My name is Chad

I have over 30 years of Wellness, Coaching, and Medical Industry experience.  Along with my career experiences, I will share my story of perseverance of life events, mostly health related, that I have personally endured to hopefully inspire to strive for optimal wellness.

Where it started

Born in Ohio, I proved that being mentally strong can lead to accomplishing goals.  As a precocious baby, I was determined to walk, and did so by 9 months.  It didn’t take too long though before I was challenged.

Before I turned 2 years old, I began having severe pain in my knees.  After visiting the doctor, I was diagnosed with knock knees, and was prescribed orthotics.  The doctor said I would have to wear them for the rest of my life.  Once again, I would not be deterred.  I trained myself to walk to correct the deformity, and eventually lost the need for orthotics before my teenage years.

At the same time that I was dealing with my knees, I had also endured multiple surgeries for my ears and bladder. At the age of 5, I presented with symptoms of allergies.  After a scratch test, it was revealed that I had 15 different allergies ranging from food to seasonal pollen reactions, and needed annual shots during the summer to keep them at bay.  I recovered from surgery and eventually weaned off the allergy shots, in no small part due to a move to Florida.

The Move

Tired of the winters, and being a child of divorce, I had the opportunity to move to Florida at the age of 15.  Little did I know, this move sent me on a life path that I didn’t know existed.

Not too long after, I got my first exposure to the health industry by getting a job at a Wellness/Fitness & Rehabilitation facility.  Observing the vast differences between the healthy and the sick was eye opening for me.  I began to learn health metrics and consult with individuals who entered the facility.  The hook was set.

I transitioned to a deeper understanding of health by pursuing a degree in Exercise and Sport Sciences.  At the same time, I got an opportunity to coach college basketball as well as being the weight and conditioning coach.  After a few years, I needed a new challenge.

After lunch with a friend, I was introduced to a career in medical device sales.  Because of my fitness and athletic background, Orthopedics was a natural fit to my interest.

Life Happens

With my youth health challenges behind me, and now entrenched into my career, I was blind sided in 2008, by not just the great financial crisis as everyone was, a life changing health crisis. 

Presumably healthy in my 30’s, a simple physical for a life insurance policy revealed a spiked fasting glucose level.  I had an A1C of 12.5% and was diagnosed with Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA), which is a slow-progressing form of autoimmune diabetes.

I was suddenly thrusted into a world of a “proper diabetic diet”, insulin shots, and making sense of the challenges of being diabetic.  Fearful of what it meant for my life and not knowing was shocking and a mental strain.  It was a slow process because of all of the new information I had to comprehend.

Fall of 2015

Taking a new role in my career, the stress of moving, the continued stress of the scars left from the 2008 financial crisis, and the stress of my personal relationship got to a breaking point.  It felt like I was on life support.

It may seem like an overstatement, but that is the analogy for these mental health challenges at the time.  When anyone finds themselves in their darkest hours, the healing can begin.

A decision drives change, and I dove into every source to rehab my mind with mourning routines, meditation, journaling, exercise, and fixing the financial issues.  Taking the time to deliver a simple smile to my significant other everyday broke down the barriers of communication and the mending began.  This gave the new sense of direction and renewed energy to see the light and move towards success.

November 2018

Even though I seemed to recover mentally and my career path continued to be heading in the right direction, I let my health slide and came to another crisis point.  Managing my health became the new focus.  I can only describe it as my body felt like it was shutting down.

Being overweight, feelings of inflammation, signs of infection, a serious depletion of energy, and uncontrolled glucose levels.  Getting healthy was my number one priority.  

I found and began the Ketogenic diet and implementation of time-restricted eating (intermittent fasting).  I devoured the information to learn as much as I could, tweaking my habits along the way.

In 60 days, I dropped 35 lbs, had an abundant amount of energy, never thought more clearly, and more importantly my diabetes seemed to be under control. I dropped my insulin needs by over 80%.

Wearables have impacted awareness and improved results for many people, so I transitioned to a continuous glucose monitor which helped identify how my body responded to certain foods and activities.  Just this year, I have even transitioned more to a pure low-carb diet (Carnivore like) to smooth out my glucose levels.  The wrong carbs kill a diabetic, and this has changed my health for the better.

Continuing today

These key transitional moments in life are memorable because they were so impactful.  It was vital to make a decision to improve, and to not have to settle with living life a certain way.

Once the decision is made, education empowers the move.  Tracking and evaluating the progress towards the new goals fuels the growth.  Then, tweak the progress and elevate to rise to the next level.  Perseverance is crucial to an optimal life.  My goal here is to share and maybe even inspire.

Chad —

B.S. Exercise and Sport Sciences