Here’s a little video of Dana just being Dana and having a little fun with the camera. Although the video is a humorous little clip, it really shows just how far Dana has come with his weight loss.
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New York City, California, Morgan Freeman and Other Things I’ll Never Forget
published Saturday, August 13th, 2011 at 6:08 pm by admin
Well, It’s been 7 weeks to the day that I moved here; I flew in after my appearance on, The View on ABC; what a day that was. Previously I had been with my family in Toledo, where we watched my appearance on Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition with my family. While I was in Toledo I also had a couple of concerts.
That morning I left Toledo a driver was sent to pick me up and take me to the airport, and I then flew into New York. During our descent to land I could see the Empire State Building and The Statue of Liberty; it was fantastic! Once I landed my next driver got into a heated argument with another driver and used words that we won’t share here. It was just like the movies and I was cracking up at the humor of it all. From the airport I was taken to the Pearl Hotel, which is across the street from the theater hosting the Tony Award winning Broadway show, “The Book of Mormon”. Very neat!
Two of my sisters and their friend drove to New York City from Toledo and we enjoyed a VERY expensive Italian dinner together. After dinner, we took a taxi and drove through Times Square, which was packed with thousands of people! Our taxi dropped us off at Ground Zero. Even though the 10-year anniversary of 09/11 will be next month, it was still quiet and you could see the new buildings going up.
It was nice to see Alex Respess since he had completed the skin removal surgery; he looked fantastic; I couldn’t believe that this was the same guy I had been with just four months earlier.
The next morning after Alex and I had breakfast, the taxi picked us both up again a took up to the ABC studios. We had interviews with “The Insider” then we went to the other studio for our appearance on The View it was nice having my own dressing room with my name on door and just two doors down from mine was, MORGAN FREEMAN!! Right there!!
I met the producer; we went over the questions that the ladies were going to ask us, while my sisters and their friend was waiting in the next room. Oh yeah, and I saw Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Whoopie!! As we were all waiting in the Green Room, at one point Morgan started walking towards me and I thought he had a question for me, but he was just reaching for a Kleenex. DARN!
Alex and I had to go for make-up and soon we were up next.
Alex went out first and then myself; there were a MILLION things going throug my head; the lights cameras, cues to do this or that; and as soon as I started, it was over; I can’t even remember what they asked me. As they were going to commercial Whoopie learned over and told me it was good that I had stopped running to food and finally accepted what I really was…
After the show, I talked to Morgan and thanked him for what he is doing on stage and off. We talked about the Oscars and I told him he should have 7 of them, technically. He said, “that’s the way things are”. One of the producers told him why me and Alex were on there and he was shocked; he said, “I lost 150lbs; myself, I got a divorce!!”
My day finished with another interview for “Extra”, saying good-bye to my sister and her friend and off to the airport again for my flight to California. Six hours later, when I landed, I had another driver waiting to take me to my new home in Anaheim, California. My brother, Bradley, was waiting eagerly for my arrival.
It was a day I’ll NEVER forget!!
Dana’s Story Featured in Out & About Newspaper
published Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011 at 9:11 am by admin
An article was published yesterday in the Out & About Newspaper that featured Dana’s decision to come out about his being gay as a necessity for battling his weight-loss successfully.
The cameras left March 4, but the true test of a man is what he does when no one’s watching. But there are still a lot of people still watching me. I eat every three hours. I go to the pool four times a week. They gave me all the tools I need. I’ve learned so much about food and reading labels. I’m equipped to handle it. It’s still a struggle. I know what I’m doing, and a lot of people are watching and keeping me focused. I look forward to living the rest of my life free. A college professor once told me “Begin with the end in mind,” and that’s what I live by.
In the article, Dana shares a little more about his story and coming out to his family and the community around him.
You can read the full article here: A Weight is Lifted
Some Random Photos of Dana Baker
published Sunday, July 24th, 2011 at 9:16 pm by admin
I figured you all might be interested in seeing some recent photos of Dana. Hope to be getting some more from him soon of him soaking up the Californian sun.
Dana Baker Weight Loss Story Featured in the LA Times
published Friday, July 1st, 2011 at 10:49 pm by admin
A couple of days ago Dana’s tremendous weight-loss story was featured in “The Unreal World” section of the LA Times. The article, Working out obesity issues on ‘Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition, talked about the health implications of losing the significant amount of weight that Dana was able to use in just a year’s time.
The story asks a number of medically related questions to weight-gain and weight-loss:
Is it common for people who are morbidly obese to require so many painkillers? Are they usually short of breath and are they at a heightened risk of tearing knee ligaments? Is it medically safe to lose 200 pounds over the course of a year while exercising vigorously? Is dramatic weight loss necessary to justify a skin-tightening procedure? How frequently does child abuse lead to self-punishing behaviors such as extreme weight gain?
The article, Working out obesity issues on ‘Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition’, which was written by Marc Siegel does a thorough job of answering those questions as well as covering the dramatic transformation that took place in Dana’s life over those 365 days.