In May 2007, my Navy career ended.  I was being discharged… because I had gotten too fat.  I was sent back to Illinois, jobless, with my wife and my seven month old son.  I was a mess.  I turned into a walking pit of depression and despair that I hid from the world with cheeseburger wrappers and peanut butter sandwiches. I found that I could easily eat 7,000 - 8,000 calories daily. I was diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes. Didn’t matter; I kept eating. I always had an excuse to stop doing anything healthy and going back to the sedentary lifestyle.

My wife and I went on a cruise in 2015 for our 10 year anniversary, I could barely squeeze into the plane seat. This didn’t slap the food out of my hand. I ordered dessert everywhere, and I ate the fattiest foods I could find. A year later, I got chest discomfort walking up stairs. I wasn't getting enough sleep as I developed sleep apnea. Over the years, I had made modest-at-best efforts to try to lose the weight. I would occasionally join a gym, but still ate garbage, still made excuses. I would often try the new diet my wife was on, but often would not combine it with exercise. The few times I did both, I saw a modicum of a successful result; even that was not enough to sustain me - I always had an excuse to quit.

One day I saw an ad for the DDPY flash across my facebook. It interested me – I even say the DDP episode of Shark Tank - but I still made excuses not to try it. One day, after another failed diet/exercise program, I showed my wife the DDPY, and I said "How about we give this a go? Nothing else has worked so far."

We ordered the DDPY, and took the book with us to Michigan over Mother's Day to read. We began the DDPY on May 22nd, 2017. I didn't take any beginning pictures at all; I was positive this was going to be a waste of money and not work, just like all the other things we have tried in the past. It was a shock to see that after the first week I lost 6 pounds. It seemed so easy! 

Now, with the help of DDP's Phase 1 meal plan, combined with my wife's gluten-free lifestyle, I have my eating - and my diabetes - under control. My A1C at last check-up was 4.7! Thanks to the DDPY, I have increased my endurance, I can run again (about to run my 3^rd 5k), and I no longer have sleep apnea. My goal is to get down to 167. One year in, I am down 86 lbs. The DDPY helped me my life back, and made me realize that the biggest challenge to owning my life was dealing with the person looking back at me in the mirror every day.  Thank you, DDP!