Meet “The 650 Pound Virgin” on TLC

David Smith may have an ordinary name, but his story is quite extraordinary. This has to be the most amazing transformation I’ve ever seen.

David, 32, once weighed 650 pounds. He was suicidal and lonely. But somehow, he found the will to take back his life, and lost an amazing 400 pounds in only 26 months. And he did it without surgery! If that’s not enough, he’s now a certified personal trainer.

Smith’s story was documented by TLC and aired as a special titled “The 650-pound Virgin” on July 12. He looks to his past as if it was someone else.

“It’s a different person,” Smith told Matt Lauer in an appearance on the Today Show. “It’s not me anymore.”

While he hasn’t totally beaten his shy bug, women look at David a whole lot differently.

“It’s like night and day. I’ve gone from being a laughingstock to having girls make googly eyes at me,” he said.

David’s transformation was aided by fitness and nutrition expert Chris Powell. He devised an approach called the STAX System. And what I liked about it is he didn’t make expectations unrealistic. He had David eat strictly healthy food one day, then allowed him to reward himself the next.

David’s weight problem began with deep-seeded emotional scars of sexual abuse as a kid, and bullying by others in his youth. His story of recovery is nothing short of amazing. Here it is, as told on the Today Show:

(via: MSNBC.com)