Harold Chandler ain’t half the preacher he once was.
Today, Harold Chandler is under 190 pounds, well on his way to his goal of 170.
Last year, the Arkansas pastor weighed 349 pounds.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- to 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.
“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.”
Chandler noted there is a spiritual lesson in this for every church member. “There has to come a desire in the seekers’ hearts to do something,” he explained. “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. 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.”