my name is Bob Calvanese. I am 58 years old, 5' 9" tall, and weighed 225 lbs. when I decided to start losing weight.

I served two terms in the US Army from 1983 to 1989, and received two honorable discharges for my service. While serving my second term I had the opportunity to attend a Master Fitness Trainer course. It is not as glorified as the name implies, but basically it was a four week course that teaches you how to be a basic fitness instructor, and about basic nutrition. I think fitness has advanced a lot since the 1980's, but anyone who can exercise can follow basic fitness principals, follow a basic well balanced diet, and be successful in achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight.

What happened to me?

I used to be in great shape. I could do 70 pushups in 2 minutes, 70 situps in 2 minutes, and run 2 miles in 14 minutes flat.

When I was in my mid 30's I was broad sided by a drunk driver while coming home from work one night. I received the following injuries...
Ruptured spleen
Ruptured diaphragm
Collapsed left lung
My stomach went through my diaphragm and into my chest cavity
Both shoulders partially dislocated
Minor puncture wounds from jagged metal

They removed my spleen, put all my stuff back together, and after a couple months I was able to go back to work on light duty.

They told me I could not exercise at all for at least a year to give my internals a chance to heal up fully. After that year, I just got lazy and never started exercising again. I put on some weight over the next ten years, but not a whole lot. I had a very physical job, so I was able to burn enough calories not to gain too much. Then, I decided to go to school for computer programming, and got my first job doing that.

It started going down hill from there. I went from a very active job to sitting on my butt all day, then going home and sitting on my butt all night. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

I became obese. I was over 200 lbs. and felt like crap most of the time. I started having digestive issues that started getting so bad, I had to leave work and go to the doctor one day. He examined me and sent me right to the emergency room. They did a scan and told me that my colon was abscessed, and that I had diverticulitis. They kept me in the hospital for a week because it had gotten into my blood and I was sepsis.

Over the next couple years or so, I continued to have the diverticulitis attacks, and was hospitalized several times. Each time the attacks got worse and it took longer to get rid of the infection. They told me I needed surgery to remove that part of my colon that keeps getting infected. I had to have heart, lung, and general physical clearances to get the surgery, and that is where I received even worse news.

They told me I had COPD, and a small part of the bottom of my heart was enlarged. They said I could have had a mini heart attack at some point. They also told me that my weight was a concern as well. They did the surgery and removed about an 8 inch section of my colon. While I was still in the hospital, my surgeon told my that I need to lose weight, and he told me to walk a lot.

I met many many doctors through all of this, and when I asked them about losing weight, they all told me to exercise, and recommended walking.

Once I healed up, I started walking. At first I had to lay down for an hour after walking 1 mile at a slow pace. I couldn't breath, my hearty was pounding out of my chest, my feet hurt, my ankles hurt, my shins hurt, my knees hurt, my hips hurt, and I begged my wife to shoot me in the head, but she didn't want to get in trouble. So I just kept paining my way through it.

Today I walked 7 miles at a 4.3 mph pace, and kept my heart rate at 85% of my MHR for an hour and 37 minutes with out a problem at all.

I have been doing this for close to a year now, and have lost 55 lbs. so far. I also eat more than I used to because I burn so many calories by power walking every day, and am still losing about a lb. a week.

I believe if you can exercise, you can achieve and maintain a healthy weigh by exercising and eating a well balanced diet. I put the emphasis on exercise, because it allows you to get all the nutrients your body needs, and allows you to eat some of the things you like (within reason).

Feel free to join this group, and open dialog related to maintaining a healthy weight "The Right Way".

Thank you,
Bob