14 DAY TRIAL // Two of the stars of History Channel’s Pawn Stars and its most recent spinoff Pawnography are half the men they used to be, almost literally: Corey Harrison and Austin “Chumlee” Russel have lost a lot of weight and are now healthier and happier than before.
Also, almost unrecognizable.
Harrison, who recently told People magazine that he had lost 192 pounds (87 kg) after he got lap band surgery, also spoke with ABC’s Good Morning America the other day on the same topic. The video embedded below doesn’t really reveal any new details on his weight loss journey, but it’s better at illustrating it.
Before 2010, Harrison says, he had no idea that he wasn’t feeling well being as overweight as he was. The wake-up call came when a doctor told him that he was pre-diabetic, so on the way home, he stopped at a center giving lap band surgeries and began working on a fix for his problem.
“Literally, I'm driving home from the doctor's office kind of freaked out about it and I see the place where they do lap band [surgeries] and I just pulled in and said, ‘What does it take to have the surgery?’ I didn't have much money at the time. I pulled out four credit cards and put it on that and there you go!” Harrison says.
Getting the surgery also meant a change in lifestyle for him: today, he eats very healthy and works out regularly, and is now able to see the difference between how he felt then and how he does now.
“I can only have four to five ounces of food in my stomach,” he explains. “When you only have that much space in there, you don't want to fill it up with [bad stuff.]”
The best part is that it’s not just Harrison who gets to enjoy life more now that he’s lost weight: his sidekick Chumlee was inspired by him and started losing weight as well. Harrison estimates he dropped about 100 pounds (45.3 kg), but he admits, he did it “the hard way,” with dieting and working out only.
Chumlee still has some way to go to be as hot as Corey, though.
“Chum kind of thought we were gonna be fat guys together forever or something. I'm proud of him. He did it all with diet and exercise... [but] he's the sidekick! Let's not forget that. I still look better than him,” the reality star jokes.