January, 2012.  I stepped on my bathroom scales.  I weighed 208 -- way too much.  It was during my next doctor's visit I was told that I was actually in the 'obese' range for my height.  My doctor told me he wanted me to lose 50 pounds.

"OK", I said to myself.  "I can do that with the no carb diet.  I've done it before, I can do it again".  So I started.  Gradually my weight started dropping just as I expected.  But that was 15 years ago and I was alot more active (at least on the weekends).  And if you've tried that type of diet before, you know that there are plateaus.  And those plateaus are hard to break through.  And you may have also notices that part of the weight that comes of is muscle mass, which is not what you want to lose.  So I was getting smaller, but I was also getting weaker.

This is where my wife intervenes.  She had already tracked Toni down and started working out with her and trying to follow the food guidelines.  I reluctantly went to one of BT&N Wellness Clinic's Open House events and talked to Toni.  It was a nice event -- I got to see the workout space and the food guidelines and some of her nutritional info.  But honestly, I thought the program was a bit expensive -- I should be able to do all that myself.  I know I can control my eating, and I should be able to work out on a regular schedule.  But the truth is, I'm just too lazy to do a lot of that stuff on my own.  I need a commitment and a goal and a sense that my money is being well spent.  So I decided to give Toni the benefit of the doubt and commit to her program.

I started with Toni in September of 2012.  That’s the top row of pictures.  I met my goal in June of 2013.  All those months in between took a lot of effort -- working out 5 days a week, eating a lot of the right foods, and drinking a lot (and I mean a lot) of water.