How Vegan TikTok Star ‘PlantFormed’ Plans to Lose 254 Pounds

Eric Larsen, who goes by  the social username, PlantFormed is on a weight loss journey to lose 254 lbs on a plant-based diet. If that weren't remarkable enough, he has gained a large audience who are following along on his journey, rooting him on to success and being inspired to try to eat plant-based themselves.

Eric shares his story on YouTube, which starts with the difficulties he faced when he weighed his heaviest, a life-threatening 480 lbs, back in January 2019. Eric graduated from college and was diagnosed with Type II diabetes and said he was extremely sick.

In hopes to turn his life around and become healthy, Larsen began to count calories, which helped him lose the first 40 pounds. But he said he still felt sick even after that firwt victory and decided he had to change his diet. Larsen made the decision to go completely plant-based after watching the documentary about plant-based athletes, The Game Changers, which features popular plant-based professionals like Patrik Baboumian, Lewis Hamilton, and Nate Diaz.

Eric researched veganism and plant-based weight loss on his own and found doctors that helped him along his journey. Larsen mentions one doctor, in particular, Dr. Michael Greger, author of How Not to Diet. who inspired him to eat whole food plant-based diet after Eric read Greger's bestselling book about how death can be prevented by lifestyle switches and food choices, How Not to Die.

After 3 months of eating a whole foods plant-based diet Eric noticed incredible results. His blood pressure dropped from 180 over 90 to 130 over 60. In addition, his blood sugar fell from 300 to 110 and Laren's doctor was "shocked", and told him that everything looked better such as "triglyceride, HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein), and LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein)," lowering his risk of heart disease and stroke.

Continuing his vegan weightloss journey, Eric shares helpful tips to inspire others. He only drinks water, keeps track of calories on the My Fitness Pal App, exercises a lot more since he has more physical time, and eliminated his long drive to work during the quarantine. He advocates for a good night's sleep, 7-8 hours a day, walks 10,000 steps a day, bikes on the weekends, uses his punching bag in his garage, and says," I go to town" meaning he's working up a sweat.

Finally, Larsen found a system to keep track of weight loss, and no it's not a food diary or calorie checklist, instead, he uses TikTok every day to share his progress. He highlights which day he's on, the amount of weight he's lost, and dances around with a strobe light and techno music in his garage. He calls this, "Plants and Dance Till 180lbs!"

Larsen's reasoning for openly tracking his progress is because he feels motivated by his "amazing support system from TikTok fans, people on Instagram, and family and friends on Facebook." He has 39.1K followers on TikTok and encourages his fans to join in and dance along even if the moves are for inspiration and not weightloss.

The Beet is thrilled for Eric's success. He is inspiring us to want to eat healthier every day, and we wish him the best of luck continuing his journey. Most of all we salute him for inspiring others who are on their own weight loss journey. We recommend tuning into Eric's TikTok for light-hearted motivation and encouragement so he can feel supported to lose over 200 pounds, and The Beet team is cheering you on, Way to go Eric!