Young Georgia father drops more than 100 pounds
STOCKBRIDGE, Ga. - Justin Greene is good at his job, taking care of patient medical equipment at Piedmont Henry Hospital.
But for a long time, the 29-year old technician wasn't so good at taking care of himself.
"I grew up a mostly sick kid," Greene says. "So, I never expected to be fully well."
He was a big guy, who'd long struggled with asthma, and other health problems.
"Diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure kind of runs in my family," he says.
For most of his life, Justin believed, being heavy was just who he was.
"Because I've been a big dude, forever," he says.
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At his peak weight back in April of 2016, Greene was close to 400 pounds.
Occasionally, he thought about joining a gym -- or switching to a healthier way of eating.
But it was always a false-start.
"Tried the mentality of, 'I'm going to start Monday,'" he says. "And then (I'd) never start Monday."
Greg Russell, Greene's boss, says his weight never impacted his work, but he could see Greene was struggling to stay on top of it.
"I would see him with, getting some food in the cafeteria, and he'd have some loaded down boxes of food," Russell remember. "He ate pretty good at that time."
A blood test 8 months ago was Justin's tipping point.
He was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, a form of diabetes often tied to being overweight and obese.
Justin thought about his wife, Britney, and Emma, their 6 year old.
The next day, he joined a gym.
That first week was rough.
"I don't think I've every complained that much in my whole life," Greene laughs. "Yeah, it was a lot of work."
He had avoided gyms until then, worried fit people would judge a big guy like him.
Now, he dove in.
"No one is paying attention to you when they're there," Greene says.
In the first 3 months, Greene dropped 30 to 40 pounds, and his blood sugar normalized.
So, he never had to start taking medication.
Russell could see Greene was changing.
"I would see him, and he was eating a lot of vegetables, eating healthier, drinking a lot of water," Russell says. "I found out he was going to the gym."
And early this month, Justin Greene was featured on Piedmont Healthcare's Facebook page, in a series on employees getting healthier.
In the 8 months since his diagnosis, he's dropped 115 pounds.
"There are a lot of things that I've never been able to do."
He wants to learn how to skydive, get back to riding rollercoasters, and buy a mountain bike.
These days, Justin Greene says, anything seems possible.
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