Michael’s Story: Finding Freedom Through Health and Nutrition
Without support and guidance, it can seem impossible to change eating habits, lose weight, and regain health. But Michael, a single father in Minneapolis, Minnesota, experienced a remarkable and inspiring turnaround in his mid-60s.
Growing up in a large family in Gary, Indiana, Michael had a huge appetite and was always served an “extra meal” at dinner. No matter how much he ate, he always stayed thin. “I guess my metabolism was great,” Michael says, “because I was skinny until my mid-fifties.”
Then Michael developed arthritis. When his joints deteriorated, he needed to get both hips replaced.
Recovery was harder than he’d expected. “I lived on the second floor of a duplex, and I had a lot of fear going up and down those very steep stairs.” So he stayed room-bound for much of that time. Without exercise or normal activity, the pounds began to accumulate.
“I put on 70 pounds after the first surgery and another 75 or 80 after the second.”
In two short years, Michael’s weight ballooned from 167 pounds to over 350 pounds. The simplest aspects of daily living became almost unimaginably difficult. Breathing, rolling over in his sleep, getting out of bed in the morning, washing himself, putting on clothes. “I would be sweating and out of breath putting on one sock.”
Then Michael’s doctor told him that he’d reached 399 pounds.
“I couldn’t believe that number. I felt as though my body had become a prison.”
Michael was determined to find freedom. And in his mid-60s, with the help of NourishedRx, he did just that: by adopting a healthy lifestyle and a nutritious diet. This is his story.
The First 100 Pounds
At his elevated weight, everything in life became a struggle for Michael. As a Jehovah’s Witness, for example, he loved going door-to-door talking with people about God, but one day, he found himself so out of breath that the homeowner invited him in to sit down and have a drink of water. After that experience, Michael stopped visiting homes in person and turned to phone calls and letter writing instead. He felt angry at himself because his weight left him unable to do the things he loved and were important to him.
Even bathing was a challenge because he didn’t have a walk-in or handicapped shower. On a trip to see his mother in 2021, he couldn’t find a hotel with a suitable setup so he ended up joining a fitness club just to use their gym shower instead. He kept that up after returning to Minneapolis. Every day, he went to the gym–not to exercise but to shower.
One day, one of the personal trainers introduced himself and asked if they could talk. He told Michael that he saw him come in every day to shower, not work out, and understood why. Then he made Michael a promise. “If you give me a year, I can get that weight off of you.”
Michael was fearful of taking him up on that offer. It wasn’t just the question of whether he could exercise, it was also the deep embarrassment he felt as a 400-pound man being seen by others who were already in shape. But he took courage in his faith, saw the invitation as a sign, and decided to try.
They started with baby steps. “He put me on a stationary bike for our first session and I think I rode it for six seconds before I was out of breath. But the next session, I was riding for a minute. A month later, 25 minutes. After four months, an hour and a half. People need to know you aren’t going to see results immediately. But if you keep going, you will.”
His trainer also talked to Michael about food and introduced him to an app to count calories and different websites to learn more about healthier eating. In particular, Michael learned that the fried foods he’d grown up eating culturally and still consumed daily were bad for him.
When he lost 50 pounds, his trainer gave him two 25-pound weights and asked him to carry them around the gym for a few minutes. “You see the difference?” he asked. “That’s how much weight you’ve taken off.”
Within a year, Michael was down another fifty. He could breathe more easily, dress more easily, and he was starting to feel better about himself.
But continuing that progress was his new challenge. Even though he knew that fried foods weren’t healthy, he was still struggling with cutting them out of his diet and replacing them with healthier alternatives.
When Michael’s mother needed to move into hospice care, he went back to Indiana to be with her and was at her side when she took her last breath. With that emotional toll, he turned to his familiar fried food for comfort and gained twenty pounds almost overnight. Losing that weight again could take months, and he knew he could go in the wrong direction very quickly.
Building the Foundation for a Healthier, Happier Life
That’s when Michael found out about the NourishedRx program through his health plan. Suddenly, he felt like he had discovered the magic formula: access to nutritious food AND the emotional support and educational instruction he needed to make a sustained transformation in his health, habits, and wellbeing.
When Michael signed up for the program, he began receiving nutritious food deliveries from NourishedRx that were personalized to his specific health needs.
“Once I started getting the prepared meals, I was elated because it gave me a set course with a calorie count. And the more I started eating better, the more I started to eat better.”
After a few weeks, those meals switched to food boxes with healthy produce and lean proteins. That’s when the fun started. “As a single father, I’d struggled sometimes over the years with my relationship with my daughter. Those boxes gave me a chance to spend wonderful time with her. We prepare our meals now and cook together and share a lot of laughter. So it’s played a major part in my life, not only in terms of my health, but with us as a family.”
In terms of weight loss and healthy habits, Michael went “from baby steps to running.” The boxes propelled him to another level. He’s lost over 115 pounds so far and wants to lose another 75.
He also gained a lot from his conversations with his Registered Dietitian (RD). “My RD listened to me and supported me and gave me great advice and information on how to handle different situations. It wasn’t just about food. It was emotional and psychological, too.”
Soon, he was able to stop many of the medications he was on for depression, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and pain for his aching joints. “I was taking 13 different meds a day and my doctor took me off 10 of them. My body was taking such a pounding carrying all that weight around.”
Helping Others Find Their Path
Michael joined the NourishedRx Participant Advisory Committee because he wanted to help others who have their own struggles. “The one thing about suffering is you feel alone. But when you hear from someone who’s been in your situation and walked in your shoes and suffered the same as you, it’s easier to feel motivated and understand your potential for change.”
Michael’s life now is an example of that potential. “The program has helped me find another way of living, another way of eating. Before, I couldn’t even imagine sitting down for breakfast without bacon or lunch without fried fish or fried chicken. Now, I’m feeling better, I’m sleeping better, and my head is clear.” He also wants people to know that progress comes gradually and then more quickly. “It’s easy to give up when you mess up. So you just need to put it behind you and keep moving forward.”
While it was hard for Michael to get started, he loves the freedom he feels now. And he couldn’t be more excited about the path ahead and how he can help other people on their own journey.
