The Salesman

A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away.......

I was a mortgage broker!!

Before my restaurant management days, I worked as a mortgage broker for a small firm in Charlotte, NC.

I was really good at it. It was easy to sell people on refinancing their homes. I had a lot of clients.

While I was doing it, I was approached by a woman. Her son was in jail and she needed to get money to bail him out.

She was desperate to get money. She wanted to refinance her home so she could get money to bail out her son (The bail was like $10,000 so he did something pretty rough!).

She was a single 66 year old woman living on Social Security.

Desperation is delicious for a salesman. I worked out the numbers and the deal I had at first had me making $9500. My bosses were pleased!

For a 23 year old kid living at home, that is huge!
For a 33 year old father, that is huge!

I ended up making $50 on the deal.

It was the last mortgage deal I ever did.

Sometimes when you have a gift, you have to be very careful.

I have a gift. I am an incredible salesman. I could sell you anything.

I was approached by a company a couple months back about my weight loss. Losing 220 pounds in a year is crazy, yet amazing!

They wanted me to promote their product. It was good money. I am not sure if it was life altering money, but decent. Then they sent me a email that had this included:

"You might want to change your story a little. The way you eat and work out will intimidate people. Throw in you eat a piece of pizza once in a while. Tony...that is Italian! You need to relate to people better."

I declined their offer.

I am not a liar.

I watch so many success stories on the Today Show, and Oprah, and Tyra. They have people who make weight loss look so easy!

Why was it never like that for me.

After twenty years, I finally had the courage to change my life. I did not do it overnight. I have wanted to do it for a long time!

I have been successful of 18 months now! I have kept the promise I made to myself that i will keep the weight off.

Is it easy?

What do you think?

Is it easy for you day in and day out to keep your weight off.
Is it easy to make food decisions every day.
Is it easy to wake up and work out.

No, it is not easy. And anyone who tells you otherwise is a God-Damn liar!

I am not ever going to alter my story. I love my story!

I hope one day my story goes national.

"Did you hear about this restaurant manager/chef who lost over 200 pounds. He lost the first 100 pounds while working at Chili's. CHILI'S! Yeah, the same one that has the 2700 calorie "Onion Appetizer". Then he got promoted at work, and he changed the way he eats. He works out a lot as well. He went like 99 minutes on a StairMaster or something! He says he did it for the love of his wife. I heard he took time off of work to take care of her while she was recovering from surgery. He still works in a restaurant after losing 220 pounds, and, well, I do not know how he does it!"

I do not want to inspire people to eat like me, or work out like me.

I do want people to know that as hard as it is, as much as you feel like their is not hope, it is possible.

Okay, maybe you will not lose 200 pounds in a year. Actually, you won't!

I also hope you do not need to!

But if you can make good decisions 80% of the time, you can change your life!
If you are active two..even three days a week, you will feel better!
If you add fruits and vegetables to your food arsenal, you will feel fuller!

So I will not be selling you a diet system or pills. I will not sell you a sweet workout video or containers to put your food in.

The only thing I can push is my story. The more I maintain this loss, the more credible it will become!