David Smith lost more than 400 pounds - See all pictures

David Smith, Now and Then

"When I was in my darkest place, I thought the world was so evil. But now, seeing that there is good in the world ... I'm gonna do my best to make this world bearable for everyone," Smith said.

Smith is seen here at a family function as a teenager. He dropped out of high school when he was 17. He says he couldn't take the emotional abuse from other kids and retreated into his parents house. "I've had like sticks and stones and dog feces … thrown at me and [I've been] spit on … that makes you feel, you know, not human at all." (Courtesy David Smith)








In July 2003, at the age of 26, David Smith met trainer Chris Powell for the first time. This handshake was the beginning of Smith's transformation -- Powell started him on a workout plan and a schedule that included healthy eating days followed by cheat days. (Courtesy David Smith)


David Smith at his kitchen table at age 24 in 2002. At his heaviest, Smith weighed more than 630 pounds. Now 31 years old, he has lost more than 400 pounds with the help of an unlikely friend.

Smith is seen here at age 30, after his first skin surgery post weight loss. He has never been in love and hopes that the right girl is out there for him.(Courtesy David Smith)

Beauty is only skin deep. Look at this guy ... he cant stop smiling Good for him cause he has a cute smile and he indeed became a hunk ...its an amazing victory. Congratulations Smith .

WANT TO BE A MALE MODEL ?

The life of a male model is no where near as glamourous as female models, and definitely nothing like Zoolander.The current issue of New York magazine contains a profile of the male model industry and what it’s like for them during fashion week.The money is not what these guys are doing it for. For many shows the models were paid with “trade” instead of money. Things like free clothes and shoes or credits for the brands clothing, a sort of gift certificate.

For most magazine work, models are paid less than $250. Twenty percent of that goes to the agency, which also bills models for their board and expenses. “Sometimes you get charged for things you never thought of,” says Petey, “like $30 a month to be on the website.” The only hope of making ends meet is to book an ad campaign or catalogue job. But even those are less lucrative than they once were. “Where you used to get $5K for a job, it’s now $2K,” says JD Ferguson, a former model who now works as a fashion photographer. “I remember my booker saying to me, ‘Hey, if you won’t do $2,000, there’s another guy right behind you that will.’?”

Awesome MARS NEWS

Energy Drinks Good or Bad

Trendy world, trendy people & trendy drink that is what energy drinks become in today's life style. In the current scenario energy drinks are just like a trendy beverage & we can get the evidence of its popularity by entering in any of the store where lots of energy drink cans may be found easily. Young people are fond of it but lots of kids also use them like sodas. I knew that now there must be a question in your mind that is it just a harmless craze, or there is some real health concerns with energy drinks? Energy drinks can have a drawback if they won't be drunk properly. You all might be aware that energy drink can do so much for you. As they not just help in increasing your level of enthusiasm in your work but your confidence. Energy drinks are simple beverages that contain some form of vitamins & other chemicals which boosts your energy for very short span. These energy drinks have lots of sugar & caffeine which provides us energy. They are being sold in the market as other drinks but can be dangerous due to the ingredients from which they are made of in comparison of those typical drinks that we all take. The amount of caffeine, ephedrine, guarana and ginseng depends on the content of each bottle & if you will ask for a big punch you can get the bigger bottles. People who are used to of this drink say that it's very effective. But you should be aware about the effect & consequences of the product. This is true because once you make use of it or take it in a wrong manner you can face some health problems. There are short and long-term effects of energy drinks though.
· The long-term effects of energy drink ingredients are that you may be addicted of this drink & addiction of any thing is harmful.
· In these types of drinks it has not been mention any where that whether any medical conditions or related prescription medication will react with them.
· Energy drinks must be taken properly because the ingredients used in it are powerful enough to affect your system & body.
· Ingredients used in these drinks can affect your heartbeat and blood pressure. This arouses awareness from medical specialists who have conducted studies about the effects of energy drinks.
· However it doesn't means that harmful effects of these types of drinks can't be prevented. The problem is only how to drink & in what amount that can be easily digested.
· Don't ever try to make energy drink an alternative for the lost water in the system while doing exercise because the caffeine in the energy drink can leave a dehydrating effect on your body. You should prefer to have something natural during exercises.
· The most important point is that you should never combine energy drinks with alcohol because energy drink is a stimulant while alcohol is a depressant. You can imagine yourself the contrasting effect that this combination can bring in your system.
All those side & long term effects are just due to improper use of energy drinks & if you want to enjoy them life time drink it keeping those points in mind & in very limited amount. If you want to undergo the above effects then you must violate the rules. All these effects are shared with you all by me to make you aware about the product & its effect but it doesn't mean that you should leave drinking it. Enjoy your energy drink but with little care………….

When your hut's on fire

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescu him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. H cried out, 'God! How could you do this to me?' Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! 'How did you know I was here?' asked the weary man of his rescuers. 'We saw your smoke signal,' they replied. It's easy to get discouraged when thing are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives even in the midst of our pains and sufferings. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.

Largest Chruch in the WORLD !!!!!!!!!

Dr. Cho spoke to a congregation of 1.5 million persons at Christian rally at Sao Paulo in Brazil on September 29, 1997. It was the largest congregation of Christians in the history of Protestant churches.

Prayer meeting : # of people 120,000 ( Only )

The church: Yoido Full Gospel Church, Yoido, Seoul, South Korea.

This is the numero uno church in the world, if size is anything to go by, with over 837,569 members.

Denomination: Pentecostal (Assemblies of God).

The building: It's a gigantic building that is shaped like a huge baseball stadium.

The lighting is very bright and everything about the place is... shall we say, rather "over the top". The service felt like a baseball game. I was seated on the extreme right and was tempted to start the wave.The neighborhood: Yoido is an island on the south side of Seoul that is similar to Manhattan in many ways. There is the National Assembly, the Financial District, Stock Exchange... a very "high powered neighborhood" to say the least.
When asked how full was the building, one gentleman reported "A sell-out crowd, bulging at the seams! I felt like I was in the back seat of a compact car with four other people squeezed in."
When asked to describe the pre-service atmosphere, he responded, "There's a pre- worship gospel time.
Musical instruments played: "Organ, piano, synth, guitar, drums, flute, clarinet, sax, tambourine... and a symphony orchestra."
What kind of worship stiff-upper-lip, happy clappy, or what ??: "It was very hearty. The singing reminded me of a Wesleyan tent revival meeting. But the prayer times got very rowdy.

What's the point? The word of God says that He (God) has placed us in the body as it pleaseth Him (I Cor 12:18). Regardless of our background and family association with a particular church or denomination, we must still seek God to find out where He specifically wants us to be. And if a church is not the one God wants you at - please don't talk it down or impede its progress. I'm reminded of the words Jesus gave to his disciple John concerning such a situation.
Mark 9:38-41
-And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.-But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.-For he that is not against us is on our part.-For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.
And a word for those that believe that some churches are just to large -
Acts 2:41Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.Acts 4:4

Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

11 Individuals Arrested for Visa and Mail Fraud at New Jersey Corporation

The latest immigration enforcement effort by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has resulted in the arrest of 11 individuals on visa and mail fraud. A New Jersey corporation, Vision Systems Group (VSG), was also indicted on charges of conspiracy and mail fraud along with a Notice of Forfeiture seeking forfeiture of $7.4 million from proceeds derived from the offenses. The government used information from immigration filings and tax filings to combine for a charge of conspiracy. No lawyer or law firm was mentioned in the indictment begging the question of who is VSG’s counsel or if they even had one.

The 28 page indictment alleges that: 1. VSG filed LCA’s (Labor Condition Applications) and applications for permanent employment certification (ETA 9089 and the previous version, ETA 750) containing prevailing wages for a location other than where the employees would actually be employed.2. VSG then tried to conceal it by filing tax wage reports to support the location listed on the immigration filings, rather than the actual work locations.3. The government also used the immigration filings to support a charge for mail fraud. It remains to be seen whether VSG was legitimately placing workers at other locations pursuant to the short-term placement rules under the Department of Labor’s H-1b Regulations or whether the company filed new LCA’s (and amended H-1b petitions) to cover the new worksite.

The government presented evidence to the grand jury that eight VSG’s Applications for permanent residence listed the employer’s address and employee’s residential address in Iowa and contained Notice of Job Opportunity (commonly referred to as “internal posting”) and job advertisements for Iowa whereas the employees worked at other locations. VSG’s best possible defense is if it was adhering to the long-standing Department of Labor “roving employee” interpretation. The roving employee interpretation allows the internal posting and prevailing wage analysis to be done at the company’s corporate headquarters if the employer has “roving employees” who work at different locations.

The Department of Homeland Security pooled the resources of several agencies to investigate this allegation of conspiracy and fraud: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Fraud Detection and National Security Division (FDNS); U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General; U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); U.S. Department of State; and the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General.

Do We Love................?

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco. "Mom and Dad, I'm coming home, but I've a favor to ask. I have a friend I'd like to bring home with me." "Sure," they replied, "we'd love to meet him."


"There's something you should know," the son continued, "he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mind and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us." "I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live." "No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us." "Son," said the father, "you don't know what you're asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us.

We have our own lives to live, and we can't let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He'll find a way to live on his own." At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide.

The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn't know, their son had only one arm and one leg. The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don't like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from people who aren't as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are.