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Rob Lilly had never had a serious weight problem. In high school in Milwaukee, he was a championship singles tennis player. In his 20s, he went to the Pritikin Longevity Center strictly for prevention (“I was a healthy, lean 165 pounds”), and for the next two decades, he never gained more than 20 pounds at a time and “always took it right off.”
Nosedive
But four years ago, life twisted and turned – and took a nosedive. First, there was the separation and divorce. Then, “I did that sort of mid-life dumb thing that men do and ran around with young women in their early 20s.” Then, he hit some kind of wall. “Depression? Missing my kids, my family unit? Running five Wendy’s Restaurants? Probably all of the above.”
In three years, from ages 46 to 49, Rob ballooned to 305 pounds. “It was awful. I had so much pain in my legs that I couldn’t move. I lost all my energy. I couldn’t do anything more than sit in a reclining chair day and night, eating, watching TV.”
“I just stopped caring…”
What’s worse, Rob didn’t want to move. “I just stopped caring about taking care of myself.”
Until one afternoon, about six months ago. “Caroline, my 14-year-old daughter, came up to me with the dog on a leash and asked, ‘Daddy, wanna come with me to take ThomasJones for a walk?’
“I replied, ‘No, I’m tired, honey. Let’s do it later.’
“Well, she gave me this look – it was so sad. We both knew there wasn’t going to be any ‘later.’ It was at that moment that I realized I was not participating in her life anymore – or the life of my 19-year-old son Joey. I was a shadow of myself – not here, not in this world – for either of them. I realized I had to do something – now.”
Immediately, Rob called Pritikin. He arrived at the Center on Turnberry Isle, Florida, in mid August, expecting to stay at least two months “so that I could imbed healthy habits into my constitution. And I wanted to lose enough weight – maybe 20 or 30 pounds – to get me motivated.”
109 pounds lighter
Rob’s been at Pritikin for nearly four months now, and has so far shed 109 pounds, falling from 305 pounds to 196. He arrived at Pritikin barely able to walk. He’s now running 10 to 15 miles daily.
“It’s been miraculous for me,” he says, awed. “Pritikin really has saved my life. Being here has turned around my whole attitude. I enjoy life again.”
Pritikin Perspective talked to Rob in early December, just before he hit his “century mark” loss of 100 pounds. Here are excerpts of that most inspiring interview:
WOW! You’ve lost about a pound a day over the last 3½ months. Has it been difficult?
Well, no. That’s the surprising thing. It’s been quite easy to do. When I was at my worst, I’d just given up on believing I could do ANYTHING about my condition. I thought I’d just gone down too far. The mountain I had to climb was way too high.
But the truth is: Nobody has to think that. In most cases, it’s never too late to take back our lives. And it’s not something that doctors can do for us. Doctors don’t deal in disease prevention. Pritikin has been the answer for me. Coming to Pritikin really has saved my life, and I am, gratefully, able to actually DO THINGS with Joey and Caroline again...my kids finally have their Dad back. How cool is that?
Those three years you went from 165 to 305 pounds – it must have been shocking to watch what was happening to your body.
There was a lot of denial. Every time I put on another 20 pounds, I’d look at myself and say, well, there’s no way I can get any bigger than that. My body can’t possibly stretch that much. And then I’d put on another 20. Ultimately I realized, “I could get to 500 pounds if I don’t do something.” Worse yet, I realized that within a few years I was probably going to be dead from a heart attack or something else.
There were many places you could have gone. Why did you choose Pritikin?
I was at Pritikin about 27 years ago – session # 26, I believe – when 60 Minutes was there filming. I knew how fabulous Pritikin was at reversing health problems, and that’s exactly what I needed. What rose with my weight was my triglycerides and cholesterol – to levels of 250 and higher. Plus, I had massive leg pains, I was becoming hypertensive, and I knew diabetes wasn’t far off. I thought I was going to be dead before I was 55.
Now, I feel that I could live to be 100. Yes, I feel as if I added 45 years to my life! My energy’s fantastic. I’m running around doing all kinds of stuff. Best of all, every single one of my blood values are in the proper range. My total cholesterol is 130. My blood pressure is way down. I feel as if I’m back to being 35 again!
Better be careful: You’ll be chasing young women again!
Well, I don’t want to be competing with my son, but if that’s the worst problem I have, that’s okay!
What do you see in your future?
I’m still losing weight. My goal, by the end of January, is to reach 180 to 185 pounds, which, if the past three months is any indication, won’t be difficult to achieve.
Ultimately, I want one of my goals to be getting the message out that Americans don’t have to suffer with horrible epidemic diseases like heart disease and diabetes. I've recently sold my five Wendy's Restaurants, partly due to a bad conscience, that thing about feeling a little like a drug dealer...and that's despite the fact that I fully believe Wendy's have, by far, the healthiest and best quality food in the fast food realm. It's terrible how ALL restaurants, though, have contributed to America's obesity epidemic, from McDonald's to Lutece.
What’s worse is that so few people understand that there is a solution. I’ve started writing about my experiences at Pritikin because every day for the past month other guests here at Pritikin have come up to me, asking me to tell my story, and I’ve found that I’ve inspired many to take good care of themselves. It’s inspired me to help as many people as I can. I don’t know if I’ll be able to, but I certainly want to try.
And there’s one goal that’s more important to me than anything else. I’m looking forward to returning home, walking in the door, hugging my daughter Caroline, and saying, “C’mon, honey. Let’s go take the dog for a walk.”
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