FOUR years ago, Tweed Heads resident Rodney Lederhose was housebound, trapped by his humongous size and facing the prospect of life in a nursing home.

Weighing in at a whopping 287kg, Mr Lederhose was forced to use a walker to get around as his weight continued to pile on, as it had since a young boy.

But, faced with the prospect of losing his independence, Mr Lederhose, 52, took his first steps towards reclaiming his life and has since shed a whopping 130kg - or more than half his body weight.

"I was housebound for so many years because of my weight and I had issues with my legs,” Mr Lederhose said.

"It motivated me to lose the weight and now I'm about 148kg.”

Mr Lederhose, whose weight is affected by his disabilities, said he refused to let that stop him from setting a goal of reaching 120kg, a suitable size for his 1.88m frame. He credits his weight loss to the help he has received from a dietician and an occupational therapist from The Tweed Hospital, along with his carers.

"I walk a lot with my carers, as well as doing sit-ups in my walker, step-ups in my garage on a step and doing 1kg arm curls with dumbbells,” he said.

"Now I've got my life back and I have all the support workers helping me, I'm much happier.”

To lose the weight, Mr Lederhose said he walked twice a day and ate a controlled diet.

Caroline Ford from Rhythm and Beauty, a new organisation that teaches life skills to people living with a disability, worked with Mr Lederhose to create goals that kept him motivated throughout his weight loss journey.

"He cuts out pictures of people going to the cinema and even men with muscles to create a vision board, which really helped him have something to look forward to,” Ms Ford said.

Mr Lederhose said thinking about the life he wanted to live really encouraged him to lose the weight.

"Now I'm losing all this weight, I like to get out and do things like going to the theatre,” he said. "I'm a huge Gold Coast Titans supporter and I'd like to go see a game next year.”

While he had almost reached his goal weight, Mr Lederhose said he'd keep trying to lose the kilos to stay healthy.

"I sleep more now, I have more energy and I'm walking better,” he said. "I'm just happy I can do things now that I couldn't do before. I'm looking forward to enjoying my social life.”