What's a Youatarian? It's my own phrase I have used when people ask me how I have lost my excess weight. I'm a Youatarian and live the youatarian lifestyle. Simply put, a Youatarian is someone that follows YOU On a Diet. For any YOAD followers out there that would like to adopt the phrase
for themselves, please feel free.

- Marshall (aka Orlando Tek)



Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to my blog!

My Story

In July 2006, I visited the doctor for a multitude of
ongoing medical problems and when I weighed
in I remember being 305lbs. That was the heaviest
I could ever remember weighing on any scale in my life.

My wife, also overweight, started some small changes
in her diet at that time and those changes made its way
through into my diet as well.

In September 2006, I watched my mother undergo
triple bypass surgey. And I always believed her
to be of modest health although she had passed
on a few of her problems to me including high blood
pressure and acid reflux issues. In her early 20's,
unaware of her high blood pressure problem, she
actually had a stroke, although not very severe.

My dad is a bit healthier even though being
12 years older than my mom, but he has borderline
adult onset diabetes and he had a stint put into an
artery a few years back.

Taking in all this information, It was then I decided
I needed to make some serious changes in my life
or I will be the next one on the heart ward not too
long from now.

It was Novemeber, 2006 and I was already following
the few changes my wife had made to her diet and we had
both lost about 15lbs in the last few months. Any
change at this point was a good change. We watched
a Discovery Health special called YOU: On A Diet featuring
the YOU docs and a few families incorporating YOAD
into their daily lives and showing their amazing progress.

The very next day, November 7th, 2006, my wife and
I went through every cabinet and cupboard in our
house and got rid of ALL the bad foods. We then
went to the grocery store and bought foods that
met YOAD and from that day we have not looked back!

We could not find the book at any local store so we
ordered it off Amazon. It took a few weeks to arrive
but we started cooking with only YOAD approved foods
using YOAD approved methods and we WERE seeing
results even before the book arrived.

From there it has been all downhilll. I have lost 110lbs
since starting on YOAD in November but about 125lbs
over the last 18 months total. Wahoo!

And most of my medical problems related to my weight
have now vanished including high bood pressure, acid
reflux and sleep apnea. I have much more energy and
I feel better than I can ever remember!

And its all thanks to YOAD!



Wednesday, November 21, 2007

My weight was holding me back.

If you read my last post you know I just
got a new job.

I have been trying to change jobs for about
4 years or so now without any luck.

I was working in a call center doing
tech support but I wanted to do more
direct IT support; more hands on stuff.

My wife recently pointed out to me that the
last round of job interviews I went on was
before I started the diet. At that point I was
at 300 pounds. But, the first job interview
I went on after losing the all that weight,
I was offered the position.

My wife also says I look much more professional
now. So, being heavy was keeping me from getting
the position I was seeking.

Doesn't seem fair. I mean, I am happy and at a
healthy weight. And I much healthier overall.
But, shouldn't I have been interviewed back then
based on my knowledge?

I guess people are still judged by how they look
much more than anyone would like to admit.

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. Just have
been busy with family issues and with the new job
and other day to day stuff.

I hope everyone has a HEALTHY and HAPPY Thanksgiving!! :)

1 comment:

Chris said...

Orlando,

That was a great post. I'm an educator, and there is a lot of concern about and focus on discrimination, but most of that focus is on racial, gender, or sexuality issues. At the same time, there is just as much discrimination regarding weight (regardless of race, gender, or other issues). I strongly feel that an obese person has to be very charismatic and overwhelmingly excellent to obtain a position over a non-obese applicant--or in other words, the non-obese applicant can be hired with less skill or personality than an obese person. It isn't right, but that is the way it is. I'm not sure there is anything more we can do about it, other than to educate others (and perhaps become involved in the hiring process ourselves).

Logically, where I work, in the area of music, there have been a number of times that I've not obtained a role because of my weight. Think about it...a professional company can take you (as a better singer) and have to custom-make costumes for you, or they can hire a skinny person with a voice slightly less talented than yours, and use costumes off the rack. If you're not a lead role (and in the area of music, you seldom are), they're going to go with economics...they almost HAVE to do so!

So, weight DOES hold us back...mentally (ourselves) and perception (others). And the fact remains that obese individuals are discriminated against on a daily basis, but we don't teach that to be "wrong." Why does our culture accept this?