WOW

Hello friends!
Around here, we abbreviate "Workout of the Week" with "WOW". Well, it just so happens that this week's success story makes us say, "Wow, wow, wow!!!"

On-line he’s known as Chappy, an aspiring rapper. Perhaps, more importantly, he’s an inspiration. “It’s been a long journey,” says George Chaplin. His story is one a lot of people can relate to. He grew up a chubby child. “My whole life it’s been an issue,” he says of his weight. As a young man, he survived on fast food and sodas, drinking four or five two liters of a day. Eventually, it caught up with him. At more than 600 pounds, Chappy was morbidly obese. Doctors diagnosed him with diabetes, severe high blood pressure and an enlarged heart. “It was one of the hardest things to tell my parents,” says Chappy. He knew his weight might kill him and he wondered if there was anything he could do to stop it.

But his family refused to give up. Chappy’s brother got him moving for the first time in years. “Let’s go for a walk,” Chappy recalls his brother saying. He agreed and made it the 30 feet to the road - huffing and puffing the whole way. That was a year and a half ago. Today, he is walking almost every day and posting his progress on his blog and YouTube. “Oh, I feel so much better,” says Chappy. So does his wife, Ashley, who is also weighing-in and walking daily.

Chappy is down to 505 pounds. He’s elated, even though he knows he still has a long way to go. “I know people are thinking, ‘Wow, he’s happy with that?’”

It doesn’t matter. He’s happy. He’s down four shirt sizes and able to fit into a normal restaurant booth. Chappy says best of all, his diabetes and blood pressure are under control.

“I'm doing what everybody said was impossible,” says Chappy. And he’s inspiring others to do the same. “You can do it. Make something of yourself.”

We loved meeting Chappy and Ashley and we know you'll love checking out their weekly weigh ins and other moments. Just visit www.walkwithchappy.com.

Have a healthy week!
EEK
Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com