Jonathan Coronado, 31, a mechanic in Dallas, weighed 165 kilograms and stood just 1.63 meters tall. For years he avoided mirrors. But when his 13-year-old sister Denise spent four years on dialysis because of a rare disease that was destroying her kidneys, something changed: he was a match to donate a kidney to her, except his weight prevented it.
He did not go on an extreme diet. He cut out one thing at a time: first soda, then cookies, then bread. He started walking in a nearby park. In six months he lost 45 kilos. He felt so good that he kept going: he added weights, cardio, and home-cooked meals instead of fast food, until he reached 77 kilos, the number that finally made him eligible.
On September 10, 2018, he donated the kidney to Denise. Today she is an honor student with a scholarship earned through her academic score, and he keeps his weight stable at 200 pounds. “You have to really want to do it if you want to lose weight”, he says. “For me it was easy when I wanted to”.
