A Grand Strand man's incredible weight loss has turned his life around, and it's inspiring others to do the same.
At more 467 pounds, Chris Wooley's life wasn't very active. He was morbidly obese and addicted to cigarettes and alcohol.
But in less than a year, he's lost 200 pounds and now just a shell of his former self.
"I weigh 267, 265 pounds," Wooley said. "I'm still not done though."
Wooley's goal when he first started in January 2012 was to weigh 250 pounds. He plans to surpass that.
He worked out twice-a-day nearly everyday at Myrtle Beach Body Fitness with his trainer, Adam Rice.
He was motivated by fear of not making it to tomorrow and the love of his wife, Wooley said.
"My wife was a huge support system for me," Wooley said. "I used to cry on her shoulder just before I came into workouts because I knew the workout was going to be that bad."
"He came in. He was a borderline alcoholic, smoking all the time, never worked out," Rice said.
Rice is now seeing how Wooley's change is inspiring others to find their own motivation.
"It takes that one person to give other people who are in his shoes going through the same issues he was going through to believe in themselves," Rice said.
"I weighed 446 pounds," Greg Mccray said. "That's a bunch."
A relative brought Mccray into Rice's gym, and he was inspired by Wooley.
"Chris is a great motivation. He works real hard," Mccray said. "Seeing somebody like Chris, plus knowing I want to be healthy, being the best person I can be."
Being someone's motivation was a surprise to Wooley.
"I was every statistic about America's obesity. That was was me summed up in everything. And, I never even imagined that someone would be looking up to me, or even my friends asking me 'hey man, what are you doing'," Wooley said.
Watching Mccray for the first time brought those memories of the other 200 pounds back.
"It actually made me cry the first time I was on the treadmill jogging and I saw Greg going through the same workouts that I was going through a year ago," Wooley said. "Just laying down on your stomach and getting up, that was my first workout. It seems so mundane and regular to do throughout the day if you need to, but there comes a point where getting down on the ground does not happen when you're that big...I hope I can continue to be an inspiration."
