At 31 years old and 421 pounds, Mark's main motivation for appearing on the show is to get healthy and to motivate his family to do the same. Mark was an athlete in high school, which helped keep his weight down, but he really began to gain weight in college after he stopped exercising and didn't change his eating habits. His younger brother is also going down the same path, and Mark would like to be a better role model. He knew it was time to turn his life around when his father was battling cancer, his grandmother was dying and he lost his job. At that point, he knew he had to change his life and get healthy for himself and for his family. Mark says Season 9 winner Michael Ventrella was a big inspiration for him, and he looks forward to traveling and playing sports again once he gets the weight off.