July 17, 2025 • 52 mins
Neil shares his incredible health transformation journey, losing over 40 pounds and dramatically improving his health metrics in just four months after years of failed diet attempts and health struggles.
• Meeting at Cornerstone Church in February after years of struggling to lose weight
• Neil's history as a formerly skinny athlete whose weight gradually increased through adulthood
• Previous diet attempts that always plateaued at 10-15 pounds of weight loss
• Hitting a point of being "sick and tired of being sick and tired" with low energy and joint pain
• Dramatic results including cutting visceral fat in half and body fat from 36.1% to 23.8%
• Surprising cholesterol improvement—LDL dropping to 53 after 35 years of being told he'd need lifelong medication
• Unexpected benefits like increased flexibility and stamina
• Strategies for maintaining health during social situations and vacations
• Removal from pre-diabetic medication after just four months
• Practical advice on fitting healthy habits into a busy lifestyle
For a complimentary health assessment and to learn more about starting your own health transformation journey, go to bekandkev.com/get-healthy . Mention this podcast when signing up for a full month on the plan ($350 minimum) and receive a $50 credit to help get started at bigger savings.
Subscribe and tell a friend!
Get my book "The Seven Disciplines of Uncommon Freedom" on Amazon!
Visit bekandkev.com today to sign up for our email newsletter.
Access our Ideal Health Map HERE
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kevin Tinter (00:02):
Hey friends, in today's episode I'm really
excited to interview my friendand client, Neil.
We're going to leave his lastname out, but he is a friend and
client of mine who has lostover 40 pounds and radically
changed his health for thebetter in just a few months of
working with me.
Stay tuned to the end, becausewe have a special offer to any
(00:24):
of our listeners that we'llshare at the end of today's show
.
So, Neil, as we get started,first of all, thank you for
being here.
Neil (00:33):
My pleasure, glad to do it .
Kevin Tinter (00:34):
Yeah, awesome, it's really cool.
We met at a Cornerstones.
It was a men's conference, themeal before the conference
started and we just happened tobe sitting at the table.
I'm not one to necessarilybelieve in coincidence.
I think the Lord Almighty tendsto put people in each other's
paths for a meeting or to meetmany times.
(00:58):
But we struck up a conversationand tell me a little bit.
You know from your perspective.
You know what was that likeback in February or whenever
that was.
Neil (01:09):
Yeah, um, well, first of all, you were sitting at a table
with one of my um men's groupuh, I guess cohorts and um.
I didn't have any place to sitand I got there late and I had
one of the last meals that theywere serving and you guys were
talking about health and yeah, Ikind of do think it was
(01:29):
Providence that I kind ofstumbled onto that, because you
know my wife, she really lovesme and she cares about my health
and she had been, you know,getting on me a little bit and I
knew, anyway, I didn't need herto do that, but I knew already.
And then I was sporting a fewmore pounds and it was healthy,
and so I'd already convincedmyself that I was going to do
(01:53):
something.
I've done other programs in thepast.
I won't, I guess, mention themin case they're they're
competitors of your Optiviasponsors.
But I've done other programs,but they've never.
I've always plateaued.
I never could get over the hump, so to speak.
(02:15):
I could lose 10 to 15 pounds,but that's where it would stop.
And then as soon as I took myeye off the ball and went right
back up.
I went, so I guess that's, butI can't remember the specific
conversation you were having.
But it was somebody that Ididn't know at the table and I
(02:38):
just I guess, decided to dive inand take part, and one thing
led to another.
From that point on, yeah.
Kevin Tinter (02:48):
Yeah, it was great meeting you and I appreciate
you for being willing to have aconversation with a complete
stranger.
I think that that takes a lot ofcourage to do, but hopefully
there's something that mypersonality goes out that gives
a little bit of, you know, trustfactor, and otherwise I'm sure
you would have ran the otherdirection, but it's been awesome
(03:10):
to help you.
So, before we kind of get intoyour incredible health
transformation story, and thereason I wanted you to share it
is because I really I can talkabout this all I want till I'm
blue in the face.
But it's different when someonewho has had their own recent
experience, who isn't a coach,uh, shares their story,
(03:32):
especially when they've beentold by some other medical
practitioners like, oh, you'regoing to always going to have to
take this medication or, um,and you know, you've tried other
programs that haven't helpedyou get to really where you want
to.
But before we go down that road, let's just personalize things.
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself, you know what, go back
to the beginning and just kindof get us to where you're at
(03:53):
today in 2025.
Okay.
Neil (03:57):
Well, the beginning was quite a few years ago.
I'll just say this.
I was a really skinny and lightuh kid.
Um, I remember, uh, weighing inmy senior year in high school
for the varsity football team,weighing, um, maybe 140 pounds,
soaking wet.
I was starting on the defense.
Oh, my gosh, Definitely in thesecondary.
(04:18):
Um, you had to be mean if youwere that light.
I think I was kind of mean onthe field, but otherwise, yeah,
it wasn't until, I guess I hitcollege and had three squares a
day in the cafeteria probablynot the best choices and I
started putting on some healthyweight.
(04:41):
But as I became an adult, wentinto the military, I was a pilot
training or I went to pilottraining, I should say, here in
Phoenix at a base not too farfrom where you're living and man
(05:03):
, stressful, and uh, and I waslosing weight and then, uh, that
experience ended for me.
Um, I guess I need to kind ofexplain that.
So, back when I did pilottraining.
Um, it was natural to eliminateabout 50% of every class.
Yeah, and I was the last one tobe eliminated, um, at least
(05:25):
from the phase of training thatI was in.
Uh, thankfully, the rest of theguys that I was training with
made it.
Um, that being said, uh, once Igot out of that stress, um,
that's when the first, that'sthe first time I gained a weight
and I, let's say it got to anunhealthy weight.
Okay.
Um, so I think just the reliefof stress and the eating habits
(05:49):
that were formed, mike is.
So some of the eating habits Iformed then, you know, probably
weren't the best and yeah, I puton at that time probably 20
pounds coming off of flighttraining.
Kevin Tinter (06:06):
And you stayed in the military after flight
training, right, you just movedto a different MOS.
Neil (06:11):
Yeah, different.
Kevin Tinter (06:12):
Okay.
Neil (06:12):
I was in the Air Force, so we called it an Air Force
Specialty Code, AFSC.
Okay.
Yeah, so I didn't get overweightfrom the Air Force perspective,
but I definitely had to arrestthe trend.
So I did try one of theprepared meal diets that you
might have heard of and thiswould have been, you know, late
(06:32):
80s.
That worked probably I don'tthink I need to be specific here
but, yeah, probably like 165,170, which was a good weight for
me.
And then that lasted and I gotout to my first assignment and
(07:03):
was playing some intramuralsports and had a knee injury and
that set me back as far asbeing able to exercise and keep
weight off that way.
So that's another thing.
So I had to overcome a kneereconstruction.
I had to teach my body newexercises and things that I
(07:25):
wasn't used to doing.
So I took up running andwalking and that's pretty much
what I was.
What I did the rest of my 20year military career was just do
a lot of long distance runs.
Marathon finished a couple ofmarathons tried, more than a
couple, did some 50 mile walksin 24 hours.
(07:47):
Oh, wow.
Things like that, once I got outof the military and was in the
corporate world, and especiallywhile my kids were turning the
corner from, you know, thepreteens to the teens, turning
the corner from, you know, thepreteens to the teens.
During that time, I think youknow, as I was aging, as I was
(08:10):
working more hours, as I wasjuggling- more things you know,
I still continued to exercise,but the weight went up.
Weight went up.
So then my wife and I tried acouple of diets diets again, I
guess, I won't mention themspecifically, but um, uh, we had
success on them.
(08:31):
Uh, we were able to commit tothem and do them for 30 days or
45 days or something like thatand and um we, we'd lose the
weight.
Kevin Tinter (08:39):
Um.
Neil (08:40):
I tended to put it back on over about three, four or five
months.
So, okay, that's sort of thehistory.
Did probably several cycles ofthat between the.
In the last 10 years I probablyhave done four cycles of that.
Okay.
And then.
(09:00):
So that led me, I guess, to ourmeeting at Cornerstone church,
and I was having another issuethat hadn't impacted me up until
then, and that is I just didn'thave the athletic stamina
anymore.
I was requiring a lot more timein between workouts to recover.
(09:21):
My body was just telling methat, um, you know, I was tired.
Um.
I was heavy, uh, my joints wereaching, just things like that
that I hadn't experienced before.
So, um, I was trying on my ownto figure out what, uh, you know
how best to um recover fromexercise.
(09:44):
You know other things that Icould do take longer intervals
or whatever but it didn't seemlike a good idea to rest for
days in between workouts.
So.
I knew that if I got some weightoff, maybe that would help, and
so I was already predisposed todoing something.
(10:06):
I was ready to do something.
We were talking about doing the.
my wife and I were talking aboutthe previous diet that I was on
, and we were on and we weregetting ready to do it and go
buy all the different meals, sowe wouldn't have certain
ingredients in our food andthings like that, but I really I
didn't want to repeat the samecycle, so I was again, was
(10:30):
already looking I thinkunintentionally looking for some
other alternative, and so I dothink it was a happy coincidence
that you know, bumped into youand that conversation, that
cornerstone.
Kevin Tinter (10:43):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Um, are you comfortable eithersharing your age or what decade
you're in, just so people cankind of figure out what they're
relating to?
Neil (10:51):
Yeah, I'm, I'm 59.
Okay, be 60, uh, in about 10months.
Okay, um, and I've been active,uh, uh, as far as like, either
in athletics or individualexercise.
But you know, I wouldn't saythat like I'm not like my wife.
(11:13):
My wife is constantly on the go, she is always in motion.
That's not me.
What I tend to do is reallyhard, strenuous or very
strenuous exercises.
Kevin Tinter (11:26):
More intensity.
Neil (11:27):
Right, but then I'm just as happy to relax, yeah yeah,
well, there's some pros to that.
Kevin Tinter (11:34):
So, folks, as we kind of get into some more of
the details of Neil's story, Ijust want to be transparent and
share that my primary businessis helping people achieve what I
call uncommon freedom throughhealth transformations, as a
coach with a home-based businesscalled Optivia, and so that is
the program that I coached Neilwith.
And in the interest of beingcompletely transparent and also
(11:56):
compliant with regulatoryguidelines, I do need to read a
disclaimer, because Neil's storyis pretty fantastic.
Because Neil's story is prettyfantastic and the disclaimer is
that average weight loss on theOptimal Weight 5-in-1 plan is 12
pounds, and clients are inweight loss on an average for 12
weeks.
So now that we know what allthe legalese is, let's jump into
Neil's story.
(12:17):
So, neil, you're in weight loss, you've got a copy of your InB
body comp paperwork there.
You started the program roughlywhen.
Neil (12:29):
I think it was on the 19th of February yep, and then we
did.
Kevin Tinter (12:33):
The last one was kind of towards when you
finished the transition phase ofour program.
That was when that's over hereyeah down at the bottom.
I think that was.
Neil (12:43):
June, june 16th is okay it's on here, but I think it was
a little before then so aboutfour months and you lost.
Kevin Tinter (12:50):
Let's talk about some of the stats.
How much weight did you lose?
Neil (12:53):
um, I believe it was around 45 pounds.
Yeah, a little bit more thanthat yep, uh, visceral fat.
Kevin Tinter (12:59):
This is something this for, especially for the men
listening.
Visceral fat is that really?
It's that killer fat, um,that's around our organs and a
healthy level is below 10 andyou went from went from a 16
down to an 8 amazing.
So you cut it in half and yougot to a healthy level.
And then, on body fatpercentage, which I this is my
(13:22):
kind of soapbox metric forhealth is body fat percentage.
Which I this is my kind ofsoapbox metric for health is
body fat percentage, Cause Idon't really care what anyone's
weight is If they can get froman unhealthy weight to a healthy
weight or unhealthy body fatpercentage to a healthy body fat
percentage.
Uh, that's the real gamechanger.
So what was either?
How much body fat did you loseor would you want to share what
(13:43):
percentages you started at andwent to?
Neil (13:45):
Yeah I, I was uh an unhealthy 36% uh when we started
, uh actually 36.1.
And uh, by the time we gotthrough month four, I was at
23.8.
Um, obviously hoping tocontinue to improve on that.
Kevin Tinter (14:01):
Yeah, no, so that's amazing.
So you went from 16 to eight.
When it comes to visceral fat,uh, you lost over 40 pounds, and
you're you're about.
How tall are you, Neil?
Neil (14:12):
Just so people well, I used to be tall.
Kevin Tinter (14:14):
I'm old now and I've shrunk, but I'm I'm five
nine, five, nine, okay, soaverage build, but a 40 pounds
on five nine is prettysignificant.
I mean I met you when you were40 plus pounds heavier and you
look drastically different.
I mean you look super healthy.
And what I love about you knowthe plan is it got you right on
the threshold, because for men,healthy body fat percentage is
(14:37):
between 10 and 20%.
And you're right on thethreshold.
And you know, with with ourprogram, there's a lot of
options.
You know, some people theystick with the primary weight
loss plan all the way untilthey're at a healthy weight.
Other people, they have lifecircumstances and so they may
transition sooner than they getto a healthy weight.
But the cool thing is we have,we have options and so, you know
(15:01):
, we did set you up with ahealthy eating plan and it's
cool.
I know you just came back fromcelebrating an anniversary.
You went on a trip, you were outof town and you just talked
about how you, you know, wereimplementing some of the new
habits that you've practiced.
So the bottom line is there'sdisclaimers.
But what I can say, based on myexperience of doing this for
(15:23):
over 14 years now, is that everyclient has their own unique
journey and the main factorsthat determine their success are
whether or not they follow theprogram exactly and whether or
not they change their habitslong term.
So, when you think back to someof the other programs or diets
(15:43):
that you tried and I'm not hereto bash them, and so that's why
we're not mentioning names andI'm sure I've actually talked to
other people because you'veshared with me personally some
of these other names, and I'vetalked to other people who have
had incredible success and it'slasted long-term for them.
But what was missing?
What was the missing piece?
Is there any common thread thatyou can see between those other
(16:06):
things that you've tried thatdidn't set you up for long-term
success?
Neil (16:12):
Well, I think some of it I have to take accountability for
.
So I think my level ofcommitment this time was
probably the highest it's everbeen.
Okay.
So I think, right off the bat,let's just put the
accountability where it belongs.
But yeah, I think one thingthat I experienced with Optivia
(16:37):
that I didn't experience withthe others is I wasn't hungry
and in fact, my biggestchallenge as I told you a a
couple times was remembering toeat as often as I was supposed
to, um, and, and so I wouldfrequently uh in the beginning
um, miss a meal, uh, and then,you know, have to calculate,
(16:59):
okay.
Well, how late am I gonna haveto stay up in order to finish
today?
yeah and uh, and you know,obviously I didn't want to lose
out on sleep time, so, uh, thatwas a motivator, um, but I also
saw the results right away too,um, and I think that just
reinforced my commitment.
Um, I don't, I know my wifewill not appreciate this, but I
(17:19):
am going to tell a little storybecause she um, at you know
she's seen it, done it, and so Ithink she was a little
skeptical, yeah, and um, I thinkshe was like, well, man, you
know that's some money we'respending and I said it is, but I
, I, it's some money that we'respending for a good reason and
(17:40):
uh, I want to give this a try.
So she you know, she backed offand then at the end it became
man.
You've lost too much weight, somaybe you should stop.
Yeah.
Yeah, so I got a big kick outof that actually.
Kevin Tinter (17:57):
Yeah, that's a, that is fun, it's.
I don't mean to make light ofthose with legitimate, you know,
cancers and things like that,but the number of my clients who
tell me stories about, yeah,you know, I saw a friend or
family member for the first timein three months or six months
and they were afraid that I hadcancer because I was so lean, so
(18:20):
desensitized to what healthlooks like and what unhealth,
you know, unhealthy has becomethe norm that when we see
someone who is really at anoptimal weight, we think that
they're too skinny.
And you know you can look upall kinds of stats on how we
have changed for the worst froma health standpoint.
(18:40):
But you know, and of course youknow there was your wife was
saying you were too skinnybefore even you got to the end.
But the beautiful thing aboutgetting this.
So I encourage everyone go geta quality body fat test.
Um, you know there's differentmethods out there.
I love the in body cause.
It's super convenient and superaffordable.
There's DEXA scans.
(19:01):
There's different methods, but,uh, you know one of the things
I encourage you.
I said hey, just share with yourwife, you're not too skinny
because the healthy range is 10to 20 and you're not quite there
yet.
And that wasn't a diss on you.
It's just helping people torealize, man, we're just we're
so not used to what healthylooks like, that when we see
close to healthy, we thinkthat's too too skinny.
Um, and uh, I appreciate, youknow, taking extreme ownership
(19:25):
because ultimately, I think thatthere's a lot of different ways
for people to get healthy andultimately, uh, if, if you take
it seriously and if it meansenough to you, you'll there's
there's a lot of ways to do it.
Um, you know, fortunately foryou, you know us connecting this
program worked for you.
So, um, we'll get into more ofyour story, but I just want to
kind of share this concept withand I know I shared it with you,
(19:48):
but I want to share it witheveryone who's listening and
that's to think of losing weightand getting healthy.
It's like taking a journey.
Think of it's like taking along road trip, say, from the
East Coast all the way to theWest Coast.
And when you shift tounderstanding that the primary
purpose of eating is to fuelyour body for what God made you
to do, you live life differentlyand you also make different
(20:11):
choices.
Um, you know, most of us havegotten accustomed to just eating
because we're hungry, we'rebored.
Uh, you know, grandma shows herlove by stuffing us full of
food that we don't need andthat's not good for us.
Um, and you know, the problemis food.
(20:31):
In modern, 2025 America is verydifferent than what God
intended for us, even just 100,150 years ago.
But when your goal is to improveyour health, to get into the
best shape of your life, or tooptimize your health so you can
maximize your life, that shoulddrive the decisions you make.
And so making healthy choicesis like fueling up at the truck
(20:52):
stop gas station that's rightoff the highway.
Making healthy choices is likefueling up at the truck stop gas
station that's right off thehighway.
I've made several cross-countrymoves and when it's time to
fuel up, I'm looking for thattruck stop that is right off the
highway, because I want to getoff, get back on so I can
continue my journey.
And then, every once in a while, you wait until it's too late
(21:12):
in the night.
You're in a rural area and yousee a sign for gas and you
decide to get off and you followthe sign and it takes you.
It's 10 or 20 miles down theroad and you realize, holy
smokes, I just wasted combined20 or 40 minutes because I'm
going so far out of my way toget fuel.
And so the analogy is that goingoff plan or making unhealthy
(21:35):
choices so certainly with ourprogram, the 5-in-1 plan that
you did for weight loss, you'vegot to take a break from alcohol
.
And so if you're a client onthe 5-in-1 and you're choosing
to continue alcohol, essentiallywhat you're doing is you're
fueling your body up 20 milesoff the highway.
Doing is you're fueling yourbody up 20 miles off the highway
(21:57):
.
And so I just like to use thatanalogy to help people realize
that when you go off your planor you make unhealthy choices,
you might even still be on yourjourney.
You're still on your journey,but you're taking yourself on an
unnecessary detour.
So you still get fuel, butyou've taken an unnecessary
detour that prolongs the journeyand also creates additional
opportunities for risk right?
(22:17):
The more time you spend on atwo-lane country road looking
for gas, the more likely you areto hit a deer crossing the road
.
And you know some of thepitfalls that clients fall into
is, you know, they whet theirappetite for alcohol having that
occasional, you know, or thatcheat glass of wine and all of a
sudden they're drinkingregularly again.
Or you know, for me it was oh,I'll have a, you know some, you
(22:41):
know candy, cause I used to havea horrible sweet tooth and you
know that little taste turnedinto an entire bag.
So that's uh, that's somethingfor people to think about.
So what was the biggest drivingfactor in causing you to want
to get healthy and just to be soserious about it this time,
neil?
Well.
Neil (23:02):
I don't know.
I have a lighthearted answer toit while I'm thinking about it.
I mean one of the biggestthings is I was you know, I
didn't need the constantreminders that I was getting at
home.
Um and again, I know it wascoming from a place of love, so
I don't blame anybody for that.
But yeah, when you don't wantto hear it, you've got to do
(23:23):
something about it.
Kevin Tinter (23:24):
Yeah.
So there you go, ladies.
That's your green light to nagyour husband if he's not healthy
.
God gave us our wives for areason, that's right.
Yeah, okay, god gave us ourwives for a reason.
Neil (23:35):
That's right, yeah, okay.
So, um, I think more um for me.
I didn't, I didn't like what Iwas seeing in the mirror.
You know, um, I, I am too oldnow to be an athlete, but uh,
you know, I still see myself asathletic.
I'm.
You know, I haven't really donea great deal of thinking about
(23:59):
it, I just I was just damndetermined to do it.
Yeah, and for a variety ofreasons, some of them which I
may not even realize, just thatyou know I was.
I was feeling tired of of ofbeing achy, I was feeling tired
of being tired, tired of beingnagged, tired of what I saw in
(24:22):
the mirror.
Yep.
Sick and tired of being sickand tired as Dave Ramsey says
right, yeah, that's a good wayof putting it.
Kevin Tinter (24:28):
Yeah, yeah, and I found that the reality is,
unless people get to that point,they're not going to make
lasting change.
So, you know, I applaud anyonewho makes the effort, but the
reality is, until you get to thepoint where you're sick and
tired of being sick and tired,you'll you'll find excuses that
you know why it's harder, youknow, to be healthy than it is
(24:51):
to be unhealthy.
Did you think it was possibleto get to where you're at now
and also to maintain it?
Cause now you're, you know,about a month plus into past,
even completing the transitionphase, and you've gone on
vacation, you know, gone throughJuly 4th, you've had family
visit and you've pretty muchmaintained where you were when
(25:11):
you finished transition.
Did you think that was possible?
Neil (25:14):
Well, I was worried about it for sure.
Yeah, so being it is you knowpeople unintentionally encourage
you to cheat.
Yes, yeah.
Or you don't want to offendsomebody who's gone to a lot of
trouble to make a very specialmeal or something like that.
So it is a balance.
You have to um, have to have alittle um.
(25:39):
Oh man, I can't think of theword, yeah, Um a little tact
right, just to, to you knowdefend, defend your choice, but
you know not, uh, offend thepeople that are wanting to make
you happy through, you know,some type of food or event you
know.
(25:59):
It just so happens that I cameoff the diet and started a
transition.
I think it was.
No, I came off the transitionand the first, the very first
meal I had was father's daymorning okay um, and we went to
a restaurant, um, for breakfastand um, I had steak and eggs and
(26:20):
I was.
I felt just, it was so nice tosavor the flavors but, I felt so
terrible after it because I wasjust uh, you know, just a bunch
of food and a little extra,more more probably volume or
portion, than you were used to.
Right For sure.
So yeah, I don't know.
(26:41):
I don't know if anybody canrelate to that, but so it's
definitely changed my habits.
I am eating more.
You know, I am kind offollowing some of the principles
that I learned through the dietto have smaller meals more
frequently and to keep track.
I think that's another big deal.
(27:02):
You have to keep track of whatyou eat.
Kevin Tinter (27:04):
Absolutely.
I mean, one of the principlesof success if you want something
to improve, you've got to trackit.
And when it comes to the wholetact and people trying
encouraging you to cheat, youhave to be aware of that.
And so one of the strategies Iencourage my clients and I use
this myself is to just givepeople a heads up, say, hey, I'm
working on my health and youcan give them a lot of detail.
(27:26):
You can tell them listen, mydoctor told me I'm pre-diabetic
or I'm going to have to go onblood pressure medication or
what it is At the same time.
It's none of anyone else'sbusiness.
So if you don't feel like goinginto that detail, it's
personality dependent when itcomes to that.
But give people a heads up, andI think we need to have a pivot
, because we don't reallyunderstand that food is as
(27:49):
addictive, especially in modernAmerica.
Processed food is as addictiveas pretty much any other
substance out there.
And if you, if you realize thatmost Americans are very much
like an alcoholic when it comesto food, right, if your friend
who you knew was an alcoholicwas sober, right, you would not.
(28:11):
If you're a good friend, you'renot going to be offering them a
drink.
You're going to actuallyintentionally, probably, keep
the alcohol away from them andyou're certainly not going to
put it in front of them.
You're like, why don't you havesome?
You deserve some.
You've been dry for you knowthree weeks.
Just go ahead and have a sip orhave a drink.
And if you, if you have peoplein your life that are trying to
get healthy, take thatperspective, because you're not
(28:33):
doing them a favor when youforce it on them and you put it
in front of them.
Sometimes I think people,honestly, I think they feel a
little bit convicted sometimesif they're not healthy and they
see someone getting ahead.
It's kind of like that highschool buddy who's way ahead of
you financially, because you'renot making anything with your
(28:55):
life and it's easy to get alittle bit jealous.
But, um, I do encourage people,if you're on a health journey,
to just give people a heads up,say, hey, it's not personal, I'm
really working on my health andso I'm going to make some
different decisions, and I foundthat, honestly, anyone who's a
true friend is supportive ofthat, even if it's grandma, so
um is supportive of that, evenif it's grandma.
Neil (29:22):
So, um, what was the easiest part of the plan for you
?
Once I figured out the foods Iliked, the plan was easy to
follow.
Um, so, I think it's two sidesof the same coin.
At first, it was probably mysecond biggest challenge.
It's two sides of the same coin.
At first, it was probably mysecond biggest challenge.
Remembering to eat was thebiggest um, because I I did feel
, you know, I didn't feel hungry, so the nutrition that you get
(29:48):
um I, whether it tricks yourbody into thinking it's full or
not, whatever it was, uh workedfor me.
Um, but I lost track of what Iwas saying.
Uh well, we were talking aboutthe easiest part of the plan for
me, but I lost track of what Iwas saying.
Kevin Tinter (29:56):
Well, we were talking about the easiest part
of the plan for you.
Neil (29:58):
Yeah, well, certainly the pre-packaged foods make it easy
and you have a large, largevariety of choices.
So you know a lot of.
I gravitated, especially at theend of the day, to things that
(30:18):
were easy to to eat, easy to anddidn't require a lot of
preparation.
So I think that's pretty muchmost of the Optivia foods, other
than some that quite a you knowlittle dance of microwave Right
Then let it cool off and stir,then microwave again.
So I tended to avoid thosethings.
(30:39):
Um, I just found the dietfairly easy overall, um, and I
think the challenges I hadweren't that hard to overcome.
You know, you know what youlike.
You know it tastes good toorder that.
Don't order the stuff thatmaybe didn't appeal to you as
much, um, and most of the stuffappealed to me.
Uh and um, some of the things Idon't I didn't enjoy first time
(31:05):
, guess what you know here.
At four months later I I can'timagine starting my day without
some of those amino acids.
I thought tasted terrible thefirst time.
Kevin Tinter (31:16):
Yeah, your palate changes over time, especially as
you kind of cleanse your palateof all the processed crap that
we're used to eating.
One of the biggest excuses thatI hear from people is I'm too
busy.
You're a busy guy, right?
What would you say to someonewho's like, who is using
(31:36):
busyness as an excuse as to whythey can't get healthy?
Neil (31:41):
Well, okay, I'll take them at their word.
You're really busy, so you know, first of all, what's your
situation at home.
Do you have you live withsomeone else?
If so, is there something youguys can do to help each other?
If so, is there something youguys can do to help each other?
That's what my wife did.
She was great in helping me onthe lean and green part of the
diet because she was invested inmy journey too and she was
(32:07):
happy to take the pressure offme and just do some basic
cooking that I didn't have to do, which made it a lot easier for
me, because if I have to cookevery meal, that's not something
I really enjoy, yeah, so thatwould have been tougher for me,
but she made it easy because shewouldn't mind, as she's making
(32:28):
dinner for herself, putting acouple of chicken breasts in a
frying pan and cooking them upfor me, so I could have my what
was it?
Six ounces of chicken.
Yep.
So I ate that quite a bit.
And then we discovered orrediscovered cottage cheese and
it's really easy to just scoopthat onto a plate.
(32:50):
So I just think, if I had tosum it up, it just wasn't hard.
I mean the hard thing about itis committing to it.
If you can commit to it and getyourself on a schedule and get
yourself on a routine, I mean Idon't know anybody that's busy
that doesn't follow a routine,because otherwise you can't
(33:11):
survive.
If you've got 15 priorities,nothing's a priority.
So you have to have somealgorithm or some approach to
prioritizing and getting thingsdone.
So I don't think it's anydifferent on a diet you have to
prioritize it and plan for itand then execute on it.
Kevin Tinter (33:33):
Basically, Did you find that?
Because the busy excuse a lotof people are like well, I don't
have time for all the mealprepping or all the extra time
that's going to take to exercise, and that's one of the other
things is that exercise is notnecessary.
I'm a huge proponent ofexercise.
I know you enjoy exercise, buta lot of times people think
(33:54):
they're going to have to spend90 minutes, you know, doing a
killer workout.
That's not the case with ourplan.
So eliminate that busynessexcuse, uh, and then a
substantial amount of time formeal prepping.
What was your experience?
Was it a tedious effort to uhto prepare your meals?
Neil (34:17):
to uh, to prepare your meals.
No, um, but I, I, I was.
I was a little concerned aboutthat at first, but you know,
obviously, if you go, if you goto the store every day, it's
going to be tedious.
So, you have to create systemsthat work for you right so buy
in, buy in bulk.
Um, you know I'm I'm inherentlylazy, lazy.
So buying in bulk is a goodstrategy for me.
(34:38):
So I don't have to go to thestore more than once every so
often.
It's amazing, it works right,yeah, um, I think, well, I, I
think that's really the.
I can't think of any other.
I mean, it's, it's to me, it'sso basic, but it, you know you,
you have to commit to it, youhave to follow through.
(34:58):
Um, you can't you know, beatyourself up if you, if you, you
know, make an error, uh, one day, and, and you know, eat more
than you should, or or eat thewrong thing, or whatever, you
just keep going.
Kevin Tinter (35:12):
Yeah.
Neil (35:13):
Don't quit.
Kevin Tinter (35:15):
Absolutely, um, do you have any other like wins as
far as either blood work orother metrics that you want to
share and just talk about howthe program really helped you
get healthy?
Neil (35:22):
Yeah, I had two that really surprised me.
I'll start with when I nearlybroke my nose on my knee,
because I don't know how to setthis up for people that can't
see.
But For the last several yearsmy flexibility has just been
really, I guess, getting worse,getting worse, and especially if
(35:50):
I'm trying to stretch out mylegs for a run.
So I got to the point wheregetting down and touching the
ground was impossible.
So now that I just kind ofwalked back, know, walked back
to goals, now just touch the topof my feet.
Um, you know, it becamedifficult um, day after day to
get a good stretch in, and somedays I just would kind of wave
(36:15):
it off.
Um, so one of the things thatdid surprise me about this diet
is you?
asked me not to do anything thatwas more strenuous than, um,
you know, a light walk, becauseif I couldn't, uh, keep up a
normal conversation, I wasworking too hard.
Yeah.
So um I.
Kevin Tinter (36:34):
I did.
Neil (36:34):
I didn't do uh much of any uh strenuous exercise for what
was it about three months?
Strenuous exercise, for whatwas it about three months?
So, um, I came to the time thatI was ready to, to, you know,
start doing that again.
So I remember I got, I got intomy um my gym clothes and I was
uh doing my stretch beforegetting on the treadmill.
(36:56):
And again, I have to do streetrunning is not is I can do it,
but uh, because of myreconstructed knee and the lack
of cartilage and things likethat it's um, not cartilage, uh,
meniscus, um, it's better if Irun on a uh, something like a
treadmill cushioned.
Right, Um, so I started uh.
I did.
(37:17):
I started my stretching the wayI always do.
I, you know, uh, basicallyspread, spread my legs out a bit
, stretching the way I always do.
I, you know, uh, basicallyspread, spread my legs out a
little bit wider than shoulderlength and I started to go down
to grab the right ankle and I uh, I mean I had gotten used to
having to go so hard, uh, withmy arms, so hard to get my head
(37:37):
down uh to uh stretch out uh thegroin, uh that I.
I really bounced my knee hard,or bounce my nose hard off of my
knee.
Wow.
With unexpected flexibility.
Yeah.
I had no, no idea that.
I was going to be able to be,that flexible immediately, like
(37:58):
that.
You know I hadn't stretched inmonths.
Yeah, incredible, okay so thatthat's, that's the stretched in
months.
Kevin Tinter (38:02):
Yeah, incredible, okay, um, so that that's, that's
the one that really surprisedme, um, and that's one of those
things that like when you'rethinking about, okay, I'm losing
weight, I'm getting healthy,you don't even think about that
being a kind of a fringe benefit, right?
So pleasant surprise.
Neil (38:15):
And I've had.
I guess I'll throw in a uh one.
I wasn't planning to, but um I,my stamina has been incredible.
I've been able to run um out,you know, for an hour without
stopping, which, okay, that'snot a big deal for a lot of
people out there that are ingood shape or younger and can
(38:35):
run, but for me that's a.
That's a.
I didn't know if I'd ever getback there.
Got it.
That's awesome, Um I didn't knowif I'd ever get back there.
Got it, that's awesome, um andokay, so.
So there's those two thingsthat just.
Uh, I can exercise, in fact, myexercise time has been
increasing Um, um I.
I tend to favor cardio and I'mtrying to work in the strength
(38:57):
training.
That's another, that'ssomething I got to work on, but
but the cardio is going reallywell and so that's that.
But the thing I wasn't expectingat all was when I went to visit
my primary care doctor for anannual physical and we did my
(39:18):
blood work we did my blood work,um, and so I first learned that
I had high cholesterol back in1990.
I did my first um, I guess postflight training physical with
with a military doctor.
I went in, got seen and theytold me look, your cholesterol
(39:41):
is high, we want you to try alow, low fat diet et cetera.
So I did that and went back.
I guess it was probably threemonths later and the doctors
then said you were able to, youwere able to bring it down.
That's good, but you can'treally bring it down too much
because your your family, yourhistory, your genetics or
(40:04):
whatever your makeup is there'sonly so much you can do with
diet and exercise.
That's what I was told.
So a few years later I guessthis was around maybe three or
four years later when I finallycame back from overseas I was
living overseas for the firsteight years of my service.
(40:26):
When I finally got back, I wentagain to my annual physical and
the doctor said there's no moredelay, you've got to get on
statins.
I want you on statins and youcan expect you're going to be on
statins for the rest of yourlife.
Um, so so far that's proven tobe true.
(40:49):
Um, but uh, after doing theOptivia diet, um, and after
having my um primary carephysician, my last checkup-
which was?
Kevin Tinter (41:05):
when was that?
Neil (41:05):
I think it was in November , okay, so.
Kevin Tinter (41:09):
November, and then your most recent one was when
June, june, okay, so right aboutthe time you wrapped up
transition.
Neil (41:14):
Right, so I had been put on pre-diabetic medicine for the
second time.
I was able to get off of itonce.
But you know, my ac a1c keptgoing up.
So, um, that was almost, uh,completely, you know, in the
(41:35):
normal range it's like one tenthof a high, but then of course,
as you age, your a1c averagetends higher anyway.
So doctor said you don't needto take metformin anymore.
Um my, you know your cholesterolis made up of HDL and LDL, and
LDL is the real killer.
Um, and I have never been belowa hundred, uh, on my LDL.
(41:58):
Uh, I was half of that Uh.
Holy.
Yeah, I've got it right here.
My LDL is now 53.
I can't remember a time when itwasn't triple digits.
No matter how hard or how muchI tried other techniques, this
(42:19):
is the only thing that I'veexperienced that brought my
blood down to that level.
Kevin Tinter (42:27):
That's amazing Congrats.
Neil (42:28):
So now the real test is now that I'm off the diet, will
I go back up?
Yeah.
But then we'll know it's thediet and not the….
Kevin Tinter (42:41):
Yeah Well, and you're off the weight loss
portion, but you're still livinga lot of the habits that you've
learned to implement eating alot of the foods that make up
what we call a lean and greenmeal, using some of the mini
meals that we offer, and you'reeating, for the most part, six
times a day, drinking a lot ofwater.
So it will be fun to probablyget retested in six months or so
(43:03):
and and hopefully see that, asyou adjust your diet and your
lifestyle, that that changewasn't just temporary but it's.
It's, you know, something thatyou're able to carry on for the
rest of your life.
Neil (43:15):
Yeah, Well, it's something that well, I'm committed to
doing it.
Number one, so I'm I'm stilllogging my meals on the fitness
app that you recommended.
That's been a good habit for me.
The app actually lets you knowwhen you, when you've logged
your meals for three daysstraight.
I guess you're in the top 30something percent of Americans
(43:38):
or of users.
Kevin Tinter (43:39):
I think if Americans do anything for three
days in a row, they're probablyin the top 30%.
Neil (43:43):
It's just crazy to me that you know only by logging my
food for three days I am in thetop third, and when I made day
four, oh my gosh, now I'm in thetop five.
Yeah.
Or top 20%.
I guess I should say so, um, Ialso I've had a lot.
(44:09):
I didn't at first, you know,you told me people were going to
come up and and notice right.
But people.
I don't know if people wereafraid to say something or or
what, but you know, not manypeople said anything to me for
the first two and a half threemonths.
And then, man, all of a sudden,people like man, you've really
lost a lot of weight, you know.
Um so uh, that that's nice tohear.
Kevin Tinter (44:31):
Yeah, it's encouraging, it beats the heck
out of saying Holy smokes,you've put on a lot of weight,
right For sure.
Neil (44:37):
Or or you know the little smirks that you might get as you
darken their door.
Kevin Tinter (44:43):
Right, right, right, awesome.
So, neil, kind of as we wrap up, what encouragement do you have
for anyone listening who mightthink there's no way that they
can lose weight?
You know they've given up hopeand obviously I'm not claiming
that we'll cure anyone's medicalconditions or that we can't
guarantee that.
You know we can't guaranteethat you're going to reduce or
eliminate medications, but youjust shared your personal story
(45:05):
on how that is possible.
Or maybe even they've given uphope on their ability to improve
the quality of their life, andyou've talked about increased
stamina.
So what encouragement do youhave for anyone who falls into
that category?
Well.
Neil (45:21):
I'm probably not the encouraging kind I I might.
I might tend to go the otherdirection, like you know.
Why not?
Yeah, why won't you?
Kevin Tinter (45:28):
do it.
Well, I'm fine with that.
I mean, yeah, it takes bothkinds.
So right.
A little suck it up.
Conversation right Pretty much.
Neil (45:34):
Yeah, I mean, don't, don't talk about it, be about it, do
do it.
Give it a, you know, if you'renot serious, okay, then just to
be about it, do do it give it a.
You know, if you're not serious,okay, then just be honest about
that.
You don't want to?
Okay, you want.
You'd rather be unhealthy,you'd rather be, you know, pudgy
, you'd rather be portly,whatever.
Okay, uh, I can respect that ifthat's your choice.
(45:56):
Um, now some people will say,well, I don't have a choice,
I've been born this way, somaybe you don't know, unless you
try.
I would have said that about mycholesterol.
Yeah.
And I would.
I'm absolutely shocked.
You know I guess this is onetime result, so you know I got
to make sure it's not just aone-off.
Kevin Tinter (46:19):
but but that's, I mean, that's one time in 35
years, right?
Yeah, that's pretty amazing.
That's an outlier for sure.
Neil (46:26):
Yeah.
So I don't know, I think you, Ithink you've got to get mad.
You got to.
Whatever your technique is, youhave to motivate yourself.
Whether it's getting mad atyourself, getting determined, um
, whatever that that techniqueis, but until you commit to it,
until you are determined, nomatter what obstacles are in
(46:48):
your way or what people mightsay or people might do, or what
inconvenience it mighttemporarily require of you, if
you're not serious about it, itwon't work.
You have to get serious aboutit.
Kevin Tinter (47:03):
Yeah, dave Ramsey has another quote and hopefully
I don't butcher it too bad.
But he says until the pain ofthe same is worse than the pain
of change, you'll be stuck withthe same.
So it's not easy to make change.
It disrupts your life.
We're creatures of habit forthe most part.
(47:23):
For sure not easy to makechange.
It's you know, it disrupts yourlife it you know there's we're.
We're creatures of habit for themost part, but until you you're
, you get to the point wherestaying stuck where you're at
whether it's unhealthy,overweight, broke, uh, you know
miserable in your relationships,until the pain of where you're
at right now is worse than thepain it takes to change.
Um, you're going to be stuckwith it and you just have to
decide.
(47:43):
You know what the other sayingis choose your heart, right.
It's hard to be healthy.
It's also hard to be unhealthy.
Which one would you rather have?
Neil (47:55):
I think most people just want things to be easy.
Yes.
And I would like everything tobe easy.
It would be great, and I wouldsay you can make this diet easy.
Yes, and, and I, I'm.
I would like everything to be.
It would be great.
Um, and I, I would say you canmake this diet easy.
Yeah.
Um, you just have to do a fewthings get yourself organized,
um, convince yourself thatyou're going to be committed to
(48:17):
it and stick to it.
Um, I think everyone is capableof doing it.
Whether each individual hasenough fortitude, enough
determination, that's really thequestion you've got to ask
yourself, and I think, if youreally want to, you can do it.
Kevin Tinter (48:37):
Awesome.
There you have it, folks.
Neil, thank you so much fortaking time out of your day.
Thank you for trusting me tocoach you.
It really is an honor.
I consider you a friend as wellas one of my clients, and I
love the fact that I developrelationships, friendships, with
the vast majority of my clients, and it's so rewarding to see
(48:59):
all of the improvements in yourlife and your health.
And so, for those of you who arelistening, if you haven't
already had a conversation withan Optivia coach and you are
interested in learning more, youcan go to beckandkevcom or go
directly to beckandkevcom slashget dash healthy for the link to
our quick health assessment.
(49:20):
It's complimentary and it'llhelp you start the conversation
with us or one of our qualifiedcoaches.
If you have already heard ofOptivea and you know someone and
you're already having aconversation, please go talk to
them.
I'm not trying to steal youfrom someone you already have a
relationship with, but for ourlisteners who are hearing or
interested in this program forthe first time, anyone who signs
(49:41):
up for a full month on our plan, minimum of a $350 investment
per month and references thispodcast will get a $50 credit
from us to help them get startedat even bigger savings.
So, neil, again, thank you somuch.
I look forward to staying intouch with you on an ongoing
basis.
Can't wait for that nextBloodwork and hopefully we have
(50:03):
even better results, buthopefully we keep you healthy.
Thank you so much.
Neil (50:07):
Thank you, Kevin.
Hey friends, in today's episode I'm really
excited to interview my friendand client, Neil.
We're going to leave his lastname out, but he is a friend and
client of mine who has lostover 40 pounds and radically
changed his health for thebetter in just a few months of
working with me.
Stay tuned to the end, becausewe have a special offer to any
(00:24):
of our listeners that we'llshare at the end of today's show
.
So, Neil, as we get started,first of all, thank you for
being here.
Neil (00:33):
My pleasure, glad to do it .
Kevin Tinter (00:34):
Yeah, awesome, it's really cool.
We met at a Cornerstones.
It was a men's conference, themeal before the conference
started and we just happened tobe sitting at the table.
I'm not one to necessarilybelieve in coincidence.
I think the Lord Almighty tendsto put people in each other's
paths for a meeting or to meetmany times.
(00:58):
But we struck up a conversationand tell me a little bit.
You know from your perspective.
You know what was that likeback in February or whenever
that was.
Neil (01:09):
Yeah, um, well, first of all, you were sitting at a table
with one of my um men's groupuh, I guess cohorts and um.
I didn't have any place to sitand I got there late and I had
one of the last meals that theywere serving and you guys were
talking about health and yeah, Ikind of do think it was
(01:29):
Providence that I kind ofstumbled onto that, because you
know my wife, she really lovesme and she cares about my health
and she had been, you know,getting on me a little bit and I
knew, anyway, I didn't need herto do that, but I knew already.
And then I was sporting a fewmore pounds and it was healthy,
and so I'd already convincedmyself that I was going to do
(01:53):
something.
I've done other programs in thepast.
I won't, I guess, mention themin case they're they're
competitors of your Optiviasponsors.
But I've done other programs,but they've never.
I've always plateaued.
I never could get over the hump, so to speak.
(02:15):
I could lose 10 to 15 pounds,but that's where it would stop.
And then as soon as I took myeye off the ball and went right
back up.
I went, so I guess that's, butI can't remember the specific
conversation you were having.
But it was somebody that Ididn't know at the table and I
(02:38):
just I guess, decided to dive inand take part, and one thing
led to another.
From that point on, yeah.
Kevin Tinter (02:48):
Yeah, it was great meeting you and I appreciate
you for being willing to have aconversation with a complete
stranger.
I think that that takes a lot ofcourage to do, but hopefully
there's something that mypersonality goes out that gives
a little bit of, you know, trustfactor, and otherwise I'm sure
you would have ran the otherdirection, but it's been awesome
(03:10):
to help you.
So, before we kind of get intoyour incredible health
transformation story, and thereason I wanted you to share it
is because I really I can talkabout this all I want till I'm
blue in the face.
But it's different when someonewho has had their own recent
experience, who isn't a coach,uh, shares their story,
(03:32):
especially when they've beentold by some other medical
practitioners like, oh, you'regoing to always going to have to
take this medication or, um,and you know, you've tried other
programs that haven't helpedyou get to really where you want
to.
But before we go down that road, let's just personalize things.
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself, you know what, go back
to the beginning and just kindof get us to where you're at
(03:53):
today in 2025.
Okay.
Neil (03:57):
Well, the beginning was quite a few years ago.
I'll just say this.
I was a really skinny and lightuh kid.
Um, I remember, uh, weighing inmy senior year in high school
for the varsity football team,weighing, um, maybe 140 pounds,
soaking wet.
I was starting on the defense.
Oh, my gosh, Definitely in thesecondary.
(04:18):
Um, you had to be mean if youwere that light.
I think I was kind of mean onthe field, but otherwise, yeah,
it wasn't until, I guess I hitcollege and had three squares a
day in the cafeteria probablynot the best choices and I
started putting on some healthyweight.
(04:41):
But as I became an adult, wentinto the military, I was a pilot
training or I went to pilottraining, I should say, here in
Phoenix at a base not too farfrom where you're living and man
(05:03):
, stressful, and uh, and I waslosing weight and then, uh, that
experience ended for me.
Um, I guess I need to kind ofexplain that.
So, back when I did pilottraining.
Um, it was natural to eliminateabout 50% of every class.
Yeah, and I was the last one tobe eliminated, um, at least
(05:25):
from the phase of training thatI was in.
Uh, thankfully, the rest of theguys that I was training with
made it.
Um, that being said, uh, once Igot out of that stress, um,
that's when the first, that'sthe first time I gained a weight
and I, let's say it got to anunhealthy weight.
Okay.
Um, so I think just the reliefof stress and the eating habits
(05:49):
that were formed, mike is.
So some of the eating habits Iformed then, you know, probably
weren't the best and yeah, I puton at that time probably 20
pounds coming off of flighttraining.
Kevin Tinter (06:06):
And you stayed in the military after flight
training, right, you just movedto a different MOS.
Neil (06:11):
Yeah, different.
Kevin Tinter (06:12):
Okay.
Neil (06:12):
I was in the Air Force, so we called it an Air Force
Specialty Code, AFSC.
Okay.
Yeah, so I didn't get overweightfrom the Air Force perspective,
but I definitely had to arrestthe trend.
So I did try one of theprepared meal diets that you
might have heard of and thiswould have been, you know, late
(06:32):
80s.
That worked probably I don'tthink I need to be specific here
but, yeah, probably like 165,170, which was a good weight for
me.
And then that lasted and I gotout to my first assignment and
(07:03):
was playing some intramuralsports and had a knee injury and
that set me back as far asbeing able to exercise and keep
weight off that way.
So that's another thing.
So I had to overcome a kneereconstruction.
I had to teach my body newexercises and things that I
(07:25):
wasn't used to doing.
So I took up running andwalking and that's pretty much
what I was.
What I did the rest of my 20year military career was just do
a lot of long distance runs.
Marathon finished a couple ofmarathons tried, more than a
couple, did some 50 mile walksin 24 hours.
(07:47):
Oh, wow.
Things like that, once I got outof the military and was in the
corporate world, and especiallywhile my kids were turning the
corner from, you know, thepreteens to the teens, turning
the corner from, you know, thepreteens to the teens.
During that time, I think youknow, as I was aging, as I was
(08:10):
working more hours, as I wasjuggling- more things you know,
I still continued to exercise,but the weight went up.
Weight went up.
So then my wife and I tried acouple of diets diets again, I
guess, I won't mention themspecifically, but um, uh, we had
success on them.
(08:31):
Uh, we were able to commit tothem and do them for 30 days or
45 days or something like thatand and um we, we'd lose the
weight.
Kevin Tinter (08:39):
Um.
Neil (08:40):
I tended to put it back on over about three, four or five
months.
So, okay, that's sort of thehistory.
Did probably several cycles ofthat between the.
In the last 10 years I probablyhave done four cycles of that.
Okay.
And then.
(09:00):
So that led me, I guess, to ourmeeting at Cornerstone church,
and I was having another issuethat hadn't impacted me up until
then, and that is I just didn'thave the athletic stamina
anymore.
I was requiring a lot more timein between workouts to recover.
(09:21):
My body was just telling methat, um, you know, I was tired.
Um.
I was heavy, uh, my joints wereaching, just things like that
that I hadn't experienced before.
So, um, I was trying on my ownto figure out what, uh, you know
how best to um recover fromexercise.
(09:44):
You know other things that Icould do take longer intervals
or whatever but it didn't seemlike a good idea to rest for
days in between workouts.
So.
I knew that if I got some weightoff, maybe that would help, and
so I was already predisposed todoing something.
(10:06):
I was ready to do something.
We were talking about doing the.
my wife and I were talking aboutthe previous diet that I was on
, and we were on and we weregetting ready to do it and go
buy all the different meals, sowe wouldn't have certain
ingredients in our food andthings like that, but I really I
didn't want to repeat the samecycle, so I was again, was
(10:30):
already looking I thinkunintentionally looking for some
other alternative, and so I dothink it was a happy coincidence
that you know, bumped into youand that conversation, that
cornerstone.
Kevin Tinter (10:43):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Um, are you comfortable eithersharing your age or what decade
you're in, just so people cankind of figure out what they're
relating to?
Neil (10:51):
Yeah, I'm, I'm 59.
Okay, be 60, uh, in about 10months.
Okay, um, and I've been active,uh, uh, as far as like, either
in athletics or individualexercise.
But you know, I wouldn't saythat like I'm not like my wife.
(11:13):
My wife is constantly on the go, she is always in motion.
That's not me.
What I tend to do is reallyhard, strenuous or very
strenuous exercises.
Kevin Tinter (11:26):
More intensity.
Neil (11:27):
Right, but then I'm just as happy to relax, yeah yeah,
well, there's some pros to that.
Kevin Tinter (11:34):
So, folks, as we kind of get into some more of
the details of Neil's story, Ijust want to be transparent and
share that my primary businessis helping people achieve what I
call uncommon freedom throughhealth transformations, as a
coach with a home-based businesscalled Optivia, and so that is
the program that I coached Neilwith.
And in the interest of beingcompletely transparent and also
(11:56):
compliant with regulatoryguidelines, I do need to read a
disclaimer, because Neil's storyis pretty fantastic.
Because Neil's story is prettyfantastic and the disclaimer is
that average weight loss on theOptimal Weight 5-in-1 plan is 12
pounds, and clients are inweight loss on an average for 12
weeks.
So now that we know what allthe legalese is, let's jump into
Neil's story.
(12:17):
So, neil, you're in weight loss, you've got a copy of your InB
body comp paperwork there.
You started the program roughlywhen.
Neil (12:29):
I think it was on the 19th of February yep, and then we
did.
Kevin Tinter (12:33):
The last one was kind of towards when you
finished the transition phase ofour program.
That was when that's over hereyeah down at the bottom.
I think that was.
Neil (12:43):
June, june 16th is okay it's on here, but I think it was
a little before then so aboutfour months and you lost.
Kevin Tinter (12:50):
Let's talk about some of the stats.
How much weight did you lose?
Neil (12:53):
um, I believe it was around 45 pounds.
Yeah, a little bit more thanthat yep, uh, visceral fat.
Kevin Tinter (12:59):
This is something this for, especially for the men
listening.
Visceral fat is that really?
It's that killer fat, um,that's around our organs and a
healthy level is below 10 andyou went from went from a 16
down to an 8 amazing.
So you cut it in half and yougot to a healthy level.
And then, on body fatpercentage, which I this is my
(13:22):
kind of soapbox metric forhealth is body fat percentage.
Which I this is my kind ofsoapbox metric for health is
body fat percentage, Cause Idon't really care what anyone's
weight is If they can get froman unhealthy weight to a healthy
weight or unhealthy body fatpercentage to a healthy body fat
percentage.
Uh, that's the real gamechanger.
So what was either?
How much body fat did you loseor would you want to share what
(13:43):
percentages you started at andwent to?
Neil (13:45):
Yeah I, I was uh an unhealthy 36% uh when we started
, uh actually 36.1.
And uh, by the time we gotthrough month four, I was at
23.8.
Um, obviously hoping tocontinue to improve on that.
Kevin Tinter (14:01):
Yeah, no, so that's amazing.
So you went from 16 to eight.
When it comes to visceral fat,uh, you lost over 40 pounds, and
you're you're about.
How tall are you, Neil?
Neil (14:12):
Just so people well, I used to be tall.
Kevin Tinter (14:14):
I'm old now and I've shrunk, but I'm I'm five
nine, five, nine, okay, soaverage build, but a 40 pounds
on five nine is prettysignificant.
I mean I met you when you were40 plus pounds heavier and you
look drastically different.
I mean you look super healthy.
And what I love about you knowthe plan is it got you right on
the threshold, because for men,healthy body fat percentage is
(14:37):
between 10 and 20%.
And you're right on thethreshold.
And you know, with with ourprogram, there's a lot of
options.
You know, some people theystick with the primary weight
loss plan all the way untilthey're at a healthy weight.
Other people, they have lifecircumstances and so they may
transition sooner than they getto a healthy weight.
But the cool thing is we have,we have options and so, you know
(15:01):
, we did set you up with ahealthy eating plan and it's
cool.
I know you just came back fromcelebrating an anniversary.
You went on a trip, you were outof town and you just talked
about how you, you know, wereimplementing some of the new
habits that you've practiced.
So the bottom line is there'sdisclaimers.
But what I can say, based on myexperience of doing this for
(15:23):
over 14 years now, is that everyclient has their own unique
journey and the main factorsthat determine their success are
whether or not they follow theprogram exactly and whether or
not they change their habitslong term.
So, when you think back to someof the other programs or diets
(15:43):
that you tried and I'm not hereto bash them, and so that's why
we're not mentioning names andI'm sure I've actually talked to
other people because you'veshared with me personally some
of these other names, and I'vetalked to other people who have
had incredible success and it'slasted long-term for them.
But what was missing?
What was the missing piece?
Is there any common thread thatyou can see between those other
(16:06):
things that you've tried thatdidn't set you up for long-term
success?
Neil (16:12):
Well, I think some of it I have to take accountability for
.
So I think my level ofcommitment this time was
probably the highest it's everbeen.
Okay.
So I think, right off the bat,let's just put the
accountability where it belongs.
But yeah, I think one thingthat I experienced with Optivia
(16:37):
that I didn't experience withthe others is I wasn't hungry
and in fact, my biggestchallenge as I told you a a
couple times was remembering toeat as often as I was supposed
to, um, and, and so I wouldfrequently uh in the beginning
um, miss a meal, uh, and then,you know, have to calculate,
(16:59):
okay.
Well, how late am I gonna haveto stay up in order to finish
today?
yeah and uh, and you know,obviously I didn't want to lose
out on sleep time, so, uh, thatwas a motivator, um, but I also
saw the results right away too,um, and I think that just
reinforced my commitment.
Um, I don't, I know my wifewill not appreciate this, but I
(17:19):
am going to tell a little storybecause she um, at you know
she's seen it, done it, and so Ithink she was a little
skeptical, yeah, and um, I thinkshe was like, well, man, you
know that's some money we'respending and I said it is, but I
, I, it's some money that we'respending for a good reason and
(17:40):
uh, I want to give this a try.
So she you know, she backed offand then at the end it became
man.
You've lost too much weight, somaybe you should stop.
Yeah.
Yeah, so I got a big kick outof that actually.
Kevin Tinter (17:57):
Yeah, that's a, that is fun, it's.
I don't mean to make light ofthose with legitimate, you know,
cancers and things like that,but the number of my clients who
tell me stories about, yeah,you know, I saw a friend or
family member for the first timein three months or six months
and they were afraid that I hadcancer because I was so lean, so
(18:20):
desensitized to what healthlooks like and what unhealth,
you know, unhealthy has becomethe norm that when we see
someone who is really at anoptimal weight, we think that
they're too skinny.
And you know you can look upall kinds of stats on how we
have changed for the worst froma health standpoint.
(18:40):
But you know, and of course youknow there was your wife was
saying you were too skinnybefore even you got to the end.
But the beautiful thing aboutgetting this.
So I encourage everyone go geta quality body fat test.
Um, you know there's differentmethods out there.
I love the in body cause.
It's super convenient and superaffordable.
There's DEXA scans.
(19:01):
There's different methods, but,uh, you know one of the things
I encourage you.
I said hey, just share with yourwife, you're not too skinny
because the healthy range is 10to 20 and you're not quite there
yet.
And that wasn't a diss on you.
It's just helping people torealize, man, we're just we're
so not used to what healthylooks like, that when we see
close to healthy, we thinkthat's too too skinny.
Um, and uh, I appreciate, youknow, taking extreme ownership
(19:25):
because ultimately, I think thatthere's a lot of different ways
for people to get healthy andultimately, uh, if, if you take
it seriously and if it meansenough to you, you'll there's
there's a lot of ways to do it.
Um, you know, fortunately foryou, you know us connecting this
program worked for you.
So, um, we'll get into more ofyour story, but I just want to
kind of share this concept withand I know I shared it with you,
(19:48):
but I want to share it witheveryone who's listening and
that's to think of losing weightand getting healthy.
It's like taking a journey.
Think of it's like taking along road trip, say, from the
East Coast all the way to theWest Coast.
And when you shift tounderstanding that the primary
purpose of eating is to fuelyour body for what God made you
to do, you live life differentlyand you also make different
(20:11):
choices.
Um, you know, most of us havegotten accustomed to just eating
because we're hungry, we'rebored.
Uh, you know, grandma shows herlove by stuffing us full of
food that we don't need andthat's not good for us.
Um, and you know, the problemis food.
(20:31):
In modern, 2025 America is verydifferent than what God
intended for us, even just 100,150 years ago.
But when your goal is to improveyour health, to get into the
best shape of your life, or tooptimize your health so you can
maximize your life, that shoulddrive the decisions you make.
And so making healthy choicesis like fueling up at the truck
(20:52):
stop gas station that's rightoff the highway.
Making healthy choices is likefueling up at the truck stop gas
station that's right off thehighway.
I've made several cross-countrymoves and when it's time to
fuel up, I'm looking for thattruck stop that is right off the
highway, because I want to getoff, get back on so I can
continue my journey.
And then, every once in a while, you wait until it's too late
(21:12):
in the night.
You're in a rural area and yousee a sign for gas and you
decide to get off and you followthe sign and it takes you.
It's 10 or 20 miles down theroad and you realize, holy
smokes, I just wasted combined20 or 40 minutes because I'm
going so far out of my way toget fuel.
And so the analogy is that goingoff plan or making unhealthy
(21:35):
choices so certainly with ourprogram, the 5-in-1 plan that
you did for weight loss, you'vegot to take a break from alcohol
.
And so if you're a client onthe 5-in-1 and you're choosing
to continue alcohol, essentiallywhat you're doing is you're
fueling your body up 20 milesoff the highway.
Doing is you're fueling yourbody up 20 miles off the highway
(21:57):
.
And so I just like to use thatanalogy to help people realize
that when you go off your planor you make unhealthy choices,
you might even still be on yourjourney.
You're still on your journey,but you're taking yourself on an
unnecessary detour.
So you still get fuel, butyou've taken an unnecessary
detour that prolongs the journeyand also creates additional
opportunities for risk right?
(22:17):
The more time you spend on atwo-lane country road looking
for gas, the more likely you areto hit a deer crossing the road
.
And you know some of thepitfalls that clients fall into
is, you know, they whet theirappetite for alcohol having that
occasional, you know, or thatcheat glass of wine and all of a
sudden they're drinkingregularly again.
Or you know, for me it was oh,I'll have a, you know some, you
(22:41):
know candy, cause I used to havea horrible sweet tooth and you
know that little taste turnedinto an entire bag.
So that's uh, that's somethingfor people to think about.
So what was the biggest drivingfactor in causing you to want
to get healthy and just to be soserious about it this time,
neil?
Well.
Neil (23:02):
I don't know.
I have a lighthearted answer toit while I'm thinking about it.
I mean one of the biggestthings is I was you know, I
didn't need the constantreminders that I was getting at
home.
Um and again, I know it wascoming from a place of love, so
I don't blame anybody for that.
But yeah, when you don't wantto hear it, you've got to do
(23:23):
something about it.
Kevin Tinter (23:24):
Yeah.
So there you go, ladies.
That's your green light to nagyour husband if he's not healthy
.
God gave us our wives for areason, that's right.
Yeah, okay, god gave us ourwives for a reason.
Neil (23:35):
That's right, yeah, okay.
So, um, I think more um for me.
I didn't, I didn't like what Iwas seeing in the mirror.
You know, um, I, I am too oldnow to be an athlete, but uh,
you know, I still see myself asathletic.
I'm.
You know, I haven't really donea great deal of thinking about
(23:59):
it, I just I was just damndetermined to do it.
Yeah, and for a variety ofreasons, some of them which I
may not even realize, just thatyou know I was.
I was feeling tired of of ofbeing achy, I was feeling tired
of being tired, tired of beingnagged, tired of what I saw in
(24:22):
the mirror.
Yep.
Sick and tired of being sickand tired as Dave Ramsey says
right, yeah, that's a good wayof putting it.
Kevin Tinter (24:28):
Yeah, yeah, and I found that the reality is,
unless people get to that point,they're not going to make
lasting change.
So, you know, I applaud anyonewho makes the effort, but the
reality is, until you get to thepoint where you're sick and
tired of being sick and tired,you'll you'll find excuses that
you know why it's harder, youknow, to be healthy than it is
(24:51):
to be unhealthy.
Did you think it was possibleto get to where you're at now
and also to maintain it?
Cause now you're, you know,about a month plus into past,
even completing the transitionphase, and you've gone on
vacation, you know, gone throughJuly 4th, you've had family
visit and you've pretty muchmaintained where you were when
(25:11):
you finished transition.
Did you think that was possible?
Neil (25:14):
Well, I was worried about it for sure.
Yeah, so being it is you knowpeople unintentionally encourage
you to cheat.
Yes, yeah.
Or you don't want to offendsomebody who's gone to a lot of
trouble to make a very specialmeal or something like that.
So it is a balance.
You have to um, have to have alittle um.
(25:39):
Oh man, I can't think of theword, yeah, Um a little tact
right, just to, to you knowdefend, defend your choice, but
you know not, uh, offend thepeople that are wanting to make
you happy through, you know,some type of food or event you
know.
(25:59):
It just so happens that I cameoff the diet and started a
transition.
I think it was.
No, I came off the transitionand the first, the very first
meal I had was father's daymorning okay um, and we went to
a restaurant, um, for breakfastand um, I had steak and eggs and
(26:20):
I was.
I felt just, it was so nice tosavor the flavors but, I felt so
terrible after it because I wasjust uh, you know, just a bunch
of food and a little extra,more more probably volume or
portion, than you were used to.
Right For sure.
So yeah, I don't know.
(26:41):
I don't know if anybody canrelate to that, but so it's
definitely changed my habits.
I am eating more.
You know, I am kind offollowing some of the principles
that I learned through the dietto have smaller meals more
frequently and to keep track.
I think that's another big deal.
(27:02):
You have to keep track of whatyou eat.
Kevin Tinter (27:04):
Absolutely.
I mean, one of the principlesof success if you want something
to improve, you've got to trackit.
And when it comes to the wholetact and people trying
encouraging you to cheat, youhave to be aware of that.
And so one of the strategies Iencourage my clients and I use
this myself is to just givepeople a heads up, say, hey, I'm
working on my health and youcan give them a lot of detail.
(27:26):
You can tell them listen, mydoctor told me I'm pre-diabetic
or I'm going to have to go onblood pressure medication or
what it is At the same time.
It's none of anyone else'sbusiness.
So if you don't feel like goinginto that detail, it's
personality dependent when itcomes to that.
But give people a heads up, andI think we need to have a pivot
, because we don't reallyunderstand that food is as
(27:49):
addictive, especially in modernAmerica.
Processed food is as addictiveas pretty much any other
substance out there.
And if you, if you realize thatmost Americans are very much
like an alcoholic when it comesto food, right, if your friend
who you knew was an alcoholicwas sober, right, you would not.
(28:11):
If you're a good friend, you'renot going to be offering them a
drink.
You're going to actuallyintentionally, probably, keep
the alcohol away from them andyou're certainly not going to
put it in front of them.
You're like, why don't you havesome?
You deserve some.
You've been dry for you knowthree weeks.
Just go ahead and have a sip orhave a drink.
And if you, if you have peoplein your life that are trying to
get healthy, take thatperspective, because you're not
(28:33):
doing them a favor when youforce it on them and you put it
in front of them.
Sometimes I think people,honestly, I think they feel a
little bit convicted sometimesif they're not healthy and they
see someone getting ahead.
It's kind of like that highschool buddy who's way ahead of
you financially, because you'renot making anything with your
(28:55):
life and it's easy to get alittle bit jealous.
But, um, I do encourage people,if you're on a health journey,
to just give people a heads up,say, hey, it's not personal, I'm
really working on my health andso I'm going to make some
different decisions, and I foundthat, honestly, anyone who's a
true friend is supportive ofthat, even if it's grandma, so
um is supportive of that, evenif it's grandma.
Neil (29:22):
So, um, what was the easiest part of the plan for you
?
Once I figured out the foods Iliked, the plan was easy to
follow.
Um, so, I think it's two sidesof the same coin.
At first, it was probably mysecond biggest challenge.
It's two sides of the same coin.
At first, it was probably mysecond biggest challenge.
Remembering to eat was thebiggest um, because I I did feel
, you know, I didn't feel hungry, so the nutrition that you get
(29:48):
um I, whether it tricks yourbody into thinking it's full or
not, whatever it was, uh workedfor me.
Um, but I lost track of what Iwas saying.
Uh well, we were talking aboutthe easiest part of the plan for
me, but I lost track of what Iwas saying.
Kevin Tinter (29:56):
Well, we were talking about the easiest part
of the plan for you.
Neil (29:58):
Yeah, well, certainly the pre-packaged foods make it easy
and you have a large, largevariety of choices.
So you know a lot of.
I gravitated, especially at theend of the day, to things that
(30:18):
were easy to to eat, easy to anddidn't require a lot of
preparation.
So I think that's pretty muchmost of the Optivia foods, other
than some that quite a you knowlittle dance of microwave Right
Then let it cool off and stir,then microwave again.
So I tended to avoid thosethings.
(30:39):
Um, I just found the dietfairly easy overall, um, and I
think the challenges I hadweren't that hard to overcome.
You know, you know what youlike.
You know it tastes good toorder that.
Don't order the stuff thatmaybe didn't appeal to you as
much, um, and most of the stuffappealed to me.
Uh and um, some of the things Idon't I didn't enjoy first time
(31:05):
, guess what you know here.
At four months later I I can'timagine starting my day without
some of those amino acids.
I thought tasted terrible thefirst time.
Kevin Tinter (31:16):
Yeah, your palate changes over time, especially as
you kind of cleanse your palateof all the processed crap that
we're used to eating.
One of the biggest excuses thatI hear from people is I'm too
busy.
You're a busy guy, right?
What would you say to someonewho's like, who is using
(31:36):
busyness as an excuse as to whythey can't get healthy?
Neil (31:41):
Well, okay, I'll take them at their word.
You're really busy, so you know, first of all, what's your
situation at home.
Do you have you live withsomeone else?
If so, is there something youguys can do to help each other?
If so, is there something youguys can do to help each other?
That's what my wife did.
She was great in helping me onthe lean and green part of the
diet because she was invested inmy journey too and she was
(32:07):
happy to take the pressure offme and just do some basic
cooking that I didn't have to do, which made it a lot easier for
me, because if I have to cookevery meal, that's not something
I really enjoy, yeah, so thatwould have been tougher for me,
but she made it easy because shewouldn't mind, as she's making
(32:28):
dinner for herself, putting acouple of chicken breasts in a
frying pan and cooking them upfor me, so I could have my what
was it?
Six ounces of chicken.
Yep.
So I ate that quite a bit.
And then we discovered orrediscovered cottage cheese and
it's really easy to just scoopthat onto a plate.
(32:50):
So I just think, if I had tosum it up, it just wasn't hard.
I mean the hard thing about itis committing to it.
If you can commit to it and getyourself on a schedule and get
yourself on a routine, I mean Idon't know anybody that's busy
that doesn't follow a routine,because otherwise you can't
(33:11):
survive.
If you've got 15 priorities,nothing's a priority.
So you have to have somealgorithm or some approach to
prioritizing and getting thingsdone.
So I don't think it's anydifferent on a diet you have to
prioritize it and plan for itand then execute on it.
Kevin Tinter (33:33):
Basically, Did you find that?
Because the busy excuse a lotof people are like well, I don't
have time for all the mealprepping or all the extra time
that's going to take to exercise, and that's one of the other
things is that exercise is notnecessary.
I'm a huge proponent ofexercise.
I know you enjoy exercise, buta lot of times people think
(33:54):
they're going to have to spend90 minutes, you know, doing a
killer workout.
That's not the case with ourplan.
So eliminate that busynessexcuse, uh, and then a
substantial amount of time formeal prepping.
What was your experience?
Was it a tedious effort to uhto prepare your meals?
Neil (34:17):
to uh, to prepare your meals.
No, um, but I, I, I was.
I was a little concerned aboutthat at first, but you know,
obviously, if you go, if you goto the store every day, it's
going to be tedious.
So, you have to create systemsthat work for you right so buy
in, buy in bulk.
Um, you know I'm I'm inherentlylazy, lazy.
So buying in bulk is a goodstrategy for me.
(34:38):
So I don't have to go to thestore more than once every so
often.
It's amazing, it works right,yeah, um, I think, well, I, I
think that's really the.
I can't think of any other.
I mean, it's, it's to me, it'sso basic, but it, you know you,
you have to commit to it, youhave to follow through.
(34:58):
Um, you can't you know, beatyourself up if you, if you, you
know, make an error, uh, one day, and, and you know, eat more
than you should, or or eat thewrong thing, or whatever, you
just keep going.
Kevin Tinter (35:12):
Yeah.
Neil (35:13):
Don't quit.
Kevin Tinter (35:15):
Absolutely, um, do you have any other like wins as
far as either blood work orother metrics that you want to
share and just talk about howthe program really helped you
get healthy?
Neil (35:22):
Yeah, I had two that really surprised me.
I'll start with when I nearlybroke my nose on my knee,
because I don't know how to setthis up for people that can't
see.
But For the last several yearsmy flexibility has just been
really, I guess, getting worse,getting worse, and especially if
(35:50):
I'm trying to stretch out mylegs for a run.
So I got to the point wheregetting down and touching the
ground was impossible.
So now that I just kind ofwalked back, know, walked back
to goals, now just touch the topof my feet.
Um, you know, it becamedifficult um, day after day to
get a good stretch in, and somedays I just would kind of wave
(36:15):
it off.
Um, so one of the things thatdid surprise me about this diet
is you?
asked me not to do anything thatwas more strenuous than, um,
you know, a light walk, becauseif I couldn't, uh, keep up a
normal conversation, I wasworking too hard.
Yeah.
So um I.
Kevin Tinter (36:34):
I did.
Neil (36:34):
I didn't do uh much of any uh strenuous exercise for what
was it about three months?
Strenuous exercise, for whatwas it about three months?
So, um, I came to the time thatI was ready to, to, you know,
start doing that again.
So I remember I got, I got intomy um my gym clothes and I was
uh doing my stretch beforegetting on the treadmill.
(36:56):
And again, I have to do streetrunning is not is I can do it,
but uh, because of myreconstructed knee and the lack
of cartilage and things likethat it's um, not cartilage, uh,
meniscus, um, it's better if Irun on a uh, something like a
treadmill cushioned.
Right, Um, so I started uh.
I did.
(37:17):
I started my stretching the wayI always do.
I, you know, uh, basicallyspread, spread my legs out a bit
, stretching the way I always do.
I, you know, uh, basicallyspread, spread my legs out a
little bit wider than shoulderlength and I started to go down
to grab the right ankle and I uh, I mean I had gotten used to
having to go so hard, uh, withmy arms, so hard to get my head
(37:37):
down uh to uh stretch out uh thegroin, uh that I.
I really bounced my knee hard,or bounce my nose hard off of my
knee.
Wow.
With unexpected flexibility.
Yeah.
I had no, no idea that.
I was going to be able to be,that flexible immediately, like
(37:58):
that.
You know I hadn't stretched inmonths.
Yeah, incredible, okay so thatthat's, that's the stretched in
months.
Kevin Tinter (38:02):
Yeah, incredible, okay, um, so that that's, that's
the one that really surprisedme, um, and that's one of those
things that like when you'rethinking about, okay, I'm losing
weight, I'm getting healthy,you don't even think about that
being a kind of a fringe benefit, right?
So pleasant surprise.
Neil (38:15):
And I've had.
I guess I'll throw in a uh one.
I wasn't planning to, but um I,my stamina has been incredible.
I've been able to run um out,you know, for an hour without
stopping, which, okay, that'snot a big deal for a lot of
people out there that are ingood shape or younger and can
(38:35):
run, but for me that's a.
That's a.
I didn't know if I'd ever getback there.
Got it.
That's awesome, Um I didn't knowif I'd ever get back there.
Got it, that's awesome, um andokay, so.
So there's those two thingsthat just.
Uh, I can exercise, in fact, myexercise time has been
increasing Um, um I.
I tend to favor cardio and I'mtrying to work in the strength
(38:57):
training.
That's another, that'ssomething I got to work on, but
but the cardio is going reallywell and so that's that.
But the thing I wasn't expectingat all was when I went to visit
my primary care doctor for anannual physical and we did my
(39:18):
blood work we did my blood work,um, and so I first learned that
I had high cholesterol back in1990.
I did my first um, I guess postflight training physical with
with a military doctor.
I went in, got seen and theytold me look, your cholesterol
(39:41):
is high, we want you to try alow, low fat diet et cetera.
So I did that and went back.
I guess it was probably threemonths later and the doctors
then said you were able to, youwere able to bring it down.
That's good, but you can'treally bring it down too much
because your your family, yourhistory, your genetics or
(40:04):
whatever your makeup is there'sonly so much you can do with
diet and exercise.
That's what I was told.
So a few years later I guessthis was around maybe three or
four years later when I finallycame back from overseas I was
living overseas for the firsteight years of my service.
(40:26):
When I finally got back, I wentagain to my annual physical and
the doctor said there's no moredelay, you've got to get on
statins.
I want you on statins and youcan expect you're going to be on
statins for the rest of yourlife.
Um, so so far that's proven tobe true.
(40:49):
Um, but uh, after doing theOptivia diet, um, and after
having my um primary carephysician, my last checkup-
which was?
Kevin Tinter (41:05):
when was that?
Neil (41:05):
I think it was in November , okay, so.
Kevin Tinter (41:09):
November, and then your most recent one was when
June, june, okay, so right aboutthe time you wrapped up
transition.
Neil (41:14):
Right, so I had been put on pre-diabetic medicine for the
second time.
I was able to get off of itonce.
But you know, my ac a1c keptgoing up.
So, um, that was almost, uh,completely, you know, in the
(41:35):
normal range it's like one tenthof a high, but then of course,
as you age, your a1c averagetends higher anyway.
So doctor said you don't needto take metformin anymore.
Um my, you know your cholesterolis made up of HDL and LDL, and
LDL is the real killer.
Um, and I have never been belowa hundred, uh, on my LDL.
(41:58):
Uh, I was half of that Uh.
Holy.
Yeah, I've got it right here.
My LDL is now 53.
I can't remember a time when itwasn't triple digits.
No matter how hard or how muchI tried other techniques, this
(42:19):
is the only thing that I'veexperienced that brought my
blood down to that level.
Kevin Tinter (42:27):
That's amazing Congrats.
Neil (42:28):
So now the real test is now that I'm off the diet, will
I go back up?
Yeah.
But then we'll know it's thediet and not the….
Kevin Tinter (42:41):
Yeah Well, and you're off the weight loss
portion, but you're still livinga lot of the habits that you've
learned to implement eating alot of the foods that make up
what we call a lean and greenmeal, using some of the mini
meals that we offer, and you'reeating, for the most part, six
times a day, drinking a lot ofwater.
So it will be fun to probablyget retested in six months or so
(43:03):
and and hopefully see that, asyou adjust your diet and your
lifestyle, that that changewasn't just temporary but it's.
It's, you know, something thatyou're able to carry on for the
rest of your life.
Neil (43:15):
Yeah, Well, it's something that well, I'm committed to
doing it.
Number one, so I'm I'm stilllogging my meals on the fitness
app that you recommended.
That's been a good habit for me.
The app actually lets you knowwhen you, when you've logged
your meals for three daysstraight.
I guess you're in the top 30something percent of Americans
(43:38):
or of users.
Kevin Tinter (43:39):
I think if Americans do anything for three
days in a row, they're probablyin the top 30%.
Neil (43:43):
It's just crazy to me that you know only by logging my
food for three days I am in thetop third, and when I made day
four, oh my gosh, now I'm in thetop five.
Yeah.
Or top 20%.
I guess I should say so, um, Ialso I've had a lot.
(44:09):
I didn't at first, you know,you told me people were going to
come up and and notice right.
But people.
I don't know if people wereafraid to say something or or
what, but you know, not manypeople said anything to me for
the first two and a half threemonths.
And then, man, all of a sudden,people like man, you've really
lost a lot of weight, you know.
Um so uh, that that's nice tohear.
Kevin Tinter (44:31):
Yeah, it's encouraging, it beats the heck
out of saying Holy smokes,you've put on a lot of weight,
right For sure.
Neil (44:37):
Or or you know the little smirks that you might get as you
darken their door.
Kevin Tinter (44:43):
Right, right, right, awesome.
So, neil, kind of as we wrap up, what encouragement do you have
for anyone listening who mightthink there's no way that they
can lose weight?
You know they've given up hopeand obviously I'm not claiming
that we'll cure anyone's medicalconditions or that we can't
guarantee that.
You know we can't guaranteethat you're going to reduce or
eliminate medications, but youjust shared your personal story
(45:05):
on how that is possible.
Or maybe even they've given uphope on their ability to improve
the quality of their life, andyou've talked about increased
stamina.
So what encouragement do youhave for anyone who falls into
that category?
Well.
Neil (45:21):
I'm probably not the encouraging kind I I might.
I might tend to go the otherdirection, like you know.
Why not?
Yeah, why won't you?
Kevin Tinter (45:28):
do it.
Well, I'm fine with that.
I mean, yeah, it takes bothkinds.
So right.
A little suck it up.
Conversation right Pretty much.
Neil (45:34):
Yeah, I mean, don't, don't talk about it, be about it, do
do it.
Give it a, you know, if you'renot serious, okay, then just to
be about it, do do it give it a.
You know, if you're not serious,okay, then just be honest about
that.
You don't want to?
Okay, you want.
You'd rather be unhealthy,you'd rather be, you know, pudgy
, you'd rather be portly,whatever.
Okay, uh, I can respect that ifthat's your choice.
(45:56):
Um, now some people will say,well, I don't have a choice,
I've been born this way, somaybe you don't know, unless you
try.
I would have said that about mycholesterol.
Yeah.
And I would.
I'm absolutely shocked.
You know I guess this is onetime result, so you know I got
to make sure it's not just aone-off.
Kevin Tinter (46:19):
but but that's, I mean, that's one time in 35
years, right?
Yeah, that's pretty amazing.
That's an outlier for sure.
Neil (46:26):
Yeah.
So I don't know, I think you, Ithink you've got to get mad.
You got to.
Whatever your technique is, youhave to motivate yourself.
Whether it's getting mad atyourself, getting determined, um
, whatever that that techniqueis, but until you commit to it,
until you are determined, nomatter what obstacles are in
(46:48):
your way or what people mightsay or people might do, or what
inconvenience it mighttemporarily require of you, if
you're not serious about it, itwon't work.
You have to get serious aboutit.
Kevin Tinter (47:03):
Yeah, dave Ramsey has another quote and hopefully
I don't butcher it too bad.
But he says until the pain ofthe same is worse than the pain
of change, you'll be stuck withthe same.
So it's not easy to make change.
It disrupts your life.
We're creatures of habit forthe most part.
(47:23):
For sure not easy to makechange.
It's you know, it disrupts yourlife it you know there's we're.
We're creatures of habit for themost part, but until you you're
, you get to the point wherestaying stuck where you're at
whether it's unhealthy,overweight, broke, uh, you know
miserable in your relationships,until the pain of where you're
at right now is worse than thepain it takes to change.
Um, you're going to be stuckwith it and you just have to
decide.
(47:43):
You know what the other sayingis choose your heart, right.
It's hard to be healthy.
It's also hard to be unhealthy.
Which one would you rather have?
Neil (47:55):
I think most people just want things to be easy.
Yes.
And I would like everything tobe easy.
It would be great, and I wouldsay you can make this diet easy.
Yes, and, and I, I'm.
I would like everything to be.
It would be great.
Um, and I, I would say you canmake this diet easy.
Yeah.
Um, you just have to do a fewthings get yourself organized,
um, convince yourself thatyou're going to be committed to
(48:17):
it and stick to it.
Um, I think everyone is capableof doing it.
Whether each individual hasenough fortitude, enough
determination, that's really thequestion you've got to ask
yourself, and I think, if youreally want to, you can do it.
Kevin Tinter (48:37):
Awesome.
There you have it, folks.
Neil, thank you so much fortaking time out of your day.
Thank you for trusting me tocoach you.
It really is an honor.
I consider you a friend as wellas one of my clients, and I
love the fact that I developrelationships, friendships, with
the vast majority of my clients, and it's so rewarding to see
(48:59):
all of the improvements in yourlife and your health.
And so, for those of you who arelistening, if you haven't
already had a conversation withan Optivia coach and you are
interested in learning more, youcan go to beckandkevcom or go
directly to beckandkevcom slashget dash healthy for the link to
our quick health assessment.
(49:20):
It's complimentary and it'llhelp you start the conversation
with us or one of our qualifiedcoaches.
If you have already heard ofOptivea and you know someone and
you're already having aconversation, please go talk to
them.
I'm not trying to steal youfrom someone you already have a
relationship with, but for ourlisteners who are hearing or
interested in this program forthe first time, anyone who signs
(49:41):
up for a full month on our plan, minimum of a $350 investment
per month and references thispodcast will get a $50 credit
from us to help them get startedat even bigger savings.
So, neil, again, thank you somuch.
I look forward to staying intouch with you on an ongoing
basis.
Can't wait for that nextBloodwork and hopefully we have
(50:03):
even better results, buthopefully we keep you healthy.
Thank you so much.
Neil (50:07):
Thank you, Kevin.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.