No matter who you are or how far from your goals you may be, there are always opportunities to enact positive change and create the life that you want.
Whether we indulge in alcohol, food, or other subversive self harm coping mechanisms, vices have the ability to become addictions and ruin our lives. However, one’s past does not define their future, and with determination, these harmful mindsets can often be overcome.
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This is Darren ‘Dibsy’ McClintock.
The Newcastle native weighed more than 560 pounds at his heaviest, which had major negative effects on his daily life and cardiovascular health.
McClintock acknowledged that he had an addiction to eating unhealthy fast food, but he didn’t have the resources needed to fight it.
After being hospitalized for heart problems, McClintock got in touch with personal trainer Mike Hind.
Hind took a rather brutal approach to helping his client: he passed out flyers to all of McClintock’s regular fast food joints asking them not to serve him.
“Save Dibsy,” the flyers reads, “Obesity is Killing Him. Do Not Serve This Man.”
With Hind’s help, McClintock had adapted a new healthy lifestyle.
Not only has he lost over 260 lbs since starting his journey, but his attitude towards food and exercise have changed tremendously.
“It’s been very hard,” McClintock told The Mirror , “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.”
“I’m living life now! It’s just a matter of keeping going with it.”
One of McClintock’s biggest milestones has been competing in, and completing, the coveted Great North Run in Newcastle. He was one of 57,000 people to cross the finish line, with a race time of two hours and 43 minutes.
“I’m alright,” he explained after finishing the race, “My legs are hurting a bit!”
One of the things that he didn’t expect was how much support he got while running the race.
“The support there was mental,” he explained, “I didn’t realize how much support there would be, people shouting along the way, it was unbelievable.”
“I’ll definitely do that again next year,” he continued, “and hopefully get a better time as well.”
“It’s an amazing feeling afterwards, knowing you have done it.”
“I found it hard but the sense of achievement is unbelievable,” McClintock explained, “If you’d told me I would be doing the Great North Run, even a month ago, I would have laughed!”
The next milestone in McClintock’s journey will be to have skin removal surgery.
After losing almost half of his body weight so quickly, he has been left with a lot of excess skin that will need to be surgically removed.
Without NHS funding for the surgery, he and his trainer have turned to Crowd Funding in order to raise enough money for the procedure.
McClintock is not only healthier, but significantly happier.
We’re looking forward to seeing his positive energy in more races and athletic events to come!
h/t: The Mirror
