Losing weight is hard. There’s always a reason not to do something—too tired to work out. Too busy. Work. Family. Stress. Food is really awesome.

But at almost 330 pounds, I had to do something. I was 33, and I was on four medicines for diabetes. I could get down on the ground with my kids but I couldn’t get back up. At work, I’d sweat through my shirt and my boss would look at the sweat stains and pick out images like I was a walking Rorschach test. I had to do something. 

I’d tried diets. I’d worked out randomly  and had moderate success but, again, I found reasons not to do it, and I ballooned back up.

Finally, I made a decision. I decided to get gastric bypass surgery. The thing with gastric bypass: it’s not an instant fix and it’s not a guaranteed success. It’s a foot in the door. You still have to work at it. My doctor told me, his exact words, “I can get you started, but it’s up to you not to f*ck it up.”

And I did not want to f*ck it up.

A month after my surgery and I was given the go ahead to begin whatever workout routine I thought I could handle. It started with walking the dog. I tested the waters at the gym and I found a decent groove. But I wanted more. I was seeing results and feeling better than I’d felt in my entire life.

Enter DDPY . I knew DDP from wrestling. I’d seen what he did with Jake and Scott and so many others. My story was different, but our goal was the same: change your damn life, and be better.

I got the DVDs. I did the Diamond Dozen. 40ish minutes later I was a puddle on the floor.  But I was a happy puddle.

Over the last 18 months I’ve lost a hundred pounds. I’ve had to relearn how to live my life from the ground up. Now there are no excuses. I make time. I wake up at 4:30 to go to the gym, I get my cardio, I lift my weights, I do my DDPY. I’m an entirely new person.

There are days where I wanted to give up—I could find that reason not to do it. But this time there was a voice in the back of my head, DDP saying “don’t forget to do this again tomorrow.” As dumb as it may sound, I didn’t want to disappoint him. He doesn’t know me and wouldn’t know if I didn’t ever do YRG again. But still, I didn’t want to feel like I was letting him down.

So I did it again that day. And the one after that.

I no longer require medication for diabetes. I can get down on the ground with my kids and I can get back up. I’m comfortable in my own skin for the first time in my life.

My favorite thing is seeing people I haven’t seen in awhile. The couple of extra seconds it takes for recognition to occur and then the shock on their face they do is... it’s amazing.

I had that foot in the door. But I shoved myself the rest of the way through and whether he knew it or not, DDP was there cheering me on.