Everyone I talk with about my weight loss always wants to know what the ah-hah moment was for me and I can never really put my finger on it.  I guess it was a culmination of multiple health issues that keep popping up.  I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and told I might die in my sleep without the use of a c-pap machine.  At my last physical I had high blood pressure, poor blood work and told I may need medication for it at age 33 if I didn’t lose weight.   I would play with my kids and get tired and out of breath after a few minutes.  I would look in the mirror and see myself and be unhappy with what I saw.  I came to the realization that I needed to make a change.  I needed to get healthy for myself, my wife and for my children.   It didn’t matter how many other people told me I needed to get healthy, because no one else can make you do it, you have to want to do it and I was ready.

I was very active in High School athletics and played sports year round and was in very good shape.  During high school I grew to 6’2’’ and weighed up to 225lbs depending on the season.  In college I played fewer sports, drank more, ate more and graduated college at 300+ lbs.  After college I got married and started a family.  But, I continued being more and more unhealthy until my weight reached over 350lbs.  I knew I was too heavy and tried to get back into going to the gym and tried to diet, but I didn’t get results and i would never stick with it very long.   

I have watched wrestling in one form or another since I was 6 at my grandfather’s house.  I was watching Raw or something recently and saw something about The Resurrection of Jake the Snake and decided to watch it on Netflix.  JTS was always one of my favorite wrestlers as a child so I was interested in his story.   His journey got me interested in DDPYoga.  I started looking into it, read some other testimonials and decided to give it a shot.  My wife was very supportive and committed to doing it together with me.

When DDPYoga arrived in the mail I wasn’t prepared for all that it entailed.  I thought it would just be some workouts but it was a complete overhaul of my lifestyle.  With the support and assistance of my wife I made the changes necessary to start the journey.  We did the “pantry raid” and worked to start a healthier diet.  It was hard at the beginning to give up the snacking and change my eating habits. But, we made it our own and kind-of adopted pieces from all 3 levels of DDP’s nutrition setup.  I eliminated fast food, soda, and white bread/rice/pasta from my diet.  We buy organic and non-gmo as much we can, limit gluten, diary and sugar.  As time went by and I stuck with the program, day by day it became easier and easier, to now it is just my normal.  The workouts were great.   I started to drop weight and see results quickly and got really motivated to achieve my goals. 

I started DDPYoga at 345lbs. in April, 2017.  I set a goal to get under 300lbs.   A little more than three months later and I had completely changed my lifestyle, diet, health and lost 45 lbs. on DDPYoga reaching my initial goal.   I am now down 55lbs at 290lbs.  My wife also had great results, going from 148lbs to 125lbs.  

I have seen my health improve dramatically.  When I went to my next physical my blood pressure dropped 25/15 pts.  My cholesterol dropped 57pts, LDL dropped 41pts, and glucose dropped 25pts.  My breathing and endurance has increased.  I was able to coach my older girl’s soccer team this fall, something I wouldn’t and could not have done last year.   My overall mood and happiness has increased as well.  I would recommend DDPYoga to anyone who really wants to improve themselves in anyway; physically, mentally, whatever.  It’s a program you can do and succeed at.  Put in the work and the results will follow.  I can’t thank DDP and DPPYoga enough for what it has done for my life and my family’s.