10/10/2026
Dave was in a hospital bed for the third time in a few months.
First it was a blood clot in his leg that turned into a pulmonary embolism. Now his blood pressure has spiked to 177 over 116.
And all he can think about is his kids growing up without a dad, and his wife without a husband.
He told me he was basically pleading: “If you let me get through this, I am going to do what I can to not squander it.”
Dave wasn’t new to trying. In high school he was lean and athletic. After that came b**r and ci******es.
When he quit smoking, the weight shot up. By 2023 he was around 260.
He tried keto. He pieced together whatever he could find online. He bought a bench press, and it sat for a couple of years.
It was the same pattern every time. Mess up on Friday, write off the weekend, start again Monday.
He got down to about 230 and got stuck there for over a year. He couldn’t play with his kids for more than a couple of minutes without getting winded.
After the hospital, he reached out to me. This time, he stopped treating it like a diet. In his words, “This is the way I eat now.”
He still slipped up. But a slip-up stopped being a reason to start over on Monday. He’d have his cheat meal and get back on track.
Now it’s the end of the season, and there’s a parents-versus-kids baseball game.
The guy who used to get winded in two minutes steps up and plays the whole game without getting winded once.
He now plays catch with his son every day.