Self control, discipline, passion, and support. These are the attributes needed to develop a habit like exercising and healthy eating. For Nacogdoches resident, Eric Manis, the journey to developing these habits and revolutionizing his life came at a hard but extremely rewarding price.

Manis is the director of referees at the Nacogdoches Youth Soccer League and a student at both Angelina College and Stephen F. Austin State University.

His story began in high school when he was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, a condition in which the thyroid does not produce enough hormones to keep the body running smoothly. The symptoms include a decreased metabolism and rapid weight gain.

“It happened so fast that the first four months I gained 80 pounds before I could even blink,” Manis said. “It happened so gradually and so quickly that I didn’t even notice.”

Manis said he continued to gain weight, and by the time he graduated from Hudson High School in 2014, he weighed 282 pounds. The day after his graduation, Manis decided it was time to change.

“It was just one of those things that when we graduated, I didn’t want to feel that way anymore,” he said. “I didn’t want to be that size, and so I really started working out.”

He lost 13 pounds during the summer of 2014. He said he was feeling very good about losing the weight when he went to get his blood drawn at a doctor’s appointment. However, while he was there, Manis saw someone he recognized who didn’t recognize him.

“I’m going to get my blood drawn for thyroid, and I see this nurse,” he said. “I realize it’s my ex-girlfriend from high school, and I’m all excited. I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I look great. This is going to be so fun!’ …And she doesn’t recognize me at all. I had put on over 100 pounds. It was at that moment that I realized if I had changed so much that someone who knew me couldn’t even recognize me, I really had to lose the weight.”

Manis said he decided he had to keep going for himself, for his friends, and for his family. He purchased a membership at Planet Fitness and started working out from 12 a.m. to 3 a.m. so he could be alone. Then he started documenting his weight loss journey on Facebook.

People would call him, text him, and email him words of encouragement during his journey, but his journey wasn’t all happiness and success.

“It was a hard process,” he said. “I think the really hard part would be when I would post something and be doing really well, and then I would hit a plateau. It would be several months before I could post something again.”

Yet, no matter how hard it got, Manis said he never wanted his journey to be one of constant negativity. So, he made it a point to encourage others through humorous videos and Facebook posts.

“Once I got on Facebook and kept posting about it, I got insane feedback from people,” Manis said.

“Usually when you hear about weight loss, it’s not always fun,” he said. “It’s not always exciting.”

There was a time while when Manis said he got discouraged and stopped working out and eating well.

“I kind of gave up until a friend of mine told me, ‘If you give up, then I’m not going to do it anymore, either. When you do it, it lets people know it is possible,’” Manis said.

So, Manis said he tried to lose his weight “the fun way,” in order for people to witness him and connect with him. To do that, he kept making videos both documenting his successes and failures in weight loss and encouraging laughter.

One day, Manis was approached by James Stillwell from Townsquare Media about an interview. Manis said he wanted to wait on the interview until he had lost a little more and reached his goal. After Manis lost 125 pounds, he let Stillwell know he was ready for the interview.

Little did Manis know he was going to be interviewed by Dan Patrick on the Lufkin radio station, KFOX 95.5, Jan. 4 of this year.

“A lot of people I never expected to see [the interview], saw it,” Manis said. “It blew up out of nowhere.”

Manis said he was able to reach his goal because of a combination between friends and family and doing it himself, and he eventually began to enjoy the healthy lifestyle he had created.

One day, Manis said he stepped on the scale and was taken aback.

“It was literally like I could flash back to the day I started and thought about losing 15 pounds. Here I was standing on the scale 125 pounds lighter,” Manis said.

He had started out as a 2XL shirt size with 48 inch pants, and now he was a size medium with 32 inch pants. He had accomplished more than his original goal of 100 pounds in two years.

However, Manis said he is more happy with how he enjoys his lifestyle now than how much he has lost.

“It’s about trying to stay healthy,” he said. “It’s not about the number. It’s been great. I haven’t seen better results than right now. It’s just the way I live now. I don’t even think about it. It’s night time, I know I’m going to the gym. If I’m making food, I know I’m going to make something healthy. It’s just the way it is.”

He said it has became more than a diet process for him. He started making unsweet tea a lot. Anytime he was hungry he would drink that. He began chewing a lot of gum, too, to curb the hunger. He also started going to the gym when he was hungry.

“You never really get rid of bad habits,” he said. “You replace them with good ones.”

His whole life changed after this, Manis said. He has a better outlook on life, and he said his life has improved in every aspect, including his relationship with god.

“There was a time when I was struggling saying ‘Why me? Why is this happening?’ And as I lost the weight it brought me closer to my faith and closer to people who wanted to help and were also spiritual,” he said. “It revitalized my faith, and it makes me feel better every day.”

Currently, Manis is working on obtaining a physical trainer’s license.

“I just want to do something I love,” he said. “I know that sounds corny, but I just want to be able to do something I find fun every morning when I wake up.”

Manis hopes that through getting his personal trainer’s certification, he can learn different exercises and food preparation to help people like the friends, family, and strangers who have been asking him for exercise and eating advice.

He also said he wants to use his personal experience to help people.

For example, he had a moment when he was exercising too much for the amount of food he was eating. He hit 198 pounds and gained 20 pounds. He said he doesn’t often talk about that part of his journey because he said it was a difficult time in his life. He said it was hard to take a step back and readjust himself.

“[Weight loss] happens slowly,” he said. “That’s what bothers so many people because we are used to instant gratification.”

TV ads for the 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day programs just aren’t very successful, he said.

“If you are eating that way, working out that way every day, you can lose the weight,” he said. “The problem is making that daily and making that last. You can’t really do [those programs] every day of your life. It’s just not realistic.”

One way Manis plans to help others get healthy is by starting a blog called Fat Kid Fire. He posts regularly on Instagram and Facebook. Here is one of his first videos.

Manis said he would encourage others interested in losing weight and getting healthy to tell someone about it.

“Some things you really can’t do on your own. I couldn’t,” he said. “I’ll tell you right now, if I would have just kept to myself and not posted and talked to other people, I probably never would have lost the weight. That’s what takes change: asking people for help and knowing you can’t do it on your own.”