Making a change can be difficult. Even when you know the change is detrimental to your health, it doesn’t happen overnight, if at all.
But when one man who weighed a reportedly 560 pounds was told that his situation was between life and death, he buckled down and made an effort to lose the excess weight.
Darren “Dibsy” McClintock, a 27-year-old from England, loved fast food. It was his vice and the primary reason he had gained so much weight.
During a visit to the hospital for heart issues, he was told by his doctors that he would be “dead before long” if he didn’t change his lifestyle.
Understandably, his mother was distraught.
“Seeing my mum’s reaction to it all was heartbreaking, if it wasn’t for that I might never have changed. Now I need to face up to my problem and tackle it head-on; it’s now or never.”
McClintock dedicated himself to losing the weight on his own but somebody else stepped in to help him.
One day when McClintock and his mom were at a gym, they were spotted by well-known personal trainer, Mike Hind.
Hind is an award-winning personal trainer. He was named the Best Personal Trainer in the UK by the National Fitness Awards in 2017.
Hind also has a reputation for taking on one free client for the year and when he saw McClintock with his mother, he saw someone with potential.
He approached the two and when he offered his services, McClintock accepted.
Hind recalls the moment:
“His mum burst out crying and said no parent would want to bury her child.”
One of the first things Hind set out to do was to ween McClintock off of fast food.
Hind printed and handed out flyers to the fast-food restaurants in the area advising them not to serve McClintock if he were to come in.
The flyer warned that his obesity was killing him.
McClintock traded in his daily diet of “pies, pastries, crisps and chips” for a healthier one and exercise program. He also gave up alcohol.
McClintock was already losing weight within the first week of training with Hind.
“It’s been very hard — like, to the point where I’ve just wanted to walk out and give up, but obviously I’ve got these people around me who keep me motivated, keep me going,” McClintock said.
At 28-years-old and 266 pounds lighter, McClintock believed that he was ready to accomplish something that he had never done before.
He wanted to participate in the world’s largest half-marathon, the Great North Run.
He and Hind signed up with a team to raise funds for the Boro Walkers Association.
McClintock set a personal goal to complete the marathon in four hours but to his amazement, he completed it in just two hours and 43 minutes!
“If you’d told me I would be doing the Great North Run, even a month ago, I would have laughed. I’ll definitely do that again next year and hopefully get a better time as well.”
He continued, “I found it hard but the sense of achievement is unbelievable.”
To put the large event into perspective, McClintock ran with 57,000 other runners!
What an achievement!
Currently, McClintock is focused on raising money for surgery to get rid of excess skin from his weight loss. If you would like to donate, you may do so here!
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