PINE BLUFF, Ark. (BP)–Harold Chandler ain’t half the preacher he once was.
Last year, at 349 pounds, he was two cheeseburgers short of 350. Today he is under 190 pounds, well on his way to his goal of 170. He has already lost 160-plus pounds. When he reaches his goal, he’ll be almost half the preacher he used to be.
Chandler, 58, pastor of Shepherd Hill Baptist Church of Pine Bluff, had not seen 200 pounds or less since he was 16 years old.
No, he was not a contestant on “The Biggest Loser” TV show. So what motivated him to lose all that weight? Several factors.
He was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. He was impressed when his daughter Wendy lost a lot of weight. His wife Betty prayed for him and encouraged him to lose weight.
But what really got to him was his granddaughter Jessica.
Last summer when Chandler and his wife went to San Antonio to attend the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, they took Jessica and spent a day at Sea World.
Chandler became winded and couldn’t keep up the pace. He kept getting hot and tired and had to sit and rest while his wife and granddaughter were enjoying themselves.
That evening at the motel, his granddaughter said, “Papaw, I’m worried about you. You were having trouble breathing today. I think you are too fat.”
With strong support and encouragement from his wife, daughter and granddaughter, Chandler decided to do something about his weight.
He went to a new doctor. His blood sugar was ranging between 350-400. His blood pressure was running 190/100. He was on three medications to bring his blood sugar and blood pressure down.
The doctor suggested a 600-1,200 calorie a day diet. Chandler opted to try for 700 calories a day and stuck with it. He kept daily records of everything he ate or drank.
He lost 41 pounds the first 30 days, then upped the calorie count to 800-850 a day.
“Those first three months were tough,” he admitted. “I was weak. I didn’t have a lot of energy to do anything. Your whole system is changing…. Everything in your body has to readjust.”
Chandler was well aware of his wife’s prayers, saying, “I’ve learned through the 39 years we’ve been married that when she starts praying for something, it’s inevitability going to happen.”
She started buying healthy food and even started eating what he was eating.
Members of Shepherd Hill Baptist Church, where he has completed two years as pastor, also encouraged him.
“The church has helped me get through it,” he said. “They didn’t realize they were helping, but their encouragement has been tremendous…. It’s the little things, like when they run up to me and say, ‘How much have you lost today?’ They’ve been a real support. It makes you want to try harder.”
Chandler also was motivated spiritually.
“It was something I needed to do to fulfill the calling God gave me,” he said. “You are supposed to give God the best you can, and when you allow yourself to get in the shape I was in, I couldn’t give God the best. I gave Him everything I had, but it wasn’t near what I should have been doing.
“I made a commitment to do it and the good Lord’s given me the strength to do it, and I hope it continues until I reach 170. Then I hope and pray I can stay there,” he said.
“God does not want us to be in a situation where we can’t do our job because of our physical condition…. I couldn’t get around well,” he admitted. “I was tired all the time. It was hard to get up in the morning and go do things, because I just didn’t feel like I had the energy to do it.”
His weight loss was not without some difficult days.
At the end of the first week, he finished preaching his Sunday morning sermon, but when the invitation was over, he almost didn’t make it to the back of the church.
“Everything was swimming and I couldn’t see well.”
His wife and the music minister got him to the car and she took him home. His blood pressure was 88/52 and his blood sugar was 47. He ate something and began to feel better.
He called his doctor, who explained he was taking all the sugar out of his system, which allowed the medications to work efficiently. He suggested cutting the dosages in half.
The next Sunday in the pulpit, the same thing happened. Then on Monday, Chandler decided to cut grass.
“I cut two strips and barely crawled back into the house,” he said. “I was exhausted.”
Again, his blood sugar was in the mid-40s, so the doctor took him totally off medications.
“Since that day, I have never had any trouble with it [blood sugar] and I’ve never taken another pill. My sugar level now stays between 85 to 100.” Anything under 115 is acceptable.
His blood pressure is 125-135 over 70-75. His energy level is higher than he ever remembers, allowing him to function better as a pastor.
“I’m able to put more into it -– more energy, strength, time and I’m able to go longer,” he said. “When you get as large as I was, you don’t get around well. My legs hurt. My feet hurt. When I would go to the hospital or do work of any kind, it would just take a short distance before I was pretty tired. Now I’m able to keep going and to go longer.”
Recently, Chandler worked in his yard all day. “That never would have happened before,” he said. “I can breathe better. I have more energy and more strength.”
He has some words of wisdom for others who want to lose weight.
“Don’t try to quit eating. Just keep a record for about a week of everything that goes in your mouth,” Chandler advised. “Don’t try to decide what’s good or bad, just keep a record. You will be surprised. Most people take in 2,500 to 3,000 calories a day. I was taking in at least that many or more because I love to eat.”
He said once you become conscious of what you are eating and the calories and fat grams, you can decide how to change your eating habits.
“There are things you like that satisfy your hunger and give you energy, without having the calories and fats,” he said. “That’s really the key to it…. We need to learn we are what we eat.”
Chandler had tried many diets, only to lose some weight, then put it right back on.
“It takes an eating habit change, really,” he said. “You’ve got to start becoming aware of what goes in and how much goes in and what is the purpose of it going in. It’s not just a matter of being hungry. … I think eating becomes a habit.”
He said after he began losing weight, he was traveling one day and stopped for gas. He thought a snack wouldn’t hurt much. He picked up a honey bun. On the way to pay for it, he glanced at the calorie count on the package -– 800 calories -– his calorie intake limit for the day.
“You’ve got to look at every little thing,” he warned. “It’s not so much the volume, it’s what you eat. You’re bored. You are not really hungry, but you get in the habit of doing it. Those little things I was picking up were high in calories.”
Chandler noted there is a spiritual lesson in this for every church member. He compared his weight loss to a lost person needing Christ.
“There has to come a desire in the seekers’ hearts to do something,” he explained. “I’m not convinced just telling someone is the answer. You can say until you are blue in the face that Jesus died on the cross and can save you. You can say to a person with health problems and weight problems that there are things you can do, and saying is important, but … something has to hit a person’s life. Something has to happen to make you seek what you need. The average person has to hear the plan of salvation seven times before they respond. It’s sort of that way with my diet. I knew a lot of the things the new doctor told me, but … it took that awakening one day to make me do something about it.
“My church being so supportive by their comments was just such a tremendous encouragement to me,” he continued. “I hope someday we can recognize that encouragement to lost people and to visitors is what they need to come back and find out what God can do. … Many times we are afraid to encourage people because we’re afraid they will be offended. But every word of encouragement is helpful. I’ve been working on a sermon series on the gifts. When I come to encouragement, the one thing I keep thinking is what an example God gave me! … It took all those years of people telling me the same thing for it finally to come home. Don’t ever give up, there’s always hope.”
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Charlie Warren is editor of the Arkansas Baptist News.
