Chili leader sheds 110 pounds on South Beach Diet
You know you have had an interesting life when losing 110 pounds in about two years doesn’t even crack your top three accomplishments.
“Anything worth doing is hard work,” said Chili Town Supervisor David Dunning. “This was tough, but it has been worth it. It helped remind me of what was important in life. Now I look back and say, ‘What was I doing?’”
Dunning lists marrying his wife Karen, the birth of his son Derek and winning the supervisor seat for the first time in 2007 as his greatest feats.
He does admit, however, that none of those saved his life like losing weight did.
Shortly after being elected, Dunning weighed 317 pounds. He was on medication for type 2 diabetes, he had to use a CPAP machine to breathe at night because he had sleep apnea and his blood pressure was getting dangerously high.
Finally his doctor told him he was at about 98 percent risk for a heart attack.
That did it. He had come too far in life and gone through too much pain to risk death just when he had all the things he wanted.
He went home, registered for the South Beach Diet online and the next thing he knew he was taking all his old suits to the Salvation Army.
“He is more determined when he sets his mind to something than anyone I know,” said Dawn Forte, who watched the weight fall off him each day in her job as secretary to the supervisor. “You can put anything under his nose and he will politely say, ‘no, thank you.’ He never strays. I am so proud of him. His determination is amazing.”
Not even on the biggest night of his life since going on the diet — Nov. 3, when he won a re-election bid.
“I told him after the election, celebrate one time, have some chicken wings,” said his wife Karen Dunning. “He said no. I’ve never seen him cheat and to him, it seems like no big deal.”
The South Beach Diet is a low-carbohydrate diet, heavy on chicken, fish, roasted nuts and using different oils to cook.
The diet isn’t as drastic as the Atkins Diet, which relies heavily on meat, and that is what made it so appealing to Dunning.
The 52-year-old was a chef in his younger years and he put those talents to work. He plans out his menu on the South Beach Web site and sets himself up with a shopping list.
He then takes that list and lines up his shopping on Wegmans’ Web site, and he can get in and out “in about 10 minutes.”
He is so used to it now that he cooks himself one meal and cooks Karen, who has not been on the diet, an entirely different meal in a short period of time.
“I ate a lot of cereal when he first started the diet,” said Karen, who admits to not being a big cook and also having a “narrow” list of foods she likes. “I told him, ‘You do the cooking and I’ll do the cleaning.’”
He started out as a size 56 and is now a 44. He would like to lose another 20 or 30 pounds before focusing on maintaining his weight.
“I like all kinds of foods, so that made it easier,” he said. “It is an addiction, your mind craves it. I don’t want to go back there when it comes to food, so I don’t sneak a Heath Bar now and then. I look at people and think it is not fair that other people can do it, but I accept that.”
Dunning said he really noticed the difference in his body recently when he went about his favorite annual chore — setting up Christmas decorations around his house.
“I noticed I have better balance when I was on the roof,” he said. “I didn’t have to worry as much about falling off.
“The less carbs makes me feel like I don’t have as much energy, but I also don’t tire out as much as I used to. I don’t feel like I could run a marathon, but I can work around the house all day.”
Even if he did feel like running a marathon, don’t expect to see Dunning with a number pinned to his chest. He hates to exercise and lost all the weight without so much as even looking at a treadmill.
“I’m pretty active outside of work, but I can’t stand exercising,” he said. “I would have lost 150 pounds if I had introduced exercise.”
This isn’t the first time Dunning has beaten an addiction. He went through drug and alcohol rehabilitation 22 years ago and hasn’t had a drink since.
He said he had to hit rock bottom with drugs and alcohol before bouncing back and he wished it hadn’t happened again with food.
“It was similar with drinking — I had to get away from the old habits, the old friends that I would drink with,” he said. “This was the same way. I had to get away from the foods that were hurting me. When I have set my mind to doing things — getting into this office is one of them — I get it done.
“Do I want to have a glass of wine with dinner every once in a while? Sure, I do, and like I said before, it isn’t fair that some people can just have a glass of wine. But I have the focus for this. I know that candy is always lurking around the corner, but I won’t let it get me.”
MPRITCHARD@DemocratandChronicle.com
What’s for dinner
Chili Town Supervisor David Dunning said he can’t have all the things he once had for Thanksgiving dinner, but he still enjoys a good meal.
Out
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Dressing
Buttery roll
Pies
In
Turkey
Sweet potatoes
Asparagus and squash
Cool Whip and nuts
(“You can actually eat a whole tub of Cool Whip — not that I would — and mixed with nuts, it satisfies that sweet tooth,” Dunning said.)
