Tony Raines gained 32 pounds, then lost 22 pounds, in an eight-month period. The Challenge star began his journey of bulking and cutting in September 2024 and showed off his wild transformation from then to now on May 1.
Raines shared a series of three photos to show his progress. His starting weight was 218 pounds on September 1. By January 1, he weight 250 pounds after four months of bulking. At that point, he began the cutting phase and was able to loss 22 pounds in the next four months.
In the caption, he explained the process. “I set a goal to put on as much weight/muscle as I could by January 1st and then I would take the next 4 months to cut the fat I had gained while maintaining the muscle I had built,” Raines shared. “I ended up gaining 32lbs on the bulk and was able to cut 22lbs off of that by the end of the 4 months. I originally wanted to drop 25 to 28 pounds of the bulk but I am happy with these results and will aim do my best to maintain throughout the summer.”
Despite having a bit of trouble with the cut, Raines said he plans to try the process again come September. “Can’t wait to eat all the goodies again. That was the best part!” he admitted.
One month before the end of the process, Raines had given an update about where he stood. At that point, he was weighing in at 230 lbs., which was about five more than he expected.
“The cut has been difficult,” the dad of two admitted. “Going from eating as much as you want to a calorie deficit is tough especially if you love food as much as me. I plan to lock in this next month and land somewhere between 220lbs-225lbs. The goal will be to maintain that weight and my strength through the summer until fall rolls around and I’ll start the bulk back up. Really looking forward to that.”
At the end of the bulk phase back in January, Raines also gave more insight into the process, revealing that he was eating 5,000 calories a day and increasing his “max weight across all lifts” while gaining weight. By the end, he was the “heaviest [he’s] ever been in [his] life.”
“FYI I did this working out 5/6 days a week while maintaining 30 mins of cardio a day,” Raines said. During the cut phase, his goal was to “hold onto as much muscle as possible while shedding the extra fat [he] put on.”
Raines’ body transformation came after he returned to The Challenge for Season 40 after a six-year hiatus. He was eliminated in Episode 3.