Before: 290 pounds
After: 180 pounds
Height: 6'2"
Age: 24
Derrick Snodgrass was always a chubby kid, but his weight ballooned when, as a teenager, he started a job at McDonald’s. “I began eating three free meals and a dessert every day,” he says. “I never turned down free food.”
During his first year on the job, he gained about 40 pounds. He worked his way up at McDonald’s, eventually becoming store manager, and also worked his way up to 290 pounds within a few years. (Search: What are the fattiest fast foods?)
But not all of his bad eating could be attributed to fast food. When he cooked for himself, he’d usually make high-calorie foods like pasta and fried fish or chicken. “I never paid much attention to what I ate,” he says.
8 Foods You Should Eat Every Day
The Turning Point
Overweight, Derrick was easily fatigued and lacked energy he needed just to walk around at his job. Diabetes runs on both sides of his family, and in 2003 his father needed a kidney transplant from the complications caused by the disease. Though Derrick had always been given a clean bill of health at doctor’s visits, he knew it wouldn’t last long.
Video: Cut Your Risk for Diabetes
“I began to crave liquids, which I knew could be a sign of prediabetes, and my shirts would be drenched in sweat during the day,” Derrick says. “I knew I didn't want to go down the road my grandfather, a diabetic, blind, amputee went down, or that my father was going down.
The Lifestyle
With a new focus on health, Derrick decided to change his eating habits drastically. Following the Atkins Diet, he cut out carbohydrates, sugar, and desserts, and began to drink a lot of water while increasing his vegetable and protein intake.
Changing his diet helped him lose about 50 pounds. He was successful for 6 months, but then hit a plateau. Knowing he needed to add some exercise in order to keep losing, he began running—at first less than a mile a day but slowly worked up to 6 miles a day, 4 or 5 days a week.
Ready to start running? Here’s how to kick off your 5-K training!
“I knew exercise would counteract some of the eating I was doing, especially as I went off Atkins and started eating regular, balanced meals again,” he says. Running helped me feel better and more energetic. Once I started running, the weight started coming off fairly easily,” he says.
Derrick injured himself running and had to take time off, subsequently gaining about 30 pounds. But he’s back running and is confident that he can lose the weight again. “I know the formula: Eat healthy and exercise. Now that I’m healthy and running again, I’m already seeing positive results.”
The Motivation
Although he loves food, Derrick says it isn’t worth dying for. He got engaged in July and says he doesn’t want to pass on his poor eating habits to his future wife and family. “The curse stops now,” he says.
He still works at McDonald’s and eats the food often, but now he’s set boundaries for himself and has started eating some of the more nutritious items on the menu, like the salads, oatmeal, and apple slices. Derrick admits he still eats the occasional Big Mac when he wants it. “Moderation and balance are key,” he says.
Eat healthier when you dine out with Eat This, Not That! 2012
The Reward
Derrick’s favorite “new me” moment was when a friend asked him if he’d had gastric bypass surgery. “It's great to know I lost the weight naturally, and so can anyone else. Also I'm used to the new me, but statements like that really make me think, Wow, I really did do a little something,” he says.
Another perk is being able to shop for smaller clothing sizes—though Derrick says he still thinks of himself as a nearly 300-pound man. “The other day I went shopping and said to the bigger guy next to me, ‘Wow, they won’t have anything in our size’ and he looked at me all confused and said, ‘What do you mean? You’re skinny!’”
