Here's how this guy became this fit

As a child, nothing could overwhelm Matt Harmon's obsession with food. His mother, who had lost her father as a teenager because he didn't take care of himself, tried to help Harmon eat less and be active. 

But neither her worrying nor his family history really reached Harmon.

And even though he was teased in school for being overweight, Harmon developed and hid behind a defense mechanism: being the "funny fat guy."

In a recent post on his Backyard Banter blog, where Harmon revealed his story, he recalled making a comment as a child that became his view on food and life: "We don't really care about the quality of food anymore, just as long as there is a lot of it, and it gets to us quickly."

Harmon remembered saying that with a childhood friend, who was also overweight. "I was just obsessed with food and consumed by it, and it didn't have limits," he said.

His insecurities, which had been mounting since middle school, grew stronger as he looked around at his friends, who were healthy and in good shape.

He attempted working out some at the gym but never committed for long.

By junior year, Harmon felt completely out of control and reached his peak weight of 315 pounds. Seeing the number "3" at the beginning gave the avid football fan a new perspective.

"I thought, 'this is what offensive linemen weigh, but I'm not an offensive lineman or an athlete,' " 

Harmon said. "The thing is, I never felt like I was 300 pounds, and no one ever looked at me and thought I was over 300 pounds, either."

He was spurred to start making small changes to his diet. He hired a personal trainer during the summer before his senior year and went to the gym twice a week. He dropped back to 285 pounds, but he was still eating unhealthily on the whole and stayed at that weight until graduating with a sociology degree in May 2013.

In August, he was faced with the impact of his parents' divorce combined with a breakup, the loss of a childhood friend to suicide, the loss of his second grandmother in the span of a year and the realization that his job had turned into a disaster. He entered a deep, dark depression. He would drink to excess at every opportunity and gained back some of the weight he had lost. He was consumed by pain and dreaded waking up each morning.

Harmon finally wanted to make a change. He knew that he had to stop and help himself. And the career path he had envisioned when he was in college no longer seemed right. Fueling his passion for writing about football, Harmon started the Backyard Banter blog in December 2013.

"Writing about football saved my life," Harmon said. "I needed an outlet besides this job I had. When I started the blog, it was for fun. But it gave me confidence that I had never had before. People liked my writing and started responding on Twitter, telling me how good I was at it. And I thought, 'your life is worth living.' I decided to go for it and pursue football writing as my career."

That same month, he also committed to a total lifestyle change. Harmon put himself in therapy and saw a counselor. He realized that if his life was worth living, he needed to start with his health.

Encouraged by the impact of the changes he had made, Harmon moved away from his strict diet and discovered a healthy balance that he could maintain. All the while, he was still losing weight, working toward his dream of being a football writer and even adopting a dog, Charlie, to keep him active with daily walks.

When NFL Media offered him a job and he moved to Los Angeles from Northern Virginia, Harmon weighed 231 pounds. But his first season as a football writer, and living in L.A., provided new temptations of free food and cut back on the amount of time he could spend at the gym. 

In the offseason, he has maintained a six-day workout plan that incorporates running, weight training and yoga. Harmon is also back to a more strict diet including egg whites, kale, lean meats, fish, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and brown rice. He weighs 218 pounds, but that's not the end of the road for his journey to wellness.

"My goal is to never be satisfied," Harmon said. "Not with my health or career or anything else. I look and feel good, and I'm at an acceptable stopping point, but I always want to feel that there's always more I can do."

Check out his blog for more information.