RENEWED RESTORED REDEEMEDAt the TOP of His GameSusan Marquez38 • JANUARY 2021
At six feet tall, Jeff Wall says he has always been a big guy.“I’ve battled my weight my entire adult life,” he says. But at 58 years old, hefound himself weighing in at 242 pounds and knew he had to do somethingto turn his health around. “I was clinically obese, and that was scary.”Jeff knew what it was like to be atthe top of his game. “About 15 yearsago I was into power lifting. I felt sogood at 215 pounds, and even then,I was carrying a lot more muscle, whichweighs more.”Six months ago, Jeff and his wife,Cynthia, hired a health coach and gotserious about losing weight. “What welearned in the process is the things wewere eating were not right. Our coachhelped us with a structured nutritionplan.” Eating six meals a day, Jeff nevergot hungry. His eating was intentionaland planned for optimum weight loss.He set a goal for himself to lose 27pounds. “The first week, I lost 9.8 pounds.I realized then that I needed to up mygoal!” Hoping to lose 50 pounds, Jeffstuck with the plan and in five months,he exceeded his goal, and he says hedid it simply by eating the proper foods.Now Jeff weighs 179 pounds, down63 pounds from his starting point. Hecurrently weighs the same amount heweighed when he graduated from highschool. “People tell me all the time thatI’m getting too skinny, but for my height,this is a healthy weight.” So healthy, infact, that when Jeff had a physicalrecently to renew his life insurance, herealized he was as healthy as he hadever been in his life. “My body mass indexwas healthy. The doctor ran a bloodpanel and did an EKG, and all indicatorscame back in the normal range. Theonly reason I did not get the highestrating from the insurance company isbecause I had recently lost a significantamount of weight. The insurancecompany statistics show that 88% ofpeople regain their weight by thesecond year. I’m determined to be in the12% of people who keep the weight off!”When he started his weight lossjourney, Jeff did not exercise. He had tolose his goal weight before he couldstart an exercise program. Now he rideshis Peloton bike three to four timesweek, and he does Peloton yoga andstrength classes. “I don’t miss a day,” hesays. “Exercise is something I lookforward to. This is a whole new lifestylefor me.”Jeff and Cynthia are now healthcoaches themselves, helping others toachieve their desired weight. “Having adoctor-developed nutrition plan makesall the difference. This is not a temporarything. It is a long-term lifestyle change,and having a coach keeps you accountableto another person. But really, in theend, you must be true to yourself. WhenI hit my goal weight and realized howgood it feels to be healthy, I decided Inever want to go back to my old ways.”Hometown MADISON • 39