Inspired by dying father, man loses 105 pounds

DULUTH, Ga. (FOX Medical Team) - In late 2017, Scott Greenhut decided it was time.

He needed to make a change.

"For 31 years and a month I was basically obese," Greenhut says. "I've never had alcohol in my life. I've never had a beer.  So, my thing was food.  I was addicted to food."

At 31, he was close to 270 pounds, eating whatever was in reach.

"I used it in good times and bad times and in different times, that was my fuel every day," Greenhut says.  "And, now I use it as a positive fuel for my body.  Like, I've never, I've never felt better."

His turnaround began just as his father was dying.

Greenhut's dad, who'd long struggled with own weight, was in hospice.

"It was kidney failure, it was never taking care of his diabetes," Greenhut says.  "He begged me all the time to lose weight. And it's one things, where everyone wants you to do it. But, it has to be something inside you that wants to do it."

After 3 decades of unhealthy habits, Greenhut didn't think he could change. 

Still, his father did, and he wouldn't let it go.

 "He said, 'You have the time to do this now, and I didn't take advantage of it, and that's one of the greatest regrets of my life," Greenhut remembers. "I'd wanted it for so long, but the defining moment was seeing him lying there passed away at 62."

A few months later, Greenhut stepped on an elliptical machine.

"December 11, 2017, was my day," he says.

He hadn't exercised in years.

"I wanted to go from never taking care of myself to 365 days of taking care of myself," he says.

So, he started with a few minutes on the machine, coming back day after day.

"Today is 351 days on my elliptical," Greenhut says. 

Shifting his eating took more time.

"I was slowly eating better in December, a little better in January, little better in February," he says.  "And, then, I was having dessert one time a week, and I was, like, 'I don't even want this!'"

Scott Greenhut is closing in on the one-year mark, 105 pounds lighter. 

He knows there are a people struggling, thinking change like this is hard.

"It hasn't been, because I did something for so long that wasn't working," he says."

But this is working.  And Scott Greenhut thinks his dad would be proud.

"My biggest takeaway, is start small," he says.  "Start so small, every day is a victory. You want to go 1-0 every day."