Mike Anderson working hard to be the fittest loser.
Mike Anderson, 23, of Palatine, recently graduated from Southern Illinois University with a degree in business management, but worries that he will be discriminated against in his search for a full-time job because of his size.
Anderson, who is 6 feet, 5 inches tall, weighed in at 378 pounds. He says he put on a lot of weight in the five years since high school graduation and topped out at 410 pounds before a recent bout of mononucleosis caused him to lose weight.
Anderson has tried weight-loss programs before, but was never able to sustain the effort necessary to succeed. This time, he has trainer Joshua Steckler, a co-owner of Push Fitness, to help him.
“I am going to teach him the value of holding himself accountable,” said Steckler, who uses functional training, which works the body as a whole rather than isolating individual muscles. “I am going to teach him what he needs to know to turn his life around.”
Anderson said he wants to be able to play basketball and football again with his friends, but he has a more family-oriented goal to reach as well.
“I want to be able to keep up with my grandma,” Anderson said. “She moves pretty fast. She always has to turn around to see where I’m at.”