success stories

Rudy
Reynoldsburg, OH
Weight Lost: 168 lbs and counting

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At close to 400 pounds the hardest thing to do is sustain any type of effort of a diet. The motivation isn't there to attempt to start it. Usually if you don't have a consistent weight loss over a period of time, you give up. The diet I had the some success with was basically just trying to eat right and exercise. You'll have some success, you'll lose 25, 30 pounds and then you feel you're fighting an uphill battle. Once you get to that point, without some additional help, you're just not going to make it. You just go back to your same habits. You just give up.

What sparked my desire to lost weight was a trip to urgent care because of a headache. When I went into the clinic they took my blood pressure, and the doctor asked if I was under anybody's medical care? I said no. He said I needed to get a physician and have him go through my health conditions. So I went to a physician that diagnosed me as Type II diabetic and hypertensive and poor kidney function. I also had a condition called sleep apnea where I had to wear a C-PAP machine when I slept.

I had always complained to my wife that the biggest problem with any other diet, if you're an alcoholic, you can give up alcohol. If you're a drug addict, you can give up drugs. If you need to lose weight, you can't stop eating. You have to eat to survive. I knew I needed something that would help me mange my relationship with food. One day my wife and I were looking in the newspaper and I saw the OPTIFAST program and I said this is exactly what I need. And I absolutely believed from the minute I saw that article I had hope. And then I walked in there just knowing that I was going to be successful at it and that I was going to be successful for life.

I lost 100 pounds in 100 days, the first 100 days of the program. I saw results within the first week, I lost ten pounds. I had a great deal of success with the program. I feel like I'm the picture of health now. I'm on no medications, I've lost a total 168 pounds and I've kept it off for four years now.

What has been different about the OPTIFAST program is that you get an education with the program. It came with a lot of lecturing and a group of caring people behind it that really makes it work. From the doctors to the dieticians to the nurses. It's just a great support system. People have to know that it's not about just selling you a product and walking away from you. They sell you a product and then they work with you continuously. They call me, I talk to them a lot and they check up on me to make sure I'm doing okay. That's big.

I was a very physically active person before I gained the weight. And now after the OPTIFAST program I am able to do those things again. Running is a passion of mine.

When I was overweight, I would actually dream that I was running. One of the first things I couldn't wait to do as I started to lose weight was run. I started slowly walking and running and then I got to the point where I could run continuously. And now I've run a couple of marathons, a couple of half marathons. It's my passion.

I have a child now and I definitely wouldn't have had a child if I hadn't lost the weight. At close to 400 pounds I really didn't believe that I could physically manage raising a child. I just couldn't keep up. And it is a blessing being able to now chase my daughter around and pick her up and carry her and exercise. It's a blessing. The OPTIFAST program has been a blessing. It gave me my life back.

If somebody asks me if the OPTIFAST plan works I would show them my pictures. They have to know that it will do its job. It's not a temporary fix. It's not something that you're going to do today and then go back to who you were before. Be prepared to change your life.

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