Mike Hilton was a selfdescribed fat but athletic kid who grew into "the big goon" on the football team and then into an overweight father of three.

But last Tuesday, The Oprah Winfrey Show flew Mike and his wife Shannon to Chicago, where they were treated like VIPs: picked up in limo, ensconced in a luxury hotel and then driven the next day to the legendary Harpo Studios to tape an episode slated to air on May 10.

In her last episode about weight loss before the talk show ends for good, Oprah honoured 100 people in the audience who'd lost 100 pounds or more. Mike was one of five people selected from the group to appear as a guest in a four-minute segment, telling his story.

You see, over the past 20 months, Mike, a 32-yearold Calgary paramedic, has shed 104 pounds through a sensible, do-it-yourself fitness and weight loss program. That itself is a feat, but it's the backstory that caught Oprah's attention.

A few years ago, Shannon and Mike were watching Oprah when her medical expert Dr. Mehmet Oz came on to talk about weight loss.

"Dr. Oz said that for every 35 pounds a man loses he can gain an inch in penis length," Shannon, 34, explained in an interview with the Herald on Friday, shortly after their arrival home following an all-expensespaid trip to Chicago.

The Dr. Oz clip was resurrected and shown just before Mike joined Oprah onstage during the taping. Shannon was seated in the front row of the audience.

"Oprah turned to me and said, 'Well, let's ask your lucky wife!'," Shannon laughs. "I said, 'Dr. Oz was right. He's half the guy he used to be, but twice the man.' "

"The crowd loved it; they were going insane," Mike says, noting with a laugh: "We started out trying to prove Dr. Oz wrong and we ended up proving him right."

Dr. Oz's advice was only part of the initial motivation behind Mike's weight loss.

The real spark was the birth of his son 20 months ago. Mike worried that Charlie, a large baby, was going to be a big kid too and decided to set a good example by working off the weight, which had reached 268 pounds before he stopping weighing himself.

"I wanted to be in shape for him, and for the girls, too," he says of the couple's daughters Isabella, 5, and Abby, 7.

Mike bought a membership at a gym chain so he could work out "whenever and wherever I was," he says.

"It was hard at the start, but about three months in it became routine. No trainer. I just went to the gym religiously."

Six days a week he did heavy weights and cardio workouts of eight to 10 kilometres, either running or using the elliptical trainer. He practised random acts of fitness, like climbing flights of stairs on a break at hospital. He inspired his coworkers to get fitter. "Every paramedic I know is working out hard. We have things like pushup competitions."

Mike began to drop weight, but hit a plateau and decided to shape up his diet too. No more fast food binges. Gin and club soda replaced beer. Portion control, salads and lean protein were in for the whole family. Apples and bananas are fave snacks. Did he consult a nutrition expert? Beyond reading Men's Health and scouring the Internet, "No, I just did it myself."

He completely changed his body and is now a buff 164 pounds. All this while working up to 80 hours as a full-time paramedic, picking up extra shifts and running Continuing Care Transportation, the medical transportation company he co-owns.

"Three kids and three jobs," notes Shannon, a photographer who admits the process was tough on her. "I was at home, feeling gross because I'd just had a baby and he's out bettering himself, getting all the kudos."

One day, while scanning the Oprah website, she came across a request from show producers looking for people who'd lost 100 pounds or more. She wrote in, describing Mike's weight loss, and the strain the process of his transformation put on their marriage.

The couple have since worked out their issues. ("He does more around the house now than I do because he has so much energy from working out," Shannon says.) Oprah's producers were hooked by their story. They asked for before and after pictures, then invited the couple to Chicago.

"It was fantastic, from start to finish," says Shannon. Both had their hair and makeup done. Producers liked the outfit Mike brought, but tailored his royal blue dress shirt to fit better. He was also given an air-brush tan.

"It's surreal. We're still in shock. All I did was write a letter. To even get tickets to a taping of Oprah is impossible. And then to be one of 100 people chosen by Oprah is unreal. And to be one of the five guests . . ." Shannon says.

They describe Oprah as gracious and generous. At the end of the taping, she gave away 300 cruiser bicycles with helmets, "one for everybody in the crowd," says Mike.

Final question: Was he a bit freaked out at having Shannon write the Oprah show and then sharing such, ahem, personal matters with the queen of daytime TV?

"I'm still freaked out."

VBERENYI@CALGARYHERALD.COM