Chiara used to obsess over a goal weight. David had one too. Neither of them does now. Instead they eat the same keto meals, train the same program, and measure progress by what they can lift — and post it all from one account, @butterchops_.

It's the shift that took David more than 110 pounds down, and carried Chiara through her first year without a binge.

“Maybe the Long Way Is the Short Way”

David, now 39, has been working on his weight his whole life. As a teenager he crash dieted — extreme fasting, eating just tuna, shake programs. Each one worked for a while, then stopped. Eleven years ago he stepped on the scale at his highest.

“My highest, I was 305 pounds, and I asked myself how this story ends.”

He decided not to wait for a health scare to force the issue. “I am going to make my own rock bottom,” he says. The commitment he made wasn't to a diet. It was to a pace.

“The main mindset change for me was that I was going to go into a slow and steady approach... I basically just told myself, maybe the long way is the short way.”

A Rock Bottom That Looked Different

Chiara's turning point wasn't a number. After developing an eating disorder in her school years, her weight reached a high of 238 pounds — but what finally moved her had nothing to do with the scale.

“My rock bottom came in the form of my family distancing themselves from me... if I keep doing this, I am going to lose my family.”

Her first attempt worked fast, and it cost her. She lost 90 pounds in four months on about 900 calories a day, swinging between extremes the whole way.

“There was never a real peace.”

The real shift came in the past year, and it looked nothing like the first one.

“With David, I lost 40 pounds, and there have been no binges on my side for the last year.”

Doing It Together

The two met in an Instagram fitness group. Today they live in the metro Atlanta area and train, eat, and track side by side. For Chiara, that partnership was the piece every previous attempt had been missing.

“We agreed we're going to do this together. We're going to eat the same food, train the same program... that accountability and that companionship helps.”

Unlearning restriction meant eating more, not less. Over roughly ten months Chiara went from about 1,300 calories a day to 2,200.

“You have to fuel the body for the work that you are asking it to do.”

Both are quick to add a caveat: keto is what works for them, not a prescription. “A diet is only successful if you can maintain it consistently,” David says. “It's what am I never going to give up, and what am I willing to sacrifice.”

Seeing Progress Beyond the Scale

David now weighs between 200 and 205 pounds — a number that, by BMI alone, would tell him he's doing badly. “For someone who's lifting weights, that makes no sense,” he says. So he stopped reading the scale as the whole story.

“I can see the differences with side by sides of body fat, where my muscles have grown, where my waist has shrunk. And that's nothing that a scale can ever tell you.”

Chiara leans on the same long view, especially in maintenance when the scale stays flat for weeks at a time.

“I may not have seen it myself, but it's right there in front of me." 

Their Advice for Anyone Starting Out

Don't take the shortcut

“Shortcuts end up being a lot longer than the long way,” Chiara says. “Give yourself a little bit of grace and patience. Just don't quit on yourself.”

Write down your why

David recommends a storyboard: what happens in twelve months if you do nothing, what success looks like, who besides yourself would be disappointed. He reads his every morning and every night.

“If you have a strong enough why, that gets you through the tough times.”

Drink water first

“If you just take the time to drink sixteen ounces of water and wait ten minutes before you eat, you might find — oh, I am actually good. I wasn't really hungry.”

Looking Ahead

There's no goal weight at the end of this story, and that's the point. David isn't working toward a number any more; he's working toward a way of living that doesn't need an end date.

“I am building the life I intend to live for the rest of my life. There is no finish line. There is no end point. Take a little step forward every single day.”

Follow David and Chiara's journey on Instagram - @butterchops_

Items They Actually Swear By

The tools David and Chiara named themselves, plus a couple our team rates alongside them.

• A programmable slow cooker — “We swear by David's slow cooker.” Sunday prep means dinner is already waiting, so nobody grabs the first thing they see

• Legion protein powder — 56 grams every morning, usually just powder and almond milk. Chiara keeps it interesting with the pecan praline and matcha cheesecake flavours

• Quest chips, Legendary chips and protein bars — kept on hand so a craving doesn't become a decision. The chips earn their spot at 20–25 grams of protein a bag

• Keto Clarity by Eric C. Westman — the nine-hour audiobook David spent real time with. Keto information is easy to find, he says; telling signal from noise is the hard part

• Honey Stinger energy gels — long-run fuel. Chiara can't stomach dense food before a run, but these go down and keep her energy up. She pairs them with Legion's recharge formula