Obese Student Bullied for His Weight Was Suicidal, Then Local Gym Helped Him Lose 184lbs

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Today, Ethan Taylor is a bit of health nut, exercising every day, eating well, and encouraging others to do the same. After all, it worked for him, as he has lost 184 pounds (approx. 83 kg) after becoming dangerously obese and considering suicide.

For most of Ethan Taylor’s childhood and adolescence, there were two constants: he was overweight and he was mistreated by classmates and peers. “All I was was bigger,” he explained in a video for Anytime Fitness in Rockford, Illinois. “But people made me feel like that was a horrendous thing.”

As Ethan explained to In the Know, he can’t ever remember a time when he wasn’t bullied. “It started in elementary school, went all the way through middle school, high school, into college,” he said. If it weren’t for finding the gym and a community of people who had his interests in mind, he might not be here today.

While at school, Ethan just couldn’t understand what he had done wrong and why he was taunted by his peers. “I remember one time I was just getting bullied relentlessly by a bunch of kids about my weight,” he told Anytime Fitness. “I didn’t realize why people were being so mean to me just because I weighed more.”

When Ethan hit middle school, he found a place for his big body on the football team. “I played as a linebacker on my middle school and high school football teams, and I was encouraged to bulk up and stay big during that time,” he said in Runner’s World. But after high school, Ethan was left with all the excess weight and no outlet for it.

In college, his weight spiraled out of control as his self-esteem plummeted. “I spent a lot of time not caring where I let my body go because I didn’t think that I mattered really,” he shared. Diagnosed with depression and anxiety, Ethan turned to junk food and alcohol “to cover up what I was feeling,” he said.

He quit attending classes and “would just drink and drink and drink.” Eventually, Ethan would drop out of college and reach his heaviest weight of 368 pounds (approx. 167 kg).

He knew that he needed a change but wasn’t sure where to start. His obesity had started to wreak havoc on his body, making even a short bike ride difficult. Instead of exercise, he focused on diet, without much success. “I tried to lose the weight by following different diets, but they always failed—I’d only lose 20 or 30 pounds, and the healthy habits never stuck,” he said.

It was clear this strategy wasn’t working, so he decided to make a New Year’s Resolution in 2018 to cut his body weight in half, down to 184 pounds (approx. 83 kg). Instrumental in the process was giving his local gym, Anytime Fitness, a try.

“I walked in day one, they believed in me. They thought I could do it,” he shared. “They treated me like family, they accepted me, they let me do what I needed to do to be successful.” For the first time in forever, Ethan had found a community who supported him regardless of his weight.

At first, progress was slow. Ethan remembers the first time trainers had him run a mile on the treadmill. “It was an ugly mile,” he said. “It was me grasping on to the handles. Me looking down. Me breathing heavy. It took me about 15 minutes, it was real slow.”

With the support of trainers like Michael Levi, who preached confidence and belief in his abilities, Ethan began to shed the pounds. Levi explained, “He knew that he could do it, he just needed that external force to help push him.”

But Ethan didn’t just want to lose the weight; he wanted to keep it off. As part of giving back to the community, he started a walking group that gathers twice a week in downtown Rockford to walk along the river. It includes people of all shapes, sizes, colors, and backgrounds, united in their goal of getting fit and staying fit as a supportive community.

Having lost so much weight, Ethan and his brother Zach went on to run in the 2019 Chicago Half-Marathon, another goal that had kept him on track. As for his advice to those who struggle with their weight, he told Runner’s World, “A healthy, active life is possible for everyone—you just have to get up and go move, even if you don’t want to. If you want to run, all you have to do is start!”