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I'm a 55 year old Electrical Engineer with a wife of 29 years, 2 childen (28, 23)
and a granddaughter (3). I've pretty much been physically active a good
portion of my life. I was a scholarship college athelete and even tried
pursuing a professional tennis career for 4 years (not good enough but it was
quite the experience). When I was young and in playing shape keeping 140
lbs on my 5'7"

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I'm a 55 year old Electrical Engineer with a wife of 29 years, 2 childen (28, 23)
and a granddaughter (3). I've pretty much been physically active a good
portion of my life. I was a scholarship college athelete and even tried
pursuing a professional tennis career for 4 years (not good enough but it was
quite the experience). When I was young and in playing shape keeping 140
lbs on my 5'7" frame was a chore. I estimate that I ate somewhere between
3000-4000 (probably closer to 4000) calories per day and fought a losing
battle trying to keep my weight up. A 43" chest with a 28" waist was a
testiment to my fitness. I got married had two children and, of course, life
does get in the way. I stopped playing softball, golf and tennis to help my
children through their sports activities all the way through high school. Both
my son and daughter were standout high school atheletes with college
scholarship opportunites. So, in the end, I made the right choice by
concentrating on them....but a bad choice for my fitness. By the time my
daughter became a freshman in high school I had ballooned to over 250 lbs
(did I mention I am 5'7" tall when I stretch!!!). I can't tell you where I topped
out because I'm not sure. I had gone to the doctor for a bout of bronchitis
several months before and had weighed in a 232 lbs and was up to size 38
pants. After that I avoided going to the doctor, even calling in for my inhalers
and cough suppressant. By the time I decided to do something about my
weight I was wearing size 42 pants...I'm sure you can do the math. During my
daughter's freshman high school year we joined a local tennis club. Even
though I was in no shape to play I started to play league tennis at the urging
of the club tennis director. After my first match I knew I had to make the
choice to get back in shape or lay down and die. The day after my first match
I could hardly walk as both achilles tendons ballooned and I was afraid of
what my heart was going through. I started playing tennis 2-3 times a week
and lifting weights/doing aerobics 3 other days. In about 6 months I was
down to 220 lbs and feeling better than I had in a long time. I was moving
well on the tennis court and my game was coming back into shape (for an old
man, anyway). I was playing and competing with 20, 30 and 40 year olds and
doing better than just holding my own. I even played a short while in the
open league where the club pros played. By the end of the following year I
was down to just over 200 lbs. Now if you would have told me at the start
that I would lose 50 lbs, be playing tennis 3 times a week and lifting
weights/aerobics another 3 times a week I would have asked where do I sign
up? But something wasn't right. I still felt and looked fat. I was pretty fit,
especially for an old guy, but when I looked in the mirror things jiggled and I
wasn't as muscular as I thought I should have been. Now I realized that I
wasn't 25 any more but I was working harder than anyone I knew and I was
very committed and I felt that muscle definition was lacking and that was due
to the fat still on my body. I was starting to think that maybe my age had
something to do with it, and maybe some heriditary traits but I wasn't
convinced. I had plateaued big time for the next couple of years. I ranged
from 205 - 212 lbs and that's right where I stayed. In February 2007, my wife
and I went on a trip to Punta Cana with some friends and in one picture I took
with a neighbor I was appauled at the fold of fat I saw on my tummy. I knew
something was amiss and my wife must have felt sorry for me because after
the trip she found a Diet and Exercise Assistant program that loading into my
Palm. The program logged all of the food you ate and all of the exercise you
did each day. For the first time I started to pay attention to my diet. I had
been told this was key by a personal trainer a few years ago but didn't want
to believe it. When I got the program I had ~ 4 months until my son's
wedding and figured this would be a last ditch effort to get under the elusive
200 lb mark. The program was the basic eat less calories than you burn and
you'll lose weight...and it worked. After 4 months I lost 21 lbs, went from 211
lbs to 190 lbs and was very happy. As I do each summer, my workouts
slowed to accomodate my golf schedule. In Michigan we only have a few
months to play golf so my life is filled with work, golf and living on a lake. We
have lake front property and, as you can imagine, party all summer long. As
usual I gained ~ 6 lbs back and ended the summer at 196 lbs. So it was back
to work on me; golf was replaced with tennis and weightlifting/aerobics and I
started using the Palm program again. I figured in no time I'd be back to 190
lbs and in the 180's. When Christmas time arrived I had lost a total of 0 lbs,
was still at 196 lbs and was as frustrated as I've ever been. I was ready to give
up and just live with the fact that my body type, age, heredity or some other
mysterious factor was causing the plateau. The 21 lbs I lost earlier in the year
was just a memory. And the kicker was that in those 21 lbs I only lost 1" off
my waist. Now if someone would have told me I'd have lost 65 - 70 lbs at the
start I would have kissed them but you know the old adage about reaching
the mountain top only to find more peaks, right? From what I saw in the
mirror there were a lot more peaks to climb. Unfortunately, there wasn't
much hope, so far as I was concerned, the Diet and Exercise program was my
last hope and even that was failing. I just figured that at my age I was past
looking as good as I thought I should and maybe I better just live with that
and be happy that I was as fit as I was...fat-fit. After the 2007 Holiday
season I was watching the Golf channel and saw an infomercial
that would change my life...

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