Wearing an oversized white sweatshirt, Ben Davis runs on a track, spotlit by the fluorescent floodlight of a football arena. The 365-pound manjust 22 years old when he was filmed in 2009 on a January evening in Arkansaslifts his knees high and lumbers forward. The slow motion recording is dramatic and Davis even appears graceful, his belly and extra flesh roiling like churned butter.
You can watch Davis run on his YouTube clip, My 120 Pound Journey. More than 1.4 million people already have, including the editors at Runners World who put Davis on their December 2011 cover for their inaugural runners issue.
Before then, Davis admitted hed feel envy if he saw an overweight person exercising, like they had figured something out that I hadnt, he wrote in an email to the Courier.
When you're morbidly obese, part of the reason it's hard to get started is because it seems like such a daunting task.
But when he finally laced up, started running and then racing, Davis didnt experience any negative feedback, scorn or prejudice. Such a fear keeps too many people sedentary, he believes.
But, he prompts, think about it: When was the last time you yelled out disparaging remarks to an overweight runner? Probably never. No, more often than not, we think, Good for them.
David Willey certainly did. The editor of Runners World has seen and read hundreds of personal testimonies and stories about slimming down and shaping up. But something about Daviss accomplishments struck at a deeper level. Or maybe it was the Coldplay lyrics and uprising cadence of Fix You, wrote the editor of the global running authority.
Three years ago, Davis was obese, depressed, recently heartbroken and newly single. His grandmother, who he calls Meemaw, asked if he was happy. He couldnt say he was.
For months and months I was locking myself in my room, ignoring my friends and family, skipping class nothing was going well, he wrote the Courier last week, remembering the conversation three years earlier at her Massachusettss home. And at that moment something clicked. I was finally honest with myself and admitted I wasn't happy. I was done being unhealthy. I was done being sad.
The next morning was Christmas Day. Davis gave his grandmother the gift of BenDoesLife.com and began to document his first steps as runner, his weight loss and remarkable personal transformation.
[The website] has grown a lot since that night, but the idea is still there: to track my daily life while staying accountable to Meemawshe still comments and emails to help keep me on track and I go there every Christmas to kind of end the year with her.
Now, Davis lives in South Granville with his Vancouver girlfriend, a woman he met in Chicago at a 5k run he organized. He launched the grassroots Do Life Movement, is emerging as a motivational speaker and signed a book deal in October, largely based on his strength of personality, optimism and dedication, not to mention his encouraging personal success and lifestyle over-haul.
Organized with Daviss father and older brother, Do Life is an online community with thousands of members across North America. For a summer running tour, they hosted 32 races in 40 U.S. and Canadian cities.
We go wherever people invite us. That's kind of the beauty behind the whole thing, wrote Davis. We're a movement based online, but we really treasure the in-person stuff. We do races wherever we go. We preach the importance of being active and being outside.
The seismic shift in his activitiesfrom deskbound to out the door with sneakers laced upchanged his life.
Daviss viral video captures his progress. Hes less large in each frame and as the music swells, we see him crossing the finish line of his first marathon. He has finished seven to date, completed two Ironman challenges, and lost more than 120 pounds.
His first steps around the track were filmed in early January 2009 and as he later edited the footage, he marvelled at his improved figure and thought, Hey, Im starting to look slim.
Davis saw the physical transformation because his mental state had already changed, even in a matter of weeks.
It's all a matter of perspective. I was down about 15 pounds at the time and feeling pretty svelte. Lots of people comment on that videoall saying kind of the same thing: they can't believe it's the same person.
He sees a different person, too.
He is and isnt the same. Davis has transformed. His physical shape is transformed and his handsome face is no longer shrouded behind excess weight and sadness. His attitude and self-belief, truly the inspiration for his change, is intact.
Learn more at DoLifeMovement.com and visit vancourier.com for more of Daviss commentary and advice.
Twitter: @MHStewart
