Ethan Taylor: An Inspiration to All

Ethan Taylor came to Anytime Fitness in Rockford Illinois at over 370lbs at the young age of 19. For much of his youth, he struggled with his weight—and in turn, his mental health suffered, too. He was fed up and challenged himself first to lose 100lbs. A lofty goal, but Ethan was bound and determined to change his life. Ethan took his first step by scheduling a personal training session with his coach, Kaleb, the following week.

Ethan was committed and refused to quit—even when he wanted to. In order to stay accountable, he set benchmark goals that helped him move through his fitness journey and hit mini milestones along the way to keep momentum up. And while working out and hitting the gym was a big contributor to his weight loss, Ethan needed to make improvements in his lifestyle that extended far beyond the gym. He completely changed his eating habits, met with a trainer every week and even started a walking club.

After reaching over 65 pounds lost, he motivated his brother, Zach, and countless others by starting his own 21-day challenges outside the club for people in the community that felt intimidated by the gym environment. During these challenges, he visited multiple local gyms daily and met with numerous people to continue to motivate and inspire. In just shy of 12 months, Ethan met his goal and lost over 100 pounds. He is an inspiration to his entire community, but especially to Zach—who has lost over 45 pounds. Today, Ethan has lost almost half of his bodyweight at an astonishing 182lbs. His belly fat has gone from 88lbs to 16lbs and his overall bodyfat percentage has gone from 53% to 13%. Ethan just completed the iconic Chicago Half Marathon and has his sights set next on the full 26.2. If we’re sure of one thing, it’s that nothing will stop him from reaching his goals!