On a late December night in 2011, I made a decision.  I figured it was going to be a new year, a new start, and that I'd give myself 365 days to get my ass in gear. That, and my doctor, whom I visited this last December week due to illness, said that I'm in danger.  Heart attack.  Asthma.  Diabetes.  High Blood Pressure.  

 

"You want to live to see your children grow up, right?" he asked of me.

 

It was time.  I, weighing in at 362 lbs, couldn't tie my shoes.  I couldn't put on my shoes without difficulty, or even strap on my plastic Mafo leg brace.  Why do I have a leg brace?  I'm physically handicapped from a high school wrestling injury that tore my knee ligaments, nerves, muscle, and joints completely in two.  This injury happened 10 years ago, in 2002, when I was a senior.  I was wrestling at 200 lbs, in a match against the fourth ranked guy in the district.  I was beating him.  I tried to pin him, by throwing him as hard as I could in a headlock, when he countered with a headlock of his own.  

 

Snap.  Crunch.  Scream. 

 

It happened.  The gym that was loud as possible had quieted, aside from one ginger haired guy in the middle of the mat's screaming.  

 

The once thunderous crowd has been silenced by the sickening "pop!" that was my knee.  An ambulance carted me off to a hospital, where I stayed for seven days.  I then was sent home, stuck in a wheelchair for the next six months, and was given a leg brace and a plastic support that I've worn to this day, if I were to ever walk again.

 

Flash forward 3 years.  I put on some weight, due to a decreasing ability to exercise.  Flash forward another 6.  The weight I had put on by this time was beyond comprehension.  I went from 200 lbs in 2002, to 250 lbs in 2005, to 350 lbs in 2011.  I was a big, fat guy.  

 

Back to that night in December; people were making "New year's resolutions".  Some said to lose weight.  Some said to stop drinking.  Some said to save money.  I watched a video.  The video of Diamond Dallas Page, stating that New Year's resolutions were just not the right thing to do for a commitment.  He had this program, a yoga program, and he believed in it.  

 

I've read "Positively Page" and remembered this was his thing.  This was something he used to do to stay loose, and stay healthy while employed as a wrestler.  I, as a local "indy ref", sick of being bigger and fatter than the talent, thought to look into the system a little more.

   I then came across Arthur's video.  

My jaw hit the floor.  This guy was in worse situations than me.  His legs were just as bad.  His size was almost as big.  And here he is, thin, looking like more of a badass than any of the cast of the Expendables, and he was -sprinting- at the end of his video.  He wasn't only walking, he was freakin' sprinting!  

 

I ordered the dvd's.  I did Power 90 in the past.  You couldn't modify that system.  Either do it, or miss out.  DDP YOGA was DIFFERENT.  You could MODIFY the workout.  ANY BODY could do it!  

 

So I signed up on teamddpyoga.com, as requested, and after my first week, I got a phone call on a Saturday night, around eight pm.

 

"Hello?" 

 

"Yo.  It'd DDP.  What's up?" 

 

Holy crap.  

 

The guy who's going to help me lose weight over the next couple of months, the guy who MADE the very DVD set I ordered, he's HERE ON THE PHONE. 

 

I told him my story, assured him I'd join the community. 

 

I took my six pictures, which can be seen on my TeamDDPYOGA page here.  And I started working out.

 

Diamond Dozen; Energy. 

 

The next week.  Fat Burner.  Stand up.

 

I even tried Diamond Cutter.  

 

The pounds started coming off like NOTHING.  330 lbs, 320 lbs, and then around June of 2012 I hit 315.  

 

 

My doctor was THRILLED.  He said I could still do more.  My vital statistics were looking MUCH better. 

 

July and half of August, I was sidelined with an injury.  My foot was sliced up like I was Bruce Willis in the original Die Hard, as if I walked across broken glass.  Walking, and yes, even the Yoga, was difficult to do.  My workouts were only twice, three times a week at most.  But September, I was ready again.  I started saying I'd be under 300 by the month's end. Even my father got in on it now, placing a bet with me.  

 

"If you could lose all this weight, I'll throw you $200."  He gave me a number.  280 lbs.  By the end of September.

 

Labor day, I stepped on the scale.  317 lbs.  

 

Double sessions.  Harder workouts.  Better meals.  A "chop salad" went from something I never knew of to now a daily addiction.  I began to CRAVE healthy foods in much the same way a mouse craves cheese.  Two workouts a day, EVERY DAY, weekends and nights.  

 

Today, I'm 294 lbs.  The lowest I've been in five years.  Lower than on my wedding day.  About the same size I was when I first met my wife.  It is September 27th, and although I didn't hit my goal of 280, I'm awfully close.  280 will come.  So will 250.  And then my target weight of 240.  All will happen in due time, because I've learned to OWN MY LIFE with DDP YOGA.