A computer addict who ballooned to 27 stone after playing games for 50 hours a WEEK lost almost half his bodyweight – when he took up METAL DETECTING.
Jeff Nemeth, 27, shed more than 13 stone after getting fit by trekking up to 10 miles a day to remote sites in search of old relics.
Before taking up metal detecting, school security guard Jeff gorged on pizza, hot dogs and burgers as he played computer games every night.
By the age of 26 he was morbidly obese, wearing size 44 pants and XXXL shirts and spending eight hours a day staring at screens.
When doctors said pain in his knees and breathing issues were linked to his weight, he realized he needed to change and slashed his daily calorie intake from 5,000 to 2,000.
He began to slim down but it wasn’t until he saw a YouTube video about metal detecting in December and took up the hobby that his weight loss really took off.
One of the first things Jeff unearthed was a half dime from 1844 which ended up being worth $300 (£230) – and he says the discovery had him hooked.
Ever since, he has spent 12 hours a day on weekends trekking to reach remote sites, where he uses old maps to try and locate treasures.
The hobby has helped him ditch his gaming habit, drop four sizes and slim down to 14 stone – and he’s found dozens of fascinating relics in the process.
History buff Jeff, of Ohio, US, said: “Metal detecting has totally changed my life.
“I thought it was something nerdy old guys did but it turned out to be the first thing I enjoy doing more than lying in bed.
“It got me outside and distracted me from the fact that I was doing exercise. Plus, there is cool history involved so it is a win win situation.
“If it hadn’t started doing it I wouldn’t be where I am today. It helped me lose 100lbs and I feel and look a lot better.
“I can look in the mirror without feeling as though I look like crap so that’s nice, and I’m getting a lot of responses on Tinder.
“I can’t think of anything else that would have driven me to be this active.
“I still play video games but nowhere near as much as I used to. I left that life behind when I picked up metal detecting.”
Jeff said he was chubby as a child but his weight got out of control after the age of 18.
Until the age of 25 he would gorge on McDonald’s or Burger King with hash browns washed down with sugary orange juice virtually every morning.
For lunch he would eat cheap gas station food like hot dogs and dinner would be burgers and chips, pizza or other fast food at the computer desk.
He said: “I didn’t do any exercise – I couldn’t run. Instead I just sat around and played video games, mainly Second Life and ArcheAge.
“When I got off school or work I would sit to my computer and do nothing else for eight hours a night.
“I would eat a lot of fast food – pizza, McDonald’s – and all the portions would be XL.
“I did that from the age of 18 to 25.
“I felt crap and I looked crap. I couldn’t go shopping, even at Walmart because they weren’t selling the size clothes I needed.
“I felt terrible.”
Jeff said he was so big, in some photos it wasn’t possible to see his ears because they were covered up by his round cheeks.
He began to slim down after limiting his calorie intake in April 2016 and then, in December, he took up metal detecting.
He said: “After a few weeks I decided to buy a metal detector.
“Since then I have found seven or eight gold rings, religious pendants, lots of coins from the 1800s and an 1816 half penny from the Bank of Montreal.
“I loved it, and once I had dropped the first 70 or 80lbs it became a lot easier for me to do hill climbing.
“Now I go every weekend and I love it.
“I’m hooked 100 per cent.”
