than they were before.

"I promise you if you follow this, you will make it through all the way to the end," Hoodie said.

"I see my grandparents and stuff like that, different people I work with, they're celebrating [their] 50th and stuff like that, there's a part of me in the back of my head and it's like man, I just want to make it to 50," Cavazos said.

Two months after we first met Cavazos, he was already well on his way. In a little over 60 days, he was down 50 pounds.

"I feel completely different, I feel good," Cavazos said. "I feel better about moving around and stuff like that. I feel like a different person."

"We had a couple of weeks where he stalled out [and] didn't move in weight, but thankfully he has trust in me and didn't try to go make crazy adjustments and go one some cleanse or detox or something," Hoodie said. "He rode it out and sure enough, two weeks later, the scale shows up for the last three weeks. And [when] you get this massive drop, that's one of the biggest things - understanding the science behind it.