Chad Dean is one of the most memorable people from the series My 600-lb Life. Following an injury, he couldn’t work and spent pretty much his whole life solely on the couch, and at one point, he weighed 701 pounds.
Dean’s life was as risk if he didn’t get help, and he got his spot on the show. Now, he’s lost almost 400 pounds, and the transformation sure is amazing!
A healthy diet can be a hard thing to maintain. If you have a family, a partner or many interests, it can be time-consuming to cook healthy food, and sometimes it can even be pretty expensive as well.
Fast food is definitely a trap, though; sure it can be good now and then, but in the long run it’s bad for your health if you eat too much of it. That’s why we’re always told we should work out, because it really is good for your mind, body and soul!
Chad Dean – weight loss
There are many inspirational people that teach us how to live a healthy life through exercising, eating healthy and working on our inner peace in order to feel great. But as much as inspiring as these physically fit people can be, so too are people like Chad Dean.
Five years ago, Chad weighed 701 pounds, and his health – and ultimately his life – was in danger. He fought his way back with hard work, both mentally and physically. Following the show, Chad continued his pursuit of a normal life. And today, he looks absolutely amazing!
People can truly change their lives when they just decide to.
One of those who certainly did was Chad Dean. A number of years ago, he appeared on My 600-lb Life, and at the start, Chad weighed 701 pounds.
Living in Hagerstown, Maryland, Dean had always been overweight. He played football in high school, but he struggled with his weight, having his grandmother sewing him two sets of uniforms.
He earned the nickname “Dean Machine” from the local newspaper.
“I’ve always been big,” Dean told the NY Post. “Ever since I was a little boy. But I loved playing football.”
Ate constantly
Following graduation from high school, Chad Dean became a chef just like his father and brother. However, in is early 30s, his back problems became too much, and he decided to switch into driving a truck. He spent long hours behind the wheel, and wasn’t moving much while also eating a lot.
“On the road, you’re sitting all day long, so you’re grabbing soda, chips, pizza, McDonald’s, things that are easy to eat,” Dean explains. “That’s what’s available at the truck stops.”
The result was that he gained a lot of weight, from almost 400 pounds when starting driving the truck to 700 pounds. And if that wasn’t enough, his weight problem was the reason why he one day fell off the edge of his truck.
Chad Dean had a nasty injury and was forced to stay at home.
“For the driving-test component, I climbed up the side to get in the truck, and I just fell over backwards,” he recalled. “My pride was shattered. The one thing I really enjoyed doing, I couldn’t do again.”
He started living on the couch and at the same time, while his wife and children provided for his daily needs.
My 600-lb Life
Since he couldn’t even move without help, his situation seamed hopeless. His wife Ayesha was worried that his life was in danger, and she was desperate for help.
Ayesha decided to record a video of her husband and sent in an application for him to appear on TLC’s My 600-Lb Life, as a last resort to help him lose weight. And he was accepted!
The family moved to Fort Worth, Texas, so Chad would get the help he needed.
Chad Dean became a part of the show. He was introduced to the viewers as he visited Dr. Nowzaradan – also known as “Dr. Now” – who specializes in bariatric surgery.
“When he accepted me as a patient — that right there was the reality check,” Dean tells Men’s Health. “To have someone take an interest in helping me when no one else wanted to, you can’t put a price tag on it.”
Chad Dean – Dr. Now
So who is Dr. Nowzaradan? In an interview with Houstonia Magazine, he said that he didn’t make any mone performing the surgeries, but instead focused on giving people a second chance in life.
“Looking at the moral obligation that we’ve got, you see somebody who has no life who could have a life,” he said.
“We don’t need to be rich. We do make a living, but we don’t need to worry about making a living out of every patient we see.”
His motivation truly is to help people have healthy and productive lives, instead of eating their lives away.
“I never let the camera change my behavior toward any patient,” Dr. Nowzaradan explained. “I do exactly the same thing if the camera is there or not.
Bariatric surgery
In the past, Chad Dean didn’t have any hope of loosing weight, especially since his injury prevented him to exercise in any way he wanted.
However, Dr. Now would change everything. After dropping 51 pounds on his own, the doctor approved that Dean could go through with a bariatric surgery, a procedure which makes the part of the stomach which receives the food smaller and helps achieve weight loss.
“When he accepted me as a patient — that right there was the reality check,” Dean says. “To have someone take an interest in helping me when no one else wanted to, you can’t put a price tag on it.”
Having bariatric surgery was like being reborn for Dean. Over the years he has lost more than 400 pounds and is down to 295 pounds. An amazing transformation which surprised himself as well.
“Never in a million years did I ever expect myself to be smaller at the age of 46 than I was at age 18,” Dean says. “Right now, from what my life used to be, I’m in heaven.”
So how did he do it? Here’s all you need to know about Chad Dean’s amazing transformation!
Inspiring weight loss journey
The bariatric surgery was just one small step in his transformation. But for Dean, it meant everything, and it made it way easier for him to start his journey of going back to living his life the way he wanted.
Just a day following his bypass surgery, Dr. Now wanted him to walk. For Chad, it was a huge step and since he was still big, and he felt a lot of pain.
However, the more he was walking the closer he felt he was reaching his goal, and he started walking around the hospital for as long as he could.
But it wasn’t just walking that was going to help Chad loose weight. Together with his trainer Brad Tillery, he started to focus on regaining his functionality.
“With so much extra weight, he wasn’t able to move really well, so we did a combination of strength training, muscle training, conditioning, and kind of moved forward from there,” Tillery told Men’s Health. “He came in about three to four times a week.”
As time passed and Dean worked out more and more with his trainer – supervised under a very specific diet and practice routine – he started to use more free weights.
“I try to reward myself”
At that point, he was more functional, and worked with dumbbell deadlifts and even suspension trainers.
Dean was getting more and more comfortable with his body weight. He had consumed only liquids for two full months, before reincorporating food and healthier food.
He explains that he eats “everything everybody else eats”, but the main difference is that Chad Dean’s now watching how much and at what time he eats. The majority of his food is based on protein: steak or fish as well as some vegetables. Instead of olive oil he uses peanut oil.
Just like anyone else, Chad Dean is also tempted to eat unhealthy food sometimes. However, he’s found a way to distract himself from it.
“I try to take my mind off of the cravings,” he explains. “Whether it’s lifting weights or turning the radio up, you just have to get your mind off of it. And I try to reward myself once a month, but the day I do reward myself, I exercise a little bit more.”
Chad Dean managed to lose more than 400 pounds, an incredible effort!
Today, he’s back on the road working as a truck driver, however, that’s no longer an excuse for him to eat junk food like he used to.
This is Chad Dean today
He says he does about 500 curls a day as well as working out with exercise bands, which he hooks up to the back of his truck.
His enormous weight loss probably wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Dr. Now and his coaches. But when it comes to motivation, his wife and kids are the ones that gets him through it all.
“My son JoJo is autistic, and now that I’m smaller I can play with him more. Just to see that smile, it’s worth everything,” Dean says.
Chad Dean has really rejoined the world, giving back as much as he takes and maybe even more than that. Chad’s become something of a celebrity, trying to inspire people in every way he can.
Not only has Chad Dean inspired other people by appearing on My 600-lb Life, he’s also released a book in order to update his fans on his life, as well as inspiring others in their own weight loss journeys.
Dean visited a motorcycle store once, where he by coincidence met a woman who recognized him from the show. Her name is Celeste Prater, and she wanted to help him write a memoir.
Wrote a memoir
He had gotten many messages through social media, where fans said that he was the one who inspired them to get more health. That was the main thing that further inspired him to write the book.
“That motivated me to spill out my life in the hopes that I can inspire at least one more person to save their own life like I did,” he says. “My greatest hope is that someone will recognize their issues and stop from ever tipping over into morbid obesity.”
Chad’s book I’m In Here Somewhere: Memoir of a Food Addict was released in January of 2019.
Its description reads, “Chad’s greatest hope is that others may learn from his mistakes, recognize their own decline into addiction, and pass on the knowledge to others that are still in gripping denial.”
His book tells the story of how he managed to reach 701 pounds, and his long way back to a healthy life.
He and his family took a leap of faith, sold their house and moved to Texas, where they currently live.
Wants to inspire others
He has gotten one question plenty through the years: What’s his advice for people struggling to lose weight?
“Mine was an extreme case; however being even 40-50 pounds overweight is leading to, or already causing, internal issues,” Chad Dean says. “I wrecked my spleen and liver, which are now thankfully recovered. Every day I thank the stars that I didn’t annihilate my heart. Think about the stress to your ligaments and bones.
“Yes, it’s hard to change your lifestyle,” he added. “But it’s even harder to try to recover what you’re steadily destroying day by day.”
Chad Dean experienced problems with obesity and unhealthy habits ever since he was a young boy. Now he has proven everyone wrong. He is living proof that you can change your future if you just keep fighting and never give up.
Chad is a true inspiration. Let’s share this story with our friends and family on Facebook to honor this wonderful man – and hopefully, together we can inspire others!
