Joe’s Story

“I know what to do; I’m just not doing it.”

I said that to my doctor during my annual physical. He had been looking at my previous year’s test results. My A1C was 6.6. He had told me for several years that I needed to lose weight.

“Yeah, I know what to do. I’m just not doing it.”

He ordered more blood tests. This time my A1C was 8.6. Far worse than before. I was now classified as diabetic.

I have seen what happens to people with diabetes. My wife has to give herself injections. A friend of mine lost a leg to diabetes. I was overweight for more than twenty years. I knew the risk. Diabetes is probably the biggest health risk to those who are overweight.

Sadly many of us know the risks. Yet, we often don’t do anything about our weight until it impacts our health. And sometimes not even then. We make excuses and think, “It won’t happen to me.”

I was no exception. And I knew better than most. As a teenager, I took up an interest in the martial arts. Wanting to improve my martial arts, I studied physical fitness. Wanting to improve my physical fitness, I studied proper nutrition.

In 1999 I earned a diploma in fitness and nutrition from Penn Foster. I had dreams of becoming a personal trainer. But shortly after that, I began putting on weight. Within a couple of years, I went from a size 38 waist to a size 42. My weight went from 175 pounds to 230. At one point, my weight was as high as 252. I had to give up my dream of becoming a personal trainer. After all, who wants to hire a fat personal trainer?

What happened? I had developed some bad habits that I didn’t even realize would have any impact on my weight. I will discuss those later on. But our bad habits make losing weight more complicated than it needs to be. One problem I had was that I could eat anything I wanted in my youth and not gain weight. I failed to adjust to that change as I got older. When I earned that diploma, I was 38 years old. My metabolism was changing, and I failed to account for that.

I tried numerous weight loss methods. Meal replacement shakes, ephedra pills, and even Weight Watchers. I would lose some weight with all these methods but then put it back on once I stopped. Before Weight Watchers, My weight was up to 252 pounds. With Weight Watchers, I got my weight down to 194. Then, due to circumstances, I took the focus off myself and gained weight again. This time I struggled to keep it down to 230.

And exercise was more difficult. I had given up on exercise long before this. It is, after all, difficult for an overweight person to exercise. I didn’t have the strength to do more than a couple of push-ups. Squats were difficult because of the pain in my knees and back. And crunches were nearly impossible with my belly in the way.

But after a diagnosis of diabetes, I knew I had to do more. At the suggestion of a friend, I signed up for Noom. Noom’s approach to weight loss is psychological. Exploring those bad habits and our relationship with food. I started eating better and walking more. I quit eating mindlessly and paid more attention to how much I ate and what quality.

The weight started coming off. People began to notice. Although their comments seemed to be a bit odd. Someone would ask me, “Are you losing weight?” And I would tell them yes, and how much I had lost so far. Many of them had the same response. “I thought so. I noticed it in your face.”

My face? Yes, my face looks different. But that’s how you knew I was losing weight? You didn’t notice that my gut no longer sticks out? You didn’t notice that my pants are so baggy they look like clown pants? My face was your first clue?

Their comments did make me feel good. I knew what I was doing was working. In just six months, I took my weight from 230 pounds down to 185. My A1C, which was at 8.6, was now down to 5.1.

I felt incredible. I felt stronger than I had felt in years. And I had less pain in my knees and back. Someone even commented that I was even walking differently. I also was feeling more self-confident than I had in years. I have kept the weight off (and my A1C down) for two years, and I’m determined to keep it that way.