After enjoying not having to work for a little while, I decided to start walking. My kids were coming to visit, and I thought I should get some activity in before they arrive. Unfortunately, while walking, I pulled several muscles in my leg, around the knee, which made the visit with my children very difficult. We were in Florida at the time, and we had scheduled some beach activities. I was able to hobble to the beach with a giant leg brace on, but then it started raining and we decided to go to a museum. Unable to walk through a large museum, we acquired a wheelchair, and I was being pushed around the museum by my children. It dawned on me at that moment that I was not old enough for this, I was only 50 years old at the time. I knew I had to do something different.

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After quite a bit of study, I decided my diet had to change first. I had been on diets before, like Nutrisystem, and many other yo-yo diets before that. They only worked temporarily, and I would always find myself back where I started. So, I decided to do one simple thing. I was only going to eat foods that have one ingredient. An apple is an apple, chicken is chicken. I began eating only whole foods. I ate all of the meat, vegetables, eggs, fruits, nuts, and seeds as I wanted. I ate until I was stuffed and guess what happened? I lost 50 lbs. in 4 months, without being hungry, simply by eating real food, instead of pre-engineered food like products that come in bags and boxes with barcodes. I didn't count calories, and I was feeling great too.

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I then started walking, but my knee was still a bit sketchy, so I bought a regular bicycle and began riding every day. After a few months my knee was good enough to start walking, I started off slow and went a little farther when I felt like I could. My big discovery came a few months later. I was visiting my son who was in the Navy at the time, and he was really into weightlifting. I was inspired by the thought of lifting weights, I grew up with a weight set in the basement of our home, I had also lifted weights in the Army, but all of that that was a long time ago. Could I do that now, at my age? I had to try. I went to Walmart and bought a flat bench and a couple of dumbbells then YouTube'd how to lift properly. I realized that my degenerative back disease did not like weightlifting. My elbows, knees, hips and back felt incredibly weak and I was a bit nervous with the thought of injury. So, I took it really... really... slow!

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Also, I noticed that my weight seemed to be stuck at 225lbs. which was 50 lbs. less than I started, but I wasn't losing weight anymore. I stumbled on the YouTube crowd of doctors who were talking about the rates of obesity and how Insulin Resistance may be a solution for someone like me. I went on a very low-carb diet, and it was exactly what my body needed to break that plateau. The only carbohydrates I ate were what comes naturally in vegetables. I quit the fruits, potatoes, rice, etc. To my surprise, I dropped my weight all the way down to 185 lbs. Woo hoo! A total 90lb weight loss. At this point I realized that my body just does not like carbohydrates, though I was still eating as much as I wanted of all the other whole foods, meaning, I was not hungry all the time. As a matter of fact, I learned that carbohydrates are what makes my hungry. They're addictive to me and once I start eating them, it's like unleashing a sugar drug that takes over my whole being. 

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As I got better and better a lifting weight, I slowly progressed with heavier dumbbells and created a workout schedule that helped me get very strong. As a matter of fact, I completely changed my entire metabolism, all of my blood work markers were normal. No more Type 2 diabetes, nor more high blood pressure or high cholesterol, and my degenerative back disease is 98% gone. By the way, my doctor told me that the only way to deal way to deal with back disease is to go on a schedule of pain management until I can't take the pain anymore, then surgery at some point. Guess what? The doctors were wrong; I completely fixed it by myself. It's amazing what having enough muscle around your spine can do.

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I've used myself as a science experiment to figure how to help myself. Now that I have succeeded, I've decided to try and help others who find themselves in a similar predicament. It can be done, it takes time, and it takes a desire to get healthier. I received my certifications in Personal Training and Nutrition Coaching in 2025 though the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). I realize there are personal trainers out there that may have much more time training others than I. But do they have what I have? The experience of being obese, and way out of shape. This is where I shine. I know the struggles; I've felt the burden of my own making. Now I want to share my experience with others, and I'd like to help you become the healthier version of you. Not as a passing fad, or a program that burns you out quickly and leaves you back where you started, but a whole new way of thinking about food and exercise that will last the rest of your life.