RAY McNAMES

Occupation: preacher

Community connection: weight loss motivator

Fast fact: He wears a special Shields of Strength necklace with his License 2 Lose information.

Quick Quote: “Losing weight and getting healthy is all about choices.”

A trim Ray McNames sports work-out togs and carries a picture of him weighing about 350 pounds. It wasn’t snapped too long ago in calendar time, but it seems a long time ago in state of mind.

“I can’t tell you how that guy felt,” McNames said.

Now pastor at Grace Chapel in Lumberton, McNames was recently a co-paster at First Assembly of God in Port Neches. The image of this heavy man, standing alone and looking down, shows him depressed, “so sad,” he said. Now he’s confident and motivated, having lost about 185 pounds in 10 months by eating at buffet restaurants.

McNames says that he’s able to resist the cookies and starches in favor of healthy vegetables. Eating at restaurants is just easier for him, so he’s adapted his new, healthy lifestyle to servings of salad. He’s also a gym regular.

When McNames does a “preacher curl,” he loves how his dog tag neck chain “gets in his way” to remind him of his commitment. It’s made locally by Shields of Strength and has information on his program, license2lose.com. The name comes from his heavy mug shot on his drivers license. That dog tag carries a Biblical quote:

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11.

Engineer Kiplin Ellis of Nederland goes way back with McNames, who was his youth pastor. He says they’ve been together as friends and got big together. Now Ellis is using McNames’ spiritual inspiration so they can get fit together.

“We just got bigger and bigger all these years,” Ellis recalled.

He has lost 40 pounds in seven months by avoiding snack food and says he feels better in his head and heart.