Greg is a 56–year old male. He is the director for a rescue mission, which means he does a lot of cooking in very large amounts. Greg started trying to lose weight in August of 2012. His starting weight was 269 lbs. This was pre-SHAPE for our office.
I did nutritional counseling and ordered some labs. Labs showed high cholesterol, high triglycerides, low Vit D, low testosterone and high A1C. I put him on Metformin, Androgel, Vit D, and discussed a low–fat eating plan to reduce his cholesterol. We did a metabolic panel which showed foods to stress in his diet and foods to avoid or keep to a minimum. We changed his diet to meet his metabolic requirements and put him on CoQ10, probiotics, Digestive Enzymes and Adapten-all. Patient complained of fatigue, as well as not losing weight. I ordered a Thyroid panel, and it came back within normal range.
In November of 2012, I talked to patient about the SHAPE Program, and he was willing to try it. Well, he lost 16 pounds and we were overjoyed. Unfortunately, patient stopped coming in for weekly weigh–ins and UAs. When he returned in January of 2013, he had gained 13 lbs of the weight back and stated that he just couldn’t do this program.
Greg returned 3 months later and weighed in at 280 lbs. We tried more nutritional counseling, and he ended 2013 at 267 lbs. By December of 2014, he weighed 261 lbs.
In October of 2015, I discussed the SHAPE Program again. This time, I explained this program will work if he would follow it whole-heartedly. He, along with his wife, agreed to do the program. The VA had just told him his A1C was 7.2 and that he was a diabetic. That motivated him. His initial UA showed he was alkaline. I chose to let the program try to get his pH down, which it did. I switched him from Androgel to Testosterone injections.
As of today, 2-17-2016, patient states he feels amazing, knees are not hurting, and is sleeping great! He even ran his first 5K in several years. His A1C is within range now, we are still administering Testosterone injections, and his weight is 216! I wish you could see this man! He acts like he is 25 years old and is always happy to get on the scale. He also calls himself skinny! It has been a long road with this patient, but once he had the mindset, with his wife preparing and trying new SHAPE recipes, he was sold on this program! He states he will never go back to his old eating habits.
Submitted by Dr. Carrie Carda
