Mark Fox, a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation of North Dakota, used to weigh 270 pounds. He drank three sodas for breakfast, ate a burger and fries for lunch and had bacon-and-egg sandwiches for snacks.

Fox, 43, never exercised either. But after promising his late mother he would improve his health, the jail administrator lost 65 pounds over 18 months. He's competed in a triathlon, road races and swims and now eats a more healthy diet of foods.

"I made radical changes to my life," he told The Bismarck Tribune.

Fox says his success have inspired others on the Fort Berthold Reservation. To draw attention to health issues, he's going to swim 2 1/2 miles of the Missouri River this afternoon.

Get the Story:
Man to swim miles today as a statement (The Bismarck Tribune 9/13)

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