Michael's weight loss so far: 204 pounds
Looking like a completely different person, "The Biggest Loser" contestant Michael Ventrella came to Marino's Pizza & Italian Cafe in Wood Dale Wednesday, where cameras filmed the Bartlett resident getting on the scale in front of family and friends for the second time.
The first time he did it, last summer, Ventrella wore size 58 pants and weighed in at 526 pounds, making him the largest person ever to appear on the popular NBC reality TV show where obese people compete to lose weight.
During that first weigh-in, family and friends wept. Wednesday, they cheered and smiled after Ventrella stepped on the scale and it showed 322 pounds - a 204-pound weight loss.
On Wednesday night, Ventrella and his family and friends dined at Venuti's Banquets & Ristorante in Addison.
Ventrella, 31, a Carol Stream native and Glenbard North High School alumnus, works as a deejay.
It's not known when the footage filmed Wednesday will air, but the season is roughly halfway over and Ventrella is still a contender for the $250,000 prize and the title of "The Biggest Loser."
Ventrella's mother, Maria, started on the show with him but was voted off in January after losing 23 pounds from her 281 pound starting weight.