How fracturing his spine from lifting just 10lbs was the ‘Change your Life’ moment for Jason
A health scare can, in so many ways, stand between life and death. You’re overcome with fear and uncertainty while in the middle of one, but out the other end comes human resilience and relief. Unfortunately, it’s health scares that are the driving force to make a change and step up, so to speak, for a better – and longer – life.
It was a health scare that backed Jason Gaddie into a corner, and there was definitely a moment of revelation where he needed to do something about his life.
“I was 387lbs, my blood pressure was through the roof, and I’d fractured my spine lifting something off the floor at work that may be weighed 10lbs,” he explains.
“After a few months I was able to do some walking, so I did just a few minutes at a time if it hurt. Doing this, I’d lost a few pounds, but my doctor was worried about my blood pressure – 192/118 at one point. She added a second medication to help lower my blood pressure more.”
“But after taking that medicine for a day or 2, I started having chest pains. I went to the ER where I had multiple EKGs done and a stress test. My stress test came back positive so my next trip to the ER they sent me into surgery for a heart cath.”
Laying on the table after they’d put numerous rods into him, he thought to himself, ‘this is stupid…I need to do something besides what I’ve been doing.’
At the end of the procedure, Jason’s surgeon said it was a false positive stress test and he had less than 20% blockage anywhere.
“At that point, I knew I needed to step up my game,” Jason reveals.
On The Road To Resilience
It was all about the mental strength for Jason when he left the hospital. That was the point he decided that everything he ate would either come straight from the meat, produce, or dairy departments – for him, there would be nothing to gain from purchasing food from the center aisles of the grocery store unless he needed paper or cleaning products.
Today, he’s a straight carnivore and practices the OMAD way of life. When it comes to food, Jason gets most of his meats from a local butcher, and for liquids it’s always water or black coffee. When he eats, he eats until full, and the only supplements he uses are Lugol’s 2% iodine (1 drop a day in water).
“Once a week I’ll take a vitamin D3 and then I use Redman’s Real Salt on my food; everything else seems to upset my stomach,” Jason says.
“My initial goal was set by my doctor at 275lbs, but I’ve blown by that!”
Together with a change of diet, Jason started walking with his wife through his neighborhood but when it’s cold outside they’ll go to the mall and do laps, providing him with all the exercise he needs considering he isn’t able to lift heavy weights.
STEPPING ON THE EVOLT 360
Jason has done 2 Evolt 360 scans, the first one was after 137lbs of weight loss.
“There’s no telling what my visceral fat was in the beginning; bad, it was just bad,” he says.
“I love that the Evolt 360 tells me about my visceral fat percentage as well as my subcutaneous fat and if there’s more muscle on one side of my body than the other, I really like that. When it comes to the Evolt Active app, I love that I can see graphs that show my progress – it’ll also let me know if I’ve been slacking up a bit too much.”
“It’s so important to ‘see’ what’s going on inside your body with the Evolt 360. I had a blood test 4 months ago and it showed that my liver’s fat was within a good and normal range. I’d seen my visceral fat levels from just 2 months ago – well, 4 months ago it was worse. I can now take these scans to my doctor and show her exactly what’s going on inside my body.”
ADVICE FROM JASON
Jason’s experience has provided him with a lot of personal insight and understanding of what it takes to start a weight loss journey and continue forward to see success.
“The best tip I can give anyone is to only eat from what you typically find on the outside wall of a grocery store, i.e. avoiding fructose, artificial preservatives, etc. Once your body has gotten used to eating real food, then you can consider dropping off carbohydrates to a level you continue losing weight,” he says.
“Don’t get so involved in the process though that your spouse or significant other feels left out of your life. They don’t have to eat the way you do either – remember that! That’s the gist of where I am, where I’ve been and how I’m going to get to my goal weight of 200lbs even. I stand 6’2” and am currently in size 36 jeans – down from a 48!
“I went from 387lbs to 231lbs!”
To learn more about your body and for personalized macronutrient and supplement recommendations Download the Evolt Active app and search for your nearest Evolt 360 Body Composition Scan location.
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