The Los Angeles-based musician and clothing designer Papa Joe Aviance was 450 pounds when his first house music release, "Last Night a DJ Saved my Life," hit #6 on the Billboard Magazine Dance Charts. When he saw the music video for the song - which at that time was playing on MTV and VH1 - he couldn't get over how large he'd become.

"I was 450 pounds-I was two cheeseburgers away from diabetes or high cholesterol," recalls Aviance. "I had been big for pretty much all of my life, and I was sick of hating myself. It was now or never."

To start, he trashed nearly all the contents of his kitchen. "I cleared everything out of my fridge that was going to get in the way of me losing weight-cookies, candy, sodas," he said. "I was only going to drink water or unsweetened iced tea, and no more fast food. At that point, I'd been drinking a two-liter bottle of Mountain Dew every day, and if I went through any local drive-thru, they knew my name-that's how often I used to eat that stuff."

 There was one problem with his plan - he had no money. "I was unemployed and couldn't afford a gym membership or fancy diets," said Aviance. "I realized that walking was the easiest exercise I could do and it cost nothing. So I grabbed my dance music and tennis shoes, and started walking."

 At first, his walks were short - to the end of his block and back to grab the daily Billboard. "The first time around the block-I couldn't even do it, it was just mounds of sweat," he says. But he kept at it. One trip around the block became two, and soon he was walking a few miles every day.

While he was determined to eat better, Aviance had to find a way to do it on a shoestring budget. "A friend told me I should check out the 99-Cent Store. Since I couldn't afford Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, I decided to see what they had."

Aviance was pleasantly surprised to find that the 99-Cent Store in his neighborhood had plenty of healthy foods to choose from.

"Oatmeal, raisins, nuts, bananas, apples, oranges, bell peppers, spinach, salad dressing, tuna fish, eggs... I was shocked. I was blown away," recalls Aviance. "It was a huge savings. I literally spent no more than $50 a week on food.

Within three to four weeks, Aviance started to see changes. "And within 3 months, I was like 'Hey, this is working!" he said. "I started to take all of my clothes to a seamstress so she could take everything in. I was still too broke to go out and buy new clothes, but I didn't care. I was on a mission."

Aviance's morning walks become so regular, that people in his neighborhood started to take notice. "Since I walk every morning, people have started giving me high fives. I felt like a mini rock star in my community. I've even had people stop me and tell them I motivated and inspired them to start walking."

Within 18 months, Aviance lost 250 pounds, and a visit to his doctor confirmed that he was no longer at risk for diabetes, elevated cholesterol, or high blood pressure. "I've always been a very happy guy who would kid around with anyone, but when I was heavy, I felt like I had to be that way because I thought people were judging me based on my size. But now it's a happiness that is really shining from the inside out." To speed along his transformation, he started to incorporate breaks for pushups and other strength moves during his walks. "I do pushups right in the street-the city is my gym," he said.

Today, Aviance is a health and wellness expert touring the country to inspire obese children and adults to start moving. "I want people to be as happy as I am, and part of that is being healthy. The sidewalk is my treadmill. Every morning I walk right outside my door and go. They can do it, too."