My story

Before we get too far along here, I should probably tell my story. How did I get from "Before" to "Now"?

I spent the summer of 2006 feeling increasingly debilitated. With each flight of stairs that winded me, each sweet dessert I craved even more than ever, I worried that there was something terribly wrong with me.

So did I go to the doctor?

Reader, I did not.

No, I come from a long line of ostriches, generations of people sticking their heads in the sand so they can't see Trouble. Unfortunately, Trouble sees them just fine.

Finally, I came back from vacation thinking, "Maybe - maybe I'll call the doctor next week." Then I unloaded my car. Three trips up and down one flight of stairs from my basement and I was near collapse. I called the doctor the next morning.

She did some tests, but didn't seem unduly alarmed about anything. Next morning, my phone rings. It's the doctor's office. The nurse says, "The doctor wants you to come back in."

"Okay," I said, grabbing my date book. "When?"

"How about NOW?"

Bottom line, I had three different things going on. Later, my partner found an article from a medical journal that basically said, "If you've got these three things going on, you shouldn't be reading this article. You should be dead already."

The doctor said I needed to lose weight. I knew she was serious, as in dead serious. And I also knew that if I pussyfooted around losing a pound or two a week, I would never get the weight off. That approach hadn't worked in the past, and this time I needed something that would really, truly, absolutely work. I needed to get healthy as quickly and as safely as I could.

A friend had recommended Isagenix to me a few years earlier. This time, I took her up on it. I started in October 2006 and by February 2007, I was a size 10. When I went to the doctor for my six-month follow-up, she walked into the exam room and nearly dropped her clipboard. She shouted, "You're skinny!" And she said in all her years of practicing, I was the very first patient who'd ever listened to her warning and lost the weight.

Now, a year and a bit later, I'm still a size 10. But I've recommitted myself to the program and I'm going to take off the last 20 or so pounds I need to lose. And if I can do it...oh yeah, absolutely anyone can!