“For the first time in my life, I feel like myself” - Artur’s story

Artur has experienced both extremes of the weight loss spectrum, from being overweight and binging on junk food to overtraining and under-fueling. Both were unhealthy and left him feeling defeated. That’s when he turned to Freeletics to finally strike a balance and experience what it feels like to live a truly healthy lifestyle. Here’s his story:

“I grew up in Siberia but relocated to Germany when I was 9 years old. It was tough because I had no friends and couldn’t speak the language. My grades at school also suffered due to my struggles with German at that time.

I was unhappy and depressed, and the only thing I was able to enjoy was food. And the food in Germany tasted far better and there was more available compared to my time in Siberia; yet, the quality was far worse (as I realized later).”

“Depression combined with access to an unlimited amount of tasty foods made me gain weight rapidly. And being heavy led to laziness, as any physical activity was just too exhausting. I felt uncomfortable in front of my classmates during any sports classes.

Once I reached puberty, I became more self-aware and started to feel even more ashamed and unhappy with myself and my body. By the time I turned 15, I already weighed over 100 kg at 180 cm tall.

My self-confidence was nonexistent, and I spent most of my time escaping reality by playing video games and eating junk food. My favorites were kebabs, instant noodles, potato chips, sugar water, and tons of chocolate daily.”

“At around the age of 20, after trying out some fitness centers and multiple attempts to lose weight via crash diets, I gave up on losing weight. Instead, I decided to give bodybuilding a chance.

At this time, I weighed 104 kg at 185 cm tall. The decision to focus on building muscle came through the help of one of my colleagues who was a former junior champion in bodybuilding. For the first time, I started to enjoy working out and seeing progress in terms of muscle gains.

After two years of consistently spending time in the gym and working out, I started to gain hope again in losing weight and becoming the version of me I always wanted to see in the mirror.”

“At the age of 22, I decided to get lean and ”ripped,” or die trying... Needless to say, this mindset was very unhealthy. It also led to a lot of bad decisions, such as reducing my caloric intake each week by 100 to 300 calories for over 6 months.

During these 6 months, I went from 97kg to 77kg, and by the end of this ”cutting phase,” I ended up eating just 300 calories a day. I even wanted to continue to see if I could get more ”ripped,” but stopped after one of the trainers from the gym asked me if I was in a fight since my lips were blue.”

“After spending so much time in a caloric deficit and feeling that I finally ”sculpted” my ideal body, it was difficult to increase my food intake without feeling ”fat” again.

I also accumulated multiple injuries from training. These injuries were mainly over-stressed tendons or damaged joints, such as my right knee. These setbacks left me feeling frustrated again, not only from not eating enough but also from not being able to train ”hard enough.”

Eventually, my life underwent another change as I moved to Stuttgart to obtain my Master's Degree in the field I was always passionate about –  Aerospace. I tried tracking what I was eating and even joined a power weightlifting club. But within the first year of practicing Olympic weightlifting, I re-injured my right knee and slightly fractured my left one – once again, a major setback.”

“After that, I gave up Olympic weightlifting for bouldering and gradually started to lose weight for better performance. Around the same time, I had heard about Freeletics and decided to give it a try, since I wanted to start working on my cardiovascular system for the first time in my life! And it worked like a charm!

I was able to eat the same amount of calories yet continued to burn fat. At the beginning of my cutting phase in 2021, I saw major improvements in my climbing performance, and after introducing Freeletics, I also noticed improvements in my endurance. However, by the end of 2023, I weighed 70 kg and felt like once again I was going to die at any point…”

“When I heard about the Freeletics Transformation Challenge, I thought that was a chance for me to get out of my caloric-deficit/body-dis-morphia hell. Yet, I wasn’t sure if I would fit in into the framework.

Nonetheless, I gave it a shot and was surprised and even more happy when I got the opportunity to join the challenge in 2024, which changed my life dramatically!

From January to October 2024, I gained over 10 kg and finally feel happy about it for the first time in my life! Of course, I sometimes still struggle with my thoughts and feelings about being ”fat” again. But the support from the entire team helped me tremendously with staying positive, loving myself, and being confident!

The nutritionist provided me with mental-health-care exercises and also helped me to understand how my negative thoughts were also negatively impacting me.

In about 6 months, I went from destroying myself 7 times a week to:

• stimulating muscle growth and endurance capacity 5 times a week
• minimum two days of recovery in the form of yoga, stretching, and walking.”

“The Freeletics Transformation Challenge was a true game- and life-changer for me! Now, I weigh 83 kg, am eating over 3,000 kcal a day, and feel very good and comfortable about it!

I’m now prioritizing health and performance instead of performance and appearance over health, and I feel like I am in the best shape ever.”

“This was a very big and important step for me. For the first time in my life, I feel like myself: great, strong, healthy, and good enough! I feel that I do not need to prove anything to anyone and that I love myself.”