wow, congratulations, what a great Achievement!! Losing weight is so hard to to but YOU did it!!!!

Dude! I'm not heavy, but my wife is, and I tell her the same thing every day! Kudos to YOU!

I know a lot about what you say. My daughter and I both have food addictions. Mine stems from the feeling that wasting food is a sin. I feel compelled to eat every bite...mine, theirs and yours...so nothing is wasted. My daughter's is from those years when we had little to eat and went to bed with very little in her stomach. We don't want for food now, but she keeps reminding herself to eat as much as she can now because she might not have enough food tomorrow. I changed a lot about my eating habits including dropping red meat, fried foods, fast food, pasta, potatoes, bread and sugar from my diet, but I still slip and controlling the need to waste no food is still a daily battle. Congratulations on your strength.

Good for you Greg! You do inspire.

Amazing accomplishment! You should be very proud of yourself! You inspire me!

I know how hard this can be, though surely not at your level. A huge accomplishment; congratulations on your new self!!

Congrats on doing so well. I've never had to fight an addiction (other than Poser!) but I know it must be hard. Good for you!

I know exactly of what you speak! First, I must say you certainly did not look to be 500 lb in the upper photo. Second, my congratulations on fighting a successful battle which few will ever understand. For one of the most common afflictions, being overweight is most often misunderstood by those who are not. I maintain that the real guilty party here is the (largely) North American food industry which runs rampant knowing full-well the problems they cause. Sure, many will say you don't have to eat it, but is that true? What about the millions if not billions spent on advertising? Do people think that is not effective? Of course it is, and the advertisers know it is, or they would not spend that money. On top of that, as soon as people can prove a product is unhealthy, the industry alters the product, changes the name, and they commence advertising the new product. If you were to go through a modern supermarket and remove all items that didn't exist 30 years ago, the store would likely be less than half the present size. Only the produce aisles are still close to their previous size. What has been added in the past 30 years has added fat and sugar to our diet but nothing of value. We now have entire aisles of cookies and such. Much of the advertising is directed at children and very effectively too! They now have cheese they can play with while they devour it! If you doubt the effectiveness of that advertising, follow a mother with a cart and two busy kids in tow and see what they get her to add to the cart. My hat is off to the rare mothers who do not let their children dictate what goes into the cart. I guess what I'm saying is that the national problem will simply get much worse unless and until we force our legislators to start regulating the food industry and their advertising, as was done with cigarettes. How about candy bars with photos of amputated feet from gangrene-infected diabetics? I guess I'd better get off my soapbox now, eh?

Congrats on shrinking the waistline! I lost a very good friend years ago. He weighed over 300, and said it would kill him It did. So, again: kudos!

Congratulations and thanks for pointing out the facts!

Very well said. Congratulations, you look great!

Congratulations! It's not easy as you point out, and you should be really proud!:):)

What an inspiring story, and achievement, I can see it by the smile on your face. It saddens me too when I see the majority of over weight people and notice their habits. I have put on a pound here and there mostly from having children, but I got back down to my normal weight eventually, but I love to cook and I am a good cook so I have to watch it, what works for me is walking or riding my bike, I go almost every night, though a bit harder to do now with the cold temperatures. But it is both good for the body and my mind. I usually just either take the dog, she loves to go, or I take my little sony MP3 player and walk to rather the radio or some tunes. The town I live in is loaded with some wonderful walking trails so I might as well take advantage of them all. Have a great weekend my friend.

Congratulations!! That is an awesome achievement! I have to say, even though you were 500 pounds, I never would have guessed you weighed that much! Yes, food is probably one of the hardest addictions, because as you said, if you are addicted to alcohol or drugs, they are not necessary to live, but food...we HAVE to eat. Keep up the good work! You're an inspiration to me who could stand to lose quite a few pounds!!

Congratulations to your new "you"! You have my deep respect... :) Vashek

What you have already achieved, my friend is no small feat (pardon me), but you know, what I mean, Greg ? I have been a Fitness Instructor for many years and have got an inkling what's going on, always surrounded by overweight/addicted people, so I take my hat off to you - to find the courage and the willpower to combat that thing called: "addiction". We all have some sort of it in our life, after going through menopause, I have finally experienced in a small way, what can happen ... and now that I am retired - every day is a thing called weighing up, what it will do to me, if I have 2 pieces of cake (or whatever) instead of one and only once a week (!) as a treat. YIKES the temptations are always there - like demons waiting to be consumed. I now have a treadmill and a stationary bike and it is my New Years resolution to stick to that regime, some days it is harder, than others - but anything is better than none, wouldn't want to be a burden to anyone in my old days to come. I am proud of you and take care ... and thanks for being so honest with us ! BB

Congratulations! Keep up the good work. You are an inspiration!

By the way those are size 64 pants and they were getting tight. Recently lost a toe to diabetes (side effect of weight gain). I keep on trying to keep fit. I won't give into the powered chairs that I see so many people in.

Congratulations! I see peoples of ALL types and builds as to WHO and WHAT they are INSIDE. However, I ALSO, selfishly, want those peoples to be AROUND as LONG as possible and as HEALTHY as possible on THEIR journeys. TERRIFIC post!

I think keeping it off can be a bigger challenge than losing it, although losing weight is a huge task.my son is way over weight and being a fireman,I thought he may loose some. no chance

Congratulation and hope you stay healthy. I am impressed. Aloha