One of my best friends completely transformed his life these past eight months due to unbridled tenacity and dedication to physical fitness.

Bothell resident Tyree Bell, who tipped the scales at 410 pounds on Thanksgiving Day 2015, is down to a svelte 279 pounds. In eight months, Bell has lost a mind-boggling 131 pounds.

As the holidays approached in late 2015, Bell purchased an elliptical machine, started a Twitter handle titled @SweatEquityLife and created an online blog called https://sweatequitylife.wordpress.com. He referred to his journey as “Redemption 100.0” and committed to working out every single day for 100 days.

Since Thanksgiving, the mild-mannered Bell not only achieved his aspiration of working out 100 days in a row, he hasn’t missed a single day of working out period. Bell said he has lost 62 pounds since he hit the 100-day mark in early March. Typically Bell spends 85 minutes per day on the elliptical machine in his garage.

The fact Bell hasn’t missed a day of workouts absolutely astounds me. Even Bell admitted there are days where he doesn’t want to conduct his daily workout, but he doesn’t let those adverse thoughts derail him from his daily goals.

“It is difficult. Some days I don’t want to work out, some days I’m exhausted, some days I’m tired, some days I’m sick but realize I want it more than I have ever wanted it before,” Bell said of attaining optimum health. “I want to be healthy and I want to be around for a while. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices and do things you don’t want to do. My foundation is working out so I have to keep that going. I just don’t want to go backwards. It keeps me motivated to keep pushing forward and just get better each day.”

Bell hasn’t been this light since his high school days. Each time I see him it looks like as if he has shed another 10 pounds. Going from 410 to 279 has allowed Bell to enjoy his life in a much more thorough manner.

“It is staggering. It is really life changing to be able to just do basic tasks that I couldn’t do before,” he said.

Bell admitted he would get tired chasing his 2-year-old daughter around the house in 2015.

That isn’t the case anymore.

“I’m going to just keep going. I’m never going to stop,” Bell said of his workouts. “My goal is to lose four more pounds (target weight of 275 pounds) and I’m going to try to maintain that weight for the rest of my life.”

Bell’s story of hard work, mental toughness and positivity is truly inspiring. I couldn’t be prouder of him and the lifestyle changes he has made in his life. His “sweat equity life” mantra couldn’t be more appropriate.