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My name is Guy, I'm from Carlsbad, California. I went to the Encinitas Medifast Center and
I lost 106 pounds. Originally, I had a daughter who had some health issues and I realized
after dealing with that for a number of years that I had to do something to be there for
my family. So my family was my motivation. First and foremost, I wanted to be there for
my 3 children, I wanted to be there for my wife. Also for me, I wanted to start to do
the things that I was accustomed to doing that I hadn't done for years. That helped
me make my decision to kind of take my life back over and lose my weight. I had my oldest
daughter as my motivation to stay on track, my oldest daughter is a cancer survivor. She
was diagnosed at 2, she's now 13 so it's pretty easy after what she's been going through.
I classify this as being very easy and so as a parent who's gone through that, you always
say that you would do anything: spend any amount of money, do anything physical to save
your child. And for me, it's like 'okay I gotta get back in shape, I gotta lead by example,
I gotta do other stuff and take my life back over.' There was just one point where I finally
said, 'this is it' and I look at my friends who are in excellent physical health and they
were having problems with high blood pressure, high cholesterol. I had seen it and I thought,
'okay, I need to do something, because it's just a matter of time'. Once I made my mind,
I looked into Medifast, I visited the center, decided that 'yes, this was for me'. The results
were very fast, it happened so fast that it gives you immediate confidence. You see a
dramatic difference within the first week. The immediate results just really motivates
you to keep going and obviously they start off pretty quick and then it tapers off, but
it's steady. It changes that mindset and gets you out of old habits. It did become a challenge
when I started to eat out. I had it in my mind that I could find something good to eat
anywhere. It became fun, to look through and try to figure out what could I turn into a
proper meal. And then also, to watch the looks on the waiter's face when you had certain
requests. They actually understood very quickly, they tend to embrace that, 'ok we can do this,
this and this' and they start making recommendations. It would become a game to go out to restaurants,
'ok find something good here, find something good here'. The role that my counselor played
for me was huge, I'm very busy, so I travel quite a bit. Also, I needed that accountability,
I would go up there and know that I had to check in and weigh in and the last thing you
want to do is not lose weight. Anybody that says it's easy isn't being honest, but it
wasn't difficult. If you make up your mind, it's really not that hard to do. Now that
I'm on maintenance, everything's changed. The reality is you know what you need to do
now because you've done it for so long and it's become that challenge, it doesn't just
go away. I would say the biggest thing is actually just going into a center first. It's
that first time that you have to go in there because, face it, it's a little humiliating.
You're like, 'okay, I know I gotta lose weight..' They're used to seeing this, they know the
challenges, they understand the challenges that you face. But when you go in there, you
certainly have your doubts, you're skeptical. I was, because you've tried a lot of stuff.
I think you walk in there and you kind of walk out refreshed, like 'okay, they understand
where I am and now we have the road map of where I need to be and how to get there.'
It was really, really nice when I got 40-50 pounds down and people started to noticed
without you even saying anything, and they're like, 'ok, what are you doing?' My wife included,
she's done Medifast as well and she's lost just over 42 pounds now. My mom has also lost
over 50 pounds. And just a number of friends and clients who have seen me, I've had to
re-introduce myself to all my clients, they just can't believe it because I looked so
different. But we started adding up the other day, just how much cumulative weight all my
friends and my clients, we're pretty close to 1,500 pounds, everybody in total weight
loss. I would say before I started Medifast, my body didn't match my personality and who
I was. So, now I feel that my physical body actually matches my inner self and my personality.
I always never really had a confidence problem from a mental part, but now I really feel
like it's the whole package, I guess you could say. I know a lot of people, the first thing
they ask is how much does it cost and I tell people to really sit down and see how much
they're spending now and I think you'll find out there really isn't that much of a difference.
For me, it was about 10 bucks a week different. But you gotta make that first step, just go
in, see a counselor, meet with them and then just really sit down and be honest with yourself.
Because it is an investment in you.