Health: Inspirational: Man loses 400 pounds, now raising money to remove excess skin

Jesse Shand is an inspiration for many who want to lose weight but fail to do anything about it.

In 2013, at the age of 26, Shand was 653 pounds, he was depressed and could hardly move.

Shand could not stand for more than 25 seconds at one go.

But a lot has changed for Shand in a matter of 2 years. The 6-foot-1-inch Michigan native has dropped 400 pounds and now weighs only 260 pounds.

Other than hard work, there was one more thing that helped Shand drop so much of weight – his online well-wishers.

Shand was active on Bodybuilding.com’s community forums. The community members advised him on losing weight.

I get a lot of credit for losing weight, but even now I don’t think I’m worthy,” Shand, 28, told FoxNews.com. “It wasn’t just me. It was an effort by so many people who helped me out.”

Shand is now fundraising for surgery to remove the 40 pounds of excess skin. He hopes to get his weight down to between 220 and 180 pounds.

Bodybuilding.com, has seen many success stories but according to a representative for the site said Shand’s is unique.

“Millions of people go to our forum to discuss all aspects of training, but this is the first time we’ve ever seen our community reach out and lift someone up both online and offline like they have with Jesse,” Keith Sivera, Bodybuilding.com’s director of offline marketing, told FoxNews.com via email.

However, with so much excess weight it was not possible for him to do basic exercises or go for a walk. Following advise of an online user Shand started by just moving around.

After some time, Shand was able to stand for longer durations.

He started doing laps between his kitchen and living room.

“I made a commemorative video when I was able to do 50 [laps],” Shand told foxnews. “To me, it was like doing a 5K.”

Eventually he was able to walk outside, do basic exercises and swim.

After Shand reached 450 pounds, community chipped in and bought him gym membership.

He started slow but consistently built up. Whenever he had any queries he consulted the online forum members.

He also made changes to his eating habits. Shand lowered his calorie intake and ate more whole foods, protein and fiber.

Shand has started a GoFundMe page to raise the $20,000 he’ll need for the skin removal surgeries. While it has become tougher to lose weight than it was initially, Shand is still confident that he will continue the hard work and reach his goal.

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