A Man Achieved His Dream of Becoming a Bodybuilder, Losing Over 150 Pounds

As a teenager, Texas resident Ken Jones aspired to compete in the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition, the realm of legends in the sport like Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Now 59 years old, Jones said he vividly recalled seeing the televised contest and wanting to someday take on a similar challenge, despite some skepticism from family members at the time. 

“I thought ‘I’m going to do that one of these days,'” he told Business Insider in an interview coordinated by the health tracking app MyFitnessPal. “That’s kind of when it started.”

After more than four decades, Jones made good on his dream, not only competing in his first physique show in 2019, but going on to win first place in his division in 2021, and later earning high marks among men 20 years his junior. 

To get there, he lost about 185 pounds since his retirement in 2015, and kept it off.

Jones said that after a 26-year break from fitness, he swore to transform his health and get in shape upon retirement. Over more than 5 years, he did exactly that with a combination of walking, consistent gym sessions and most importantly, tracking nutrients like carbs, fat, and protein to build muscle and burn fat for the bodybuilding stage.

While Jones didn’t hit the bodybuilding stage as a teen, it wasn’t for lack of trying. Coming from an athletic background, he said he did his best to get in shape using the advice he could find at the time.

“There was no such thing as social media, I just read magazines and stuff, I had no clue what I was doing,” Jones said. “I ate a can of tuna for breakfast. I ate a can of tuna for lunch, with maybe or maybe not some rice. And I ate a can of tuna for dinner.”