Chubby Gamer Loses 45 Pounds To Look More Like His Avatar

We support any reason an individual may have for taking their health and nutrition more seriously and committing to losing weight, but Marcus Dickinson’s situation is certainly unique, to say the least.

Dickinson was an overweight gamer who decided to commit to a healthier lifestyle three years ago, reports MSN. He started playing EVE Online, and in his words, created a “bad ass, no-nonsense military character” called Roc Wieler. Though Dickinson created the character and gave him a voice and personality while playing online, the similarities between the two stopped there.

He recalls that one day, something “snapped” inside him, and the 230-pound gamer thought “Why can’t I look like this? He acts and talks like me because he is me. I’m the one who gave him life.”

Roc Wieler is a brand to Dickinson. The 40-year-old advertising direction keeps a blog called “Roc’s Ramblings” that he writes on every day in his EVE Online persona. He creates Roc-themed artwork, music, and other paraphernalia that he has sold to his online fans through his blog and social media, reports CNN.

It all changed when he went to an EVE Online convention and just didn’t feel like Roc walking in.

After that, he committed to a strict diet regimen of lean proteins and vegetables, swapping out his 3,000 calorie-per-day diet of junk food and snacks. He began working out, and though the first month was difficult, he convinced himself to keep at it by reasoning that it was a matter of life and death.

“If I do not make these changes today, and every day going forward, I will die,” he says. “I know it sounds tragic but that’s what it took for me.”

It paid off. Dickinson now weighs 185 pounds and is only 14% body fat. He can squat almost twice his weight and dead-lift 450 pounds. “I’m closer to looking like Roc than I’ve ever been,” he says.

His wife doesn’t mind that his EVE Online persona inspired him to make a positive change, or that he still plays the game regularly. “If I said to him, ‘This is affecting our relationship,’ I know he would (stop),” she says. “But I don’t want to — he looks yummy!”