The numbers on the scale keep getting lower and lower for a Conway comedian who used to weigh 470 pounds.
"I had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel," said Chris Wooley, 27. "I was hearing every breath I took. I was waking up because I was catching air, and it really scared me. I can never picture a life like that again."
On January 14, Wooley decided to change his life and make his father proud.
"It's been years and years of telling me I'm overweight, and that's the number one concern of his is to lose weight. After I started seeing results, I wanted to do it for myself," said Wooley.
The results for Wooley haven't come easy, but they have come in a short amount of time.
"Pure hardwork," said Wooley's trainer Adam Rice. "He's sweated gallons, upon gallons, upon gallons of sweat and that's how he's earned it. I had never worked with anyone one as big as Chris, so it was a little scary...He honestly didn't have but a couple years left. He was drinking, smoking and eating terrible. But I looked at is as a project."
For nine months, Wooley has worked out twice-a-day, six times a week with Rice at Myrtle Beach Body Fitness in Conway and is down 185 pounds. At 285 pounds, he's still 35 pounds away from his target weight.
"My doctor told me just walking on the treadmill intensely when I was that weight could send me into a heart attack," said Wooley. "But I didn't tell my trainer that."
Wednesday morning, Wooley jogged on the treadmill. It's been a decade since he's been able to do that.
"Early high school soccer practice 2002," said Wooley. "I was five pounds away from where I am now."
"To fathom what he's done is crazy in my eyes," said Rice. "You see people all over on the Biggest Loser who don't lose as much weight, who are in Hollywood and on all these shows and don't even come close to what he's done. It's simply amazing."
Wooley now sees a future he couldn't before. For years, he and his wife, Savannah, have tried to start a family, but only recently have they been successful.
The two are expecting their first child in January.
"I can't wait. Ava. We decided to name her Ava," said Wooley.
"He's got a future to look to now," said Rice. "I've urged him to go into motivational speaking because he's good at it, and he's got a great story."
"There's a hard long road. It's getting up and starting it and taking that first step, making the decision in your mind that you're going to do it," said Wooley.
