"I know you likely get a ton of these notes so here’s another one to add to the pile. I moved to St Louis from Utah in 2006 and have listened to you and the crew for almost the whole time. I’ve laughed a lot, cried a few times and have really enjoyed all of the shenanigans – well except the Halloween stuff which is just uninteresting to me but I’ll admit it’s likely my own loss – so for me to get serious about something like this please know it is with a boat load of respect.

So the serious part: When I was 13 years old I weighed 213 pounds and had a 42in waist – I was a BIG kid. I am the guy who got the love and joy of struggling with his weight his whole life. In the 8th grade a gym teacher (aka football coach) talked to me about my weight and kinda beat me about the head and shoulders to get my act together and become active – run, walk, lift weights or ride bicycles. The bike thing stuck and I was able to get my weight to 152 by the time I was 15 – ain’t it great being a kid? As time went on I would serve my country for a short time, get married, kids, divorced, remarried, more kids and life just kept running on. By the time I was 40 my weight had ballooned to almost 250. I friend told me about the Atkins diet. This worked so between it and my bicycle I was able to get back to 204 pounds. All went well until I had to move to Missouri. (So okay here is my lame excuse part of this letter) The life style in MO didn’t lead to eating very low carb or bicycling and my weight started rising – stupid good St Louis cooking gets ya every time. By 2013 I was about 230. I bicycle during the summer and would lose some but during the winter would gain more. I heard you discuss Med Weight and Wellness Center, LLC and Dr. Briggs back then and wrote the phone number down but didn’t call. It wasn’t till I had to have shoulder surgery last year that I realized that I wouldn’t be able to cycle and I would have TWO years of weight gain to tackle in 2015 – an impossible task in my mind. Since I was already almost 240 I knew I had to do something. That’s when I re-found the old phone number for the Weight Lose guys in September. I called, talked to them, twisted my wife’s arm to join me and we jumped right in.

I am happy to say we both lost about 40lbs each doing a 45 day regiment – I was 205 at the end of the program. Dave, this single act has been the one greatest actions I have ever taken in my whole life. I have been given the tools to not only lose weight initially but have been able to continue to lose weight even though I am off the program – or even riding my bicycle – albeit about a pound of weight loss every three weeks or so. My goal weight is 190 and I know that once I’m able to get back on my bicycle in a few months I’ll be able to really get there. Heck, even if I didn’t get back into the saddle I know I’ll get there and likely more over time.

Dave – we will likely never meet, which is okay, but I wanted you to know that I totally appreciate you and your good sense when it comes to your sponsors. Dr. Briggs and his guys are awesome. They helped me change my eating life, weight wise, and did so as a caring lifelong partner. I know they will always be there for me if needed. This only happened because of you. Thanks so much for all you do and helping me and my loved one tackle this evil, twisted thing we have struggled with called weight gain. Who knew that someone could lose weight at the age of 50 something – no way, go figure."

-Bob P