KYMA Exclusive: Beast Underneath

At Snap Fitness in the Yuma Foothills — a man on a mission.

Meet Josh Mcelhaney — A bus driver from Yuma, inspiring thousands of people around the world with his weight loss story. “I’ve been overweight my whole life. Like most overweight kids, you get bullied through school, so you keep to yourself.. and you find comfort in food. so i was addicted to food and addicted playing videos games,” Josh says.

He tried playing soccer and football, but it wasn’t his thing.

“They always tried to get me to play foot ball. that was like my role to play football, but i jsut never really got into it,” says Mcelhaney.

As he got older, he tried the diet and exercise thing. “I’d always go one for two months at most and then id give up.. like I don’t see the results or i get too hungry – I’m starving myself.. all the bad stuff.” He had a friend who even had the gastric bypass surgery and recommended it to him. “I hadn’t seen a doctor in a long time and i was pretty much on deaths door with my heart rate my resting heart rate was 110 which average people should be around 70, he says. “My liver and kidneys were failing — just everything was bad,” he continued. The news was hard for him to hear, and took him a couple weeks to process. “Your mind — it tricks you.. it makes you ignorant to your surroundings.. how big you are how bad off you really are.. but after a couple weeks.. I guess.. i stopped lying to myself,” Says Josh.

He weighed himself at a local truck stop.. where he found out he weighed 593 pounds. He then made a doctors appointment in Phoenix, but it was three months away. He also made a goal — to diet on his own for three months and if he could do that, he would try his weight loss journey naturally. Obviously, he accomplished that goal.

“The first 3 months were purely diet.. ‘ cuz i knew before in the past anytime i tried to diet and exercise at the same time it was always too much for me and i would quit from burnout,” Josh says.

So , Josh took to YouTube looking for ideas and motivation to lose weight, but most importantly, to find clean meals to make for himself. YouTube then led to Instagram.

“One of the people I found YouT ube i know they did I nstagram. S o, I though ‘oh well, I’ll try I nstagram out,” says Mcelhany

He started with pictures of his food.. selfies.. and posts reporting how many steps he took that day.

“–and then I finally posted like a full body picture telling my story so far an the support blew up it was overwhelming,” says Josh.

Now he has over 40,000 followers — motivating people near and far.

“I continue to do it because they were there when i needed it the most, and now i try to be there when anyone else needs it the most,” Josh say. “What I’ve gone through what I’ve struggled with, I try to be real with people so they know its not easy to lose weight its going to be hard, probably the hardest thing anyone can do. but it’s worth it.. like i try to show em my highs as well as my lows so they know its just not one straight path.”

As for Josh’s future:

“I know I want to compete in power lifting which is what i love doing lifting heavy stuff. I just want to continue living my life and being happy really.”

And his advice for others:

“Just don’t quit. That’s the secret to weight loss.. you don’t quit.. you’re going to struggle its going to be hard, your not going to see progress sometimes,” he says, “but definitely, don’t quit.”

Josh has taken on new workouts like cardio, jump roping, battle ropes, and the stair master. He says the feeling he gets, he wants to share it with more people.

“I feel alive. I was just coasting existing through life. I was miserable, I was unhappy. I was angry, I was a lot of things. Like, I pushed everyone out of my life and now I feel alive I’m happy, I want to meet more people, I want to talk to more people, I want to travel, I want to see the whole world.”

When Josh began his fitness journey he weighed about 593 pounds. At last check he was a little over 400 pounds.

He says one of his biggest accomplishments was hiking Yuma’s Telegraph Pass — a feat that took him about seven hours to complete.

Josh hopes to keep shredding the pounds. He says he hopes to get down to about 200 pounds, plus whatever extra skin his body still has.

His family is fully supportive. His mother told News 11’s Max Tarlton that she’s seen a huge improvement in her son. Not only with his fitness an weigh loss journey, but she says his attitude and way of life are now amazing and incredible.

To follow Josh’s journey, you can follow his Instagram – @Beast_Underneath