Here’s why it happened: after I retired from football I got hurt and couldn’t work out. It took me a year before I healed, and while I did I was traveling all the time and eating too much. I didn’t own a scale, so I knew I was getting fat simply because of my pants or jacket getting tight. Also, the thing about being overweight is that it affects your self-esteem. You don’t like the way you look, and you don’t like who you are. As a human being, there just isn’t a worse feeling. I was just tired of looking old, fat, and ugly. I was overweight and out of shape, and my health was pitiful. I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I had to do something about it.
His Hail Mary pass
Like a lot of people, I tried a lot of things to lose the weight. But the primary problem for me was I knew I needed a balanced diet and structure. All my life, as an athlete, I’ve been structured—I’m lifting weights. I’m doing sprints, I’m doing long-distance, I’m doing quick reaction, I’m passing. As an athlete and being so into routines, taking care of my body and being healthy was all part of that. My body was what kept me playing football, and staying in a structured routine helped to do that.
So I had been seeing Nutrisystem commercials for years, and I realized that this program provided exactly what I needed: structure. Also, I had seen Dan Marino, Don Shula (I’m a big fan of them) and a bunch of other famous people who lost all this weight—and I met some of them, and, boy, they looked great. That was the kind of encouragement I needed. I thought, well if they’re on it, and they’re getting these kinds of results, maybe it’ll work for me, and I decided I’d give it a shot.
ood for thought
Once I started doing the program and eating the food, I thought, Wow, this doesn’t seem like very much food. I hope I can do this. But, wow, I ended up eating plenty every day—six times a day, in fact. So I continued, determined that I had to lose this weight. And you know what? At the end of the day, Nutrisystem really taught me how to eat.
The hardest part was pushing myself to get started. You have to listen. You have to want to lose weight, period. And one of the reasons we put on weight is we eat too much—and this meal plan limits your intake of food. But it’s balanced and that’s where the difference is. That balance is what I desperately needed.
I tell you, I enjoy being able to eat balanced meals throughout the day, but I always looked forward to dinner. I eat dinner no later than 5:00. But I don’t push away and go, “God, I’d like to eat some more food,” Because I get plenty of food. I’m totally satisfied. I love the feeling of going to bed not stuffed. And when I wake up in the morning, I’m ready for that Nutrisystem breakfast! It’s a good feeling. So the meal plan made it totally easy.
That’s why you can’t make excuses about how difficult being on the Nutrisystem program is, because it’s simple. That’s what I like about it. It’s structured, so they take all the guesswork out; there’s no guesswork whatsoever. It’s all laid out for you. If you can read a color on a carton, then you’ll know what to eat. Red is dinner. Orange is lunch. And you just take it out, you heat it up and you eat it.
Here’s the wonderful thing about Nutrisystem; I want all of you out there to understand this. You get a list of foods. You get tons of choices. And you can literally change your food month after month. It’s amazing. And, here’s the beauty of it: Nutrisystem just keeps on bringing it. They keep coming up with new programs, new foods. They just keep it coming, baby!
Healthy and happy
And, you know what? It really worked for me. I’ve lost 32 lbs.* and I’m feeling so much better—physically and mentally. It’s quite an accomplishment, and I’m proud of it. I look better, I feel great, and my energy level is tremendous; I’m 63 years old and I’m a rancher and I can go all day long. I’ve never felt so good in my life! I’m proud of the results, and I’m happier, too. Heck, people even say I’m nicer now. When you’re happy with who you are, there’s no excuse for not being nice, is there?
I mean, when you lose that much weight and your cholesterol goes from 396 down to 155*, you can’t help but feel well. That’s why this is important to me. Sure, people notice the weight loss: Oh, you’re so skinny! I get that a lot. I’m not skinny; I’m in good shape for my height. So when my mother says, “You’ve got to eat more. You’re just too thin,” it makes me feel good. But health is serious stuff. I’m not losing this weight to do commercials and do movies and stuff like that. It is a health issue.
Nutrisystem has definitely taught me how to make better choices, too, which helps me now and will help keep me healthy down the road. I know so much about food now, it’s amazing. Like I said before, they’ve actually taught me how to eat. In fact, this education is the key when I go out. You know what I do? I eat half of everything. I order the proper foods; normally, I’ll eat chicken, but most of the time fish. And I’ll have potato, and I’ll have vegetables. And you know what I do? I cut it in half. It’s worth it. Because you work too hard to get where you feel good about yourself and you like who you are, and you don’t want to get back there. I just don’t want to put that weight back on, ever again.
Man talk
In fact, too many people in this society of ours are fat. We eat too much. We drink too much. We don’t exercise enough. If you want to lose the weight, you’ve got to exercise. Even with five back surgeries and no cartilage in my knees, I’m on the elliptical every day. I do whatever my body allows me, but I work out. You need a program and Nutrisystem, it gets the results. I had health issues and I needed help and this program worked.
I think it’s an especially great program for men. And I say men, primarily because we know that women will get a hold of a program and they’ll do something. They’ll make changes. A man won’t. The man’s going to make excuses. I’m too busy with my job. I travel too much. Let me tell you something, men. We’ve just got to stop eating 16-ounce steaks, potatoes and French fries—all the grease and junk. We’ve got to take care of ourselves. We got families to take care of.
I think that when men see a guy like me, they’ve got to say, “Well, if Terry can do it, I can do it.” And that should be the challenge. Maybe it’s the challenge you need, but don’t be satisfied, don’t make excuses for yourself for being heavy.
Terry tells it like it is
Heck, people tend to point the finger or place blame on something else like the family DNA. Well, you know what? Maybe. We’ve all seen that, including me—half of my family is heavy. But why not be that one person in your family to finally do something about your weight, and call and get on the Nutrisystem program? Why not be an inspiration? This program is a tool that you can use to make a change.
Look, you have to want to do something about your health and about your weight. You’re not going to wish it off. It’s not going to just disappear. You have to want to take action. Do you like the way you look? Do you like the way you feel? Are you proud of yourself? If you say no, then I say: Why don’t you get up and do something about it? Why don’t you make this the first day of the next great days of your life? This program works. It’ll help you take control of your health and be proud of yourself.
I know I was proud of the day I started; I thought this was the greatest day of my life because, by God, I was going to do something about my fat behind. And I did. So I would say that this Nutrisystem program has been a lifesaver for me. I’ve got my health back and my self-esteem back.
And that makes me feel like a success. People always ask: What is success? Well, 32 lbs.* lost, that’s success. Or, if you look at it another way, now that I’ve lost this weight, how do I feel about me? I like who I am. That is success. Anytime we accomplish anything doing something that makes us feel good and lifts up our self-esteem, that’s success. That’s ultimately what Nutrisystem gave me.
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