Biggest Loser
By Ruth Schenk | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Danny Cahill says he feels like a new man since losing a whopping 239 pounds in just seven months during The Biggest Loser season eight.
That’s 55.58 percent of his total body weight. It’s the size of two average couches, the weight of a refrigerator or a small motorcycle, a 2-month-old horse, two newborn giraffes or one Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He is the king of weight loss in the history of the show, and has lost more and faster than anyone else.
On Wednesday, Oct. 6, Danny will be the featured guest at Momentum, a week of outreach events at Southeast designed to engage those who don’t normally attend church.
“Half the story people will hear that night is the motivational theme that ‘you can change your life,’” Danny said. “The other half will be the untold God-story of how He orchestrated the whole thing. It will blow
people’s minds. There were things I didn’t even know that my wife told me later.”
Losing the weight wasn’t an option. Chest pain and stress on his heart made Danny know it was a matter of life and death. He wanted to raise his young children and grow old with his wife.
As he looked at how to solve his weight issue, Danny knew that he’d be on The Biggest Loser some day. He wasn’t chosen for seasons six or seven, but he didn’t give up hope. He did have a conversation
with God and tried out again—along with 500,000 other hopefuls—for season eight.
This time, he was chosen.
He went to The Biggest Loser ranch ready for radical change.
“At the ranch, God worked in crazy, crazy ways,” Danny said.
It was in keeping with how God has worked all the way along.
Danny went to church until he was about 13, then stopped going altogether until about six months after he and Darci married and trouble began to brew.
“I’d gained weight by then,” Danny said. “We loved each other, but we weren’t together on anything. Without God, love isn’t enough. She was gambling and staying out at night. I wasn’t doing much better.”
One night, Darci suggested they go back to church or consult a lawyer. Danny chose church over divorce.
“I knew something had to change, or our marriage was over,” he said. “I was so ready for her to change—even though I had things, too.”
Darci’s life was changed radically as she turned her life over to God.
“She started quoting Scripture and praying every day,” Danny said. “I loved the peace in my home. She told me later that every night, she’d pray over me that God would radically change my life.”
That happened on March 17, 1996. It’s a date Danny will never forget. He’d been going to church, taking it all in but not making any commitments. Then he met up with a bass player at church that he knew
from way back. The two had played together in bars all over town. He asked Danny to play in church with him.
That was the beginning of God doing something new. Since then, Danny has played in the worship band at church.
He had to “step out of the boat” to lose weight.
He’d done it on his own over the years. He was overweight from ages 7-15, then lost 75 pounds over one summer, joined the football team and played in a rock and roll band.
However, after high school and a few years in college, his weight crept up to 450 pounds. He knew the program of diet and exercise at The Biggest Loser was the key to lasting weight loss. And he believed
God was preparing a platform that he would use to encourage and motivate others.
Danny said there is no dream or goal that is too big. And it’s never too late. His theme is “lose your quit.”
Since winning The Biggest Loser, Danny has appeared on The Today Show, The Jay Leno Show and Live with Regis and Kathy Lee. He speaks for corporations and at schools and churches.
“People need to hear a message of hope,” Danny said. “Something blocks us from reaching our goals. Anything is possible if you resolve to go the distance. To do that, you must lose your quit. The biggest
problem with most goals is that people usually quit before they reach them. That includes weight loss, sales, even house cleaning!”
At Momentum, Danny also will sing and play tunes from his newest album. He wrote Second Chance while at The Biggest Loser’s ranch.
“As I speak around the country, I want people to know that there is hope. With God, you can do anything.”