Paul Moore loves to go to concerts, especially music festivals.
But last summer, someone took a picture of him enjoying the music, and pointed out something else about him.
The image had over 30,000 likes and shares, and pictured him, shirtless, when he was at his heaviest weight of 280 pounds.
The caption read, “Make extra beer money by renting yourself out as a human forklift for less mobile punters."
The comments on the photo were not kind. They labeled him as “digusting,” as “a whale on a day out,” even “so fat he should be shot.”
“My friend rang me to warn me that a picture of me was being shared online and that it was going to upset me,” said Paul. “They said I should not look but I had a strange compulsion to see it. I was so upset—the comments were awful, really, really upsetting.”
“At first I let them really get to me,” Paul continued. “They made me feel very down and depressed. But I decided to do something about it in a positive way for myself.”
He changed up his diet. Instead of eating takeout and drinking frequently, he made meals with fresh foods and went to the gym three times a week.
Between January and August of 2015, he lost 98 pounds. He only has about ten pounds before he reaches his goal weight.
Now, looking back at the photo, he realizes how much it changed his life.
“I was always known as the fat funny one, but I never realized how big I was until I saw this picture.”
Now, he makes fresh meals, only drinks once a month, and plans to go back to Melbourne to visit the same friends he went to the festival with.
“I don’t think they will recognize me when I land there,” said Paul. “I can’t wait to see their faces as I look like a different person.”
