70 Pounds Down and More Energy

I had a heart attack August 3 years ago, 24th. You know, I've always asked for you know, blood work and I'm trying to learn more about the blood work, you know, HDL LDL. So, I had a echocardiogram and a nuclear stress test and then 2 months later had a heart attack. And they said that everything was good. So, I've been learning about functional lab, you know, online and stuff like that. Trying to figure out, you know, get deeper into my blood work. April B, homocysteine, check deeper instead of LDL. Just get on a statin. I still had a cholesterol. I've been on statin for years, like 20, 30 years I've been on statin. But, I was very very 300 lbs. So, then I had a heart attack and I was, you know, I got a friend up in Maine. I used to be up in Wells and I he told me about this place and then I just said, "Let me pop in and find out about doing deeper blood work dive." That's where where it started from. All right. So, um it was a a friend referral. You know, some people are like, "Oh, I saw an ad." But Yeah. He did He doesn't go here, but he he was just he must have been looking it up too, the same thing. An older guy, you know, my Interesting. saying like a functional lab. Then I checked into it and I just said, "I'm going to just do it." All right. I guess like coming up, you said you had a heart attack, you wanted to lose some weight. What were some other like challenges that you were having in your everyday life? I love food. Okay. You know, bad food, you know, sweets, junk, you know. Um so, that was my biggest challenge, you know, and being on a statin, your LDL number's like low. So, you're like, "Oh, I'm I'm good." But, you're not really good. Um so, you know, food is my passion, you know, I love food. So, basically, I've cleaned up, you know, lost 70 lbs and seeing Colin been good. Is he calling D's or not? Colin D's. That's awesome. I mean, they're both awesome. I'm saying I'm saying one's awesome like the other one isn't. Right. Whatever. Yeah, I watch a lot of the you know, podcast and stuff like that with you guys, peptides and so, you know, he put me on a testosterone and I, you know, go to the gym. I'm, you know, like dedicated now that I've seen results, you know, and been on the peptide with him and Do you know what which one? Uh CJC 1295 and I Perella, you know, plus the testosterone. He checks my thyroids. He checks everything that's got to do with your cholesterol as, you know, the way I see it, you know. Kind of I'm learning as I'm going too, you know. It's so interesting how much they're finding out about cholesterol, too. How like the study's changing and like what is good cholesterol, what is bad cholesterol, what what does high cholesterol mean as you get older, right? And I can say this cuz I also listen to a lot of the podcasts. So, I feel like they're always like finding out new information and that's always really interesting that they stay up-to-date for this whole thing. But, um so your first like visit here, there was or your first interaction with Men Matrix, you got online, you booked a discovery call. Do you remember anything about that call? really remember. I remember coming in doing my blood work. I you know, I come from I come from Mass, you know, all the way up here, so I checked it out. It seemed like a right fit and It was good. So far and so far and like you know, I should have shown pictures, you know. So, what about um that like getting your blood drawn? How was that experience? And then also that in body scan? I love the in body scan. Um we just you know, did it again and there's great improvements, so that's good. Blood drawn is, you know, cake walk cuz with my regular doctor, I did every 3 months and they you know, just check it the basics, lipid not dive deep into your other lipids. I just uh And was there any interaction with our team that you remember? Nope, everybody's been really nice, you know. The lady at the front desk there, she's always like knows me when I walk in. Like she's like, "Hi Charlie." and so it's good. And then what about that first visit? Is there any way that you felt going into that visit first coming out? Like that first visit with your provider, we call them. Nope, it was exciting like just getting some other information like diving deeper into you know, your blood work, your hormones and everything else. I I like you know, like that and then you know, as I you know, I start researching and looking at other stuff, you know, I did do you know, the weight loss shot the GLP-1 you know, gave me the edge because I love food, you know, so How was your experience, you don't mind me asking, with the GLP-1? It was a little tough at first like you know, it was when I low dose, it was no problems. When I got up to the high dose, then I got if I ate something bad like a burger, like I knew it, you know, it wasn't pretty. Okay. But I mean otherwise it's it's been good. It's definitely pull you off the you know, get that noise out of your head cuz like you know, like I love food. It is really incredible what they do. Like just like full body experience is like kind of crazy. you just you know, you want to get off everything eventually, you know, but you know, it just helps you get over that thing and then you get to make changes and you feel good and you want to keep going at So, your treatment plan, how has that kind of been? Like seeing the results and and going from first coming here to like experiencing, oh, I'm seeing results, you know what I mean? So, how was that I guess process for you? It was, you know, good. I was just, you know, excited to just do it and stay on that, you know, that track. I do cheat again, with love food, so I got you know, have my days where I'll have something, but then I try to get right back into it, you know. You get to the, you know, the gym and you know, I try to walk every day. I try to, you know, we walk at work, there's a group of us, we all go out at lunch and we walk almost 2 miles and back and eat lunch. We do it right through the winter, you know, for the most part, you know, so We should get on that. We should do. Yeah, so it's just like like a quick walk and then you know, they say after you eat, walk 10-15 minutes for your blood sugars and stuff like that, it helps. I don't try to try to when not at night time. Can't be perfect, right? Okay, so what are some of the biggest changes that you've noticed? For my body shape or in general Yeah. The somebody say, you know, like along with losing weight or energy or their sleep or their routine Right, I try to I try to keep my sleep like I want to bed the same time every night, maybe not so much the weekend. My energy's like I just like go. I just, you know, constantly moving and doing things now. Before I was just like, oh, I'll sit on the couch and you know, doze off, so you know, my energy's better. I try to go to the gym, you know, 5:00 in the morning, I try to get it out of the way, you know, early and I feel, you know, I can see myself get stronger as I'm going, which then you see some results and then you're like you're excited about it, you know, you just want to keep going at Yeah, very cool. Yeah. Okay, so what how do you feel kind of about your about your health future? You know, sometimes you are trying to look at go to a whole bunch of doctors and get a bunch of tests and it feels very like we'll feel very lost. They do a lot of manual stuff. So, how do you feel kind of about like you in the future and your health and caring for, you know, your body in your future? I'd like to just, you know, keep going and be around for my kids and you know, that's the like key thing, you know, more active with them. We, you know, play pickleball, we, you know, do other stuff. Golfing a lot and I just want to pull it out there and see how long I can go, you know, keep going. And now this will be my regimen, hopefully, you know, forever until I can't walk no more. That's a good regimen to have, right? So, what about let's talk about functional medicine? How would you describe functional medicine to somebody who has no idea what it is? You know, the blood work rather than a, you know, regular doctor that just does your basics, getting all your biomarkers and digging deep into your root cause of your problem. I tell everybody it's worth it to go full blood work cuz everything, your hormones and your thyroid and everything else affects your cholesterol and affects everything. So, you know, dig into it, learn about it, try to get it figured out and see if it helps. So. And what about somebody who is on the fence about functional medicine? Like if somebody was, "Oh, I don't know if I want to go here." I would say, you know, bite the bullet and give it a shot cuz it's it will change you, change your life. Consider it. I see people at the gym, you know, and like I just want to go up and talk to them and just say, "Hey." You know, big guys where I was. Like I had that big visceral fat belly. I just say, "Hey, you can dig into it, you know, blood work, see what it is." Is there anything else that you feel like you want to add? I asked all my questions. Uh I think that's about it, I guess. I just, you know. That's awesome. Thank you so much for doing this. No problem.