Million Dollar Listing 's Tyler Whitman Reflects on Losing 200 Lbs.: 'I Had Hit Rock Bottom'

Tyler Whitman can remember exactly when he "hit rock bottom."

Back in December 2015, the Million Dollar Listing: New York star was dancing at a Phish concert when he "began to feel faint and nearly passed out." Whitman weighed 300 lbs. at the time, and "loved dancing no matter my size," he wrote in an essay for Today.com, but said that "this time was different."

"I was sobbing, humiliated," Whitman recalled. "I said to [my friend], 'I am taking care of this. I am so done.' "

Whitman said that his frustrations with his weight had been building for a long time — as a real estate agent, he "was too ashamed to see my clients in person anymore," and on dating apps he would only post photos of himself from the shoulders and up.

"Usually before meeting, potential dates would ask to see a full-body photo. On the rare occasion they didn't, I would show up for the date and they would have that 'oh my' moment and look on their face," he said. "I felt so isolated. I was binging a lot."

Whitman said he was often overcompensating with his personality to try and act more confident than he felt.

"I felt like I had to make up for being overweight by putting on a show. My inner story was, 'I know I'm fat, but I promise I'm awesome — let me put on this performance for you,' " he said. "The funny-guy schtick was exhausting and it made it hard for people to connect with me. I thought I was destined for a sad and lonely life."

tyler whitman/ instagram Tyler Whitman

But that moment at the Phish show convinced Whitman he needed to make a change, and after years of trying every diet imaginable, he opted for gastric sleeve weight loss surgery.

"That, plus exercise and a healthy diet, worked for me," he said, and in a year he lost 200 lbs., which he's now successfully kept off for five more.

Whitman said, though, that undergoing such a big change was difficult.

"Once I lost the weight, things changed for me. Suddenly, people who never paid attention to me before did. The attention came from everywhere. It made me nervous, and it made me angry, too," he said. "I couldn't help thinking, 'You a--holes never gave a crap about me when I was fat.' "

Whitman started relying on drinking to calm himself down, and said that "there was a period of time I was drinking all day." In April 2020, he decided to get sober, and has been since.

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Whitman said that quitting drinking has been easy, but he still deals with food cravings that he has to manage to maintain his weight loss. The reality star logs his meals in an app to keep track of what he's eating, and when the cravings really hit he asks himself, "'How do I want to feel in 30 minutes?' "

"I don't like feeling too full and I don't want a sugar hangover. Just asking that simple question is often enough to keep me on track," he said.

Whitman emphasized that weight loss is not a one-and-done process — it takes constant work.

"You know those before-and-after photos of people who have lost a lot of weight? Instead of before and after, I prefer to say past and present — because it's not as though the work is done," he said. "This transformation is something I have to show up for and do work for every day."