from 520 to 220 in 18 months.

I know there are lots of large people out there, I am one of them, and so was my brother Kevin. At his heaviest he weighed ( drum roll please)..... 520 pounds. However just 18 months later he weighed 220 pounds. Impossible you say right ? He didn't have surgery, or his stomach stapled, and no he didn't lose his legs or anything.

But went to Jail, well Prison actually, Jail is something else. 520 pounds when he went in, he would write me letters from Prison telling me how awful it was there, but he said he was losing weight, because the food sucked. He said he walked every day and did push-ups and sit ups in his cell. Just so you know he didnt kill anyone, do drugs, or guns or anything violent, he did a little white collar money crime and was sentenced 2-4 years.

After 4 months of walking and doing whatever exercises he could do, he wrote me that he had lost 100 pounds. He also told me that he was going to apply for the Boot camp shock program, because he could reduce his sentence if he completes it. This camp was designed for punk kids in their 18-25 but they had a range to 40, Kevin was just about to turn 40, so he applied at 400 pounds. He was denied. When he questioned them they said " you weigh 400 pounds and are 40 years old you aint gonna cut it" Kevin's mind was pretty shape and he said Judge , I just have 1 question, "are you discrimination against me because of my age and weight ?" Mind you this is all being recorded, by a stenographer, The Judge said absolutely not, I will grant you your request.

A few days later he started Boot camp along with the young men who were enrolled in the program. he was the oldest and fattest by far. The very first day the Drill Sargent ( some big Black dude who was an ex marine), came in and worked them out, he immediately singled out my brother and gave him his nickname - Fat Boy. OK Fat boy front of the line, and for the next week he beat the crap out of my brother, with push-ups, running and all kinds of exercise, Kevin didn't quit, he lost more weight a few weeks went by and he was down to 375, then a month or so later he was 350, then 300 and his numbers kept dropping day by day. Now certainly I'm not recommending that any of you commit a crime and go to jail to lose weight, but I think this story shows that even in the worst of situations its amazing what you can accomplish. When he finished bootcamp he was 220 pounds, and he had lost the most weight of anyone in the state of New York who had gone though the program. He got a special certificate from the State and the Drill Sargent actually shook his hand.

He got released and went to live with my folks. I'm going to post the pictures (if I can figure out how) so you can see the before and after, its pretty amazing. The sad part is that about a year later, he was working construction, and one day they hired some homeless from the local shelter. Later that day one of them attacked my brother in his apartment and killed him, in Buffalo. The homeless man, who we have found out now was a career criminal, only wanted his money ( maybe 100 bucks or so that he had), he stole his truck and phone. The man is now serving 20 years in Attica for Manslaughter.