Matt Diaz is a man in his early 20’s. Since the time he was 16, he has lost 270 pounds. This is, of course, an enormous achievement. Diaz kept an online journal of his weight loss over the years and as such became an inspiration to others.
The weight loss, however, left Diaz with a body covered in stretched-out and excessive skin. Diaz believes in being positive about your body no matter what it looks like. He felt pride in his weight loss and wanted to show his online followers what his body now looks like. He said, in effect, that he doesn’t want to hide his body anymore.
So, he decided to post a video online showing his body subsequent to his dramatic weight loss. He did this even though he thought that his excess skin would become the subject of online jokes.
Something happened that surprised him. After posting the video, there was an outpouring of online support. People said he was brave for having posted the video and admirable for having lost the weight in the first place. In fact, two days after the video was posted, his supporters raised over $45,000 for surgery to get rid of the excess skin.