He's tough, but he cares and he gets results.
Over the course of a year, a 21-year-old teacher named Rachel went from 369 pounds to 208 pounds.
"You don't just coach somebody through a year of their life without trust, without friendship," Powell said. "When I see them change and when I see them grow, I feel like a proud parent."
For the show, Powell took eight obese people under his wing so they could all fly again.
"I cried more than anybody on this show," Powell said. "In fact, like all eight of the people that I've transformed, they're good friends of mine now. And I mean we spent a year of our lives together and they always give me such a hard time because I cry more than anybody. It's such an emotional process."
Powell said when it comes to getting healthier, the first three things to go are sugar, flour and anything fried.
Viewers who feel they could stand to lose a little weight are in luck.
"For any individual who says, 'Well, I just need to lose 10 to 20 to 30 pounds,' there's also all those incredible tidbits and golden nuggets of information that are sprinkled through every episode because the changes that I make in their lives, it's going to be the same changes that you're going to make in your life to lose the final 30," Powell said.
When Powell changes a client's life, his life changes too.
"It's the most incredible feeling in the world and it feels like their victories are my own," Powell said.
Powell said he was always the smallest kid in school and because of that he suffered from some bullying growing up.
At 14 years old, he started training with weights and hasn't looked back since.
You can watch "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition" Mondays at 10 p.m. this summer on ABC7.
