470-Lb Firefighter Named “Tiny” Lives Up To Nickname After Incredible Weight Loss.

Like most first responders, firefighter Bryan Lynch has always been moved by the spirit of helping others.

But when his weight reached 470 pounds, he realized that he had to help himself so that he could keep saving lives in his physically demanding job. Bryan had always dealt with weight issues. When he joined the force back in 1998, he weighed over 300 pounds and that’s why his fellow firefighters gave him the nickname “Tiny.”

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They used it as a term of endearment and it never bothered him, but when he reached the 470-pound mark, he started to really take stock of his life. He knew what he had to do.

Bryan explained to WBTV:

You have to be physically fit to do this job and at 470 pounds there’s just too much of you getting in the way.

At a certain point, he limited himself to being the engineer, which meant that he drove and operated the truck on calls. It’s all he felt that he could do properly at that point.

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So he set a goal and became determined to reach it. He vowed to himself that he would hit his goal weight of 250 pounds and started looking into gastric bypass surgery. Before the procedure, he was told by doctors that he’d have to lose 30 pounds.

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Well, he didn’t just stop there. Before the operation, he lost 100 pounds all on his own. After surgery, he lost an incredible 183 pounds. These days, he’s looking and feeling great!

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Through hard work and determination, he took back his life, his health, and his career. He fondly remembers the first call he responded to after losing such an amazing amount of weight. He assisted during an apartment fire.

I was inside and the captain came in who was on that shift and he sort of just walked by me and he looked at me and said you know a couple of months ago we wouldn’t have been able to do that.

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Alongside a funny photo posted on Facebook, reporter Kristen Hampton said:

At 470 pounds, this turnout coat you see here used to be tight on him. After a year of changing his life, you can see, it’s still a little snug.

Talk about a transformation!

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Taking a good, hard look at yourself and your lifestyle and deciding to make a change takes a lot of grit and courage. Be sure to share Bryan’s story to inspire others around you!