KRDO NewsRadio anchor drops over 100 pounds, shares weight loss secrets following diabetes diagnosis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - You wake up to his voice each and every morning, but the person behind the microphone has changed. Dan Cochell, the program director and morning anchor for KRDO NewsRadio has struggled with his weight his entire adult life.

"I would always try and hide my weight," says Dan Cochell. "I would always wear bigger clothes and just sort of exist with the weight. And I would always literally pray to God and ask to just be skinny one more time before I die in my life."

A life-changing diagnosis inspired Dan's weight loss journey. He has type two diabetes.

"January 17th, 2021," says Cochell. "It's kind of a day that will always be with me. Like my birthday. It was like I was given a second chance."

That very day he started a major lifestyle change. Dan knew if he didn't lose the weight he would face serious health consequences.

"I was motivated," says Cochell. "I was on death's doorstep. I mean, to be that high of your A1C and that overweight I was maybe one or two donuts away or maybe a pizza away from having a heart attack."

Three years later, Dan's lost 135 pounds. Almost unrecognizable in pictures.

"When I'm actually walking in the store and someone who knew me back when I was big walks right by me because they can't recognize me," says Cochell. "That's pretty remarkable."

The miraculous turnaround was hard and slow at first. But it was all about changing his mindset, being patient and not giving up.

"This literally took me three years," says Cochell. "In the beginning, I could see the gradual weight loss maybe one or two pounds a month. I could see it in my clothes and then I could see it when I looked in the mirror that okay there was something happening. But the third year is when I really started in late fall going wow, I am really losing weight."

Dad did it without killing himself at the gym and without weight loss drugs; two things a lot of people are turning to in hopes of losing a lot of weight. For him it's all about diet.

"I became a carb expert," says Cochell.

Counting carbs, being disciplined and managing cravings is what's worked for Dan.

"What I found out through the diabetes education is I can have three 15 carb selections each meal," says Cochell. "So if I had low card bread, which is eight carbs. If I had two pieces of bread that'd be 16 carbs, so that's one selection. I count out potato chips, 18 potato chips would be another 15 carbs and then something number three. So I would have that every single meal."

And walking around work is a good way Dan gets his steps in.

"Here at the station at lunch I'd go out, walk around the parking lot several times a day, brisk walk," says Cochell. "That's the only workout I've ever done to lose the weight."

Dan is still on insulin, but that might be something he can wean off in the future. For Dan, losing the weight has been the biggest gain.

"It really changed my life losing the weight and I feel so much healthier and you know I already have energy any way, but I feel a lot more energetic and I feel a lot younger," says Cochell.

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 38 million Americans have diabetes, 90-95% of which have type 2. While there is no cure for type 2 diabetes, it can be reversed in most people by managing blood sugar levels and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.