Man offers free lawn mowing to lose weight

COON RAPIDS, Minn. - A local man who has struggled to lose weight is hoping a lawn mower will help him shed between 30 and 50 pounds.


After working up quite a sweat mowing his own lawn this summer, Darrell Nelson thought that he could get a good workout by mowing lawns for other people as well.

So, on the Web site Craig's List, he placed an ad offering to mow lawns for free.

He figures if he eats better and mows a lawn per day nearly every day of the week, he will be able to keep an exercise program going. He said he has a hard time keeping commitments to himself, but he will stick to commitments he makes to others.

"This is no joke or gimmick," he wrote on the Web site. "I need to lose weight. I have struggled on sticking to exercise programs, including just walking, for quite a while now."

Nelson is a former power lifter who's about 5-foot-9 and 258 pounds. Since news of his ad spread, he has fielded calls from the media, strangers — even some women who have asked him out on dates.

"My life has been turned upside down, man, unbelievable," he said. "I was planning on doing five lawns: Mine plus four others. Now, I'm doing six lawns: Mine plus five others. ... I was just trying to do some yards and lose some weight, and it just — voila — away it went."