Get Down To Size: Success at a Heavy Price

(CBS)  In part two of the weeklong series "Early Gets Down2Size," "The Early Show" is introducing people who have not only lost significant weight, but more impressively have maintained that weight loss for two years.

Justin Petruzziello is one of those people.

Petruzziello knows being successful can have its drawbacks. Two years into a lucrative, perk-filled position as a mortgage banker in Chicago, he'd ballooned from 215 to 310 pounds. Until then, Petruzziello had never had a problem with weight. He grew up playing sports and maintained a healthy physique through his 20s. Yet in 2003, as his career took off, Petruzziello's focus shifted, and his body paid for it.

"I was working all the time," he said. "My life had no balance. I was so focused on making money that I let everything else slip."

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Petruzziello told CBS News he'd started working at a firm and was very successful, but slowly let himself go.

Getting Down To Size And Keeping It Off

"At the very beginning when you gain 10 pounds, you're feeling it, but individuals and everybody around you isn't seeing it because your clothes could hide it and everything is fine," he said. "Then you get into 20 pounds and then you get into 30 pounds..."

Petruzziello said reached a point of no return.

"At one point I would look in the mirror and go, 'It doesn't matter at this point. I'm just going keep going.' You know, 'It is what it is.'"

Petruzziello began to disregard his weight gain, even as he began having health problems.

It wasn't until he woke up in the morning sweating and having trouble breathing that he turned to doctors for help.

Doctors said he had sleep apnea. Petruzziello, who was in his late 20s at the time, said the diagnosis "blew (his) mind."

To treat his condition, Petruzziello was prescribed a machine to help him breathe properly at night. The addition of the machine helped treat his sleep apnea, but added to his insecurities.

"Now I'm diagnosed and I have a machine I was breathing with at night," Petruzziello said, "And you want to talk about awkward? One thing, it's awkward when people look at you and you're getting a little bit heavy. The second one is when you go to the airport and you are doing a lot of flying. (People ask,) 'Oh, what's that luggage?' 'Oh, that's my breathing machine.' How embarrassing is that?"

Petruzziello's doctor advised him to lose the weight. And that's what he did.

"The last time I looked at the scale I'll never forget, because I do remember I looked directly at it. It was 310 pounds," he said. "When I saw the 310 pounds, to be honest with you, I didn't want to look at the scale anymore."

Petruzziello lost the weight by exercising six times a week and by following a high-protein, low carbohydrate diet, and eating six small meals a day. He has kept the weight off for over two years.

However, losing the weight wasn't always easy. What made him start shedding the pounds for good began with a daily goal.

Petruzziello explained, "I looked at each day, if I give everything I got that day at the gym, and then when I left the gym, ate right and did that during the day, I knew I was going to be better-looking the next day. Everything was going to be better. And then a month from now, I would be in even better shape."

Petruzziello said his determination helped him to keep going with his weight loss.

He said, "You need to really sit down and do it for yourself."

[golfgirl61]

I can't find the Article that aired 10-17-09 about weight loss. One of the Spokes persons was Ms. Brock. I would like to send in my story to be chosen for the "Success of Weight Loss" but can't find the info. to do so. I followed the directions and went to "TheEarlyShowCBSNews.com but was unsuccesful in finding the info. needed to apply. Will you please help me, this is so important to me.

Have a BLESS day,
Tessa

[nwhead7232]

Congratulations to those who lost weight and kept it off. I have tried almost every diet you can think of to lose and keep it off but if I make a little progress and lose some weight it is only a small amount and then I hit a point where I can?t lose any more. I would be interested in submitting my story and photo but did not see an mail address or email address for submission.

[MarkKMN]

This is a good story. I myself have lost 60 lbs in the last 7 months (from 265 to 205, and still dropping), though I didn't yet run into health problems. What strikes me about this story is that this guy seemed to have lost weight similarly to me, which is by primarily exercising a lot. I exercise almost everyday (at least 6 days a week) and give it all I got at the gym, and then I just make sure I eat appropriately during the day (I basically eat no different than I use to though). And like this guy, I see each and every day as an opportunity to lose weight. I see stories so often about how exercise doesn't really matter. Maybe that is true for some people, but what has worked for me, and seemingly this guy in the article, is exercise, exercise exercise. It probably won't work well for everybody needing to lose weight, but it is a valid weight lost strategy that seems to have more stories and common belief running against it than for it. I am no longer obese for the first time in my memorable life (I am 26) because I realize that exercising matters, and it matters a lot.

[leland51259]

Hello Justin, my name is Leland Downing I am a cowboy and a logger in Oregon, I was a little under the weather this morning and I just happened to see you on the CBS morning show and your great success. I was in an injury three years ago and fell from a log shall and landed on a stob, and went partially disabled. Since I was cow camp cook for years I sat around and ate, got bored I'd cook, couldn't sleep I'd eat and pretty soon like you I was on oxygen so I could sleep. I literally thought my life was going end. Then one evening a friend of mine called me and told me about Dr. Ann de wees Allen ahead of the glycemic research Institute and a fat burning pattern that she was up against Bill Gates for product of the year in fortune magazine and beat him with it. He said it was also on the cover of the Wall Street Journal for the most viable patent ever awarded and they put it in coffee and when you drink this coffee you burn 800% more fat sitting on the couch and going out and running 3 miles. So I started drinking it around the end of February and didn't think it was working a month later. But one day I closed my car door and my size 16 ring that I had made for my son state championship in football went flying off my finger when I close the car door, I lost weight in my fingers and my toes first and then drinking the coffee in the next month and a half went down 10 pants sizes. I lost 80 pounds in 100 days, I still have another 80 pounds to go but since she came out with this tropical energy fruit punch drink that is thermogenic fat burning and has green tea extract that attacks obesity genes of lost 20 pounds in three weeks and it taste really good. It's a powder you mix in ice water.

We recently had our regional conference with Dr. Allen in Colorado Springs, and I got to meet this amazing lady. She stood on stage and threw packets of thermogenic fat burning chocolate that is coming out in about a month. She also patented a product back in 83 witches called L-arginine its organic with 300,000 clinical trials and no side effects. She talked about it on stage there are 15 FDA approved statements that she can legally state on this product and she formulated for men and women different. This product for the men rebuilds muscle and builds true muscle mass she said it would lift the *** up on an 80-year-old man the same as a 23-year-old man, and the body produce nitrous oxide in your blood until you're 23 and then you start losing it and that's what starts the aging, so this product also slows down the aging process. I talked to a guy that was using it when she was with a company called synergy in Utah and he said he was in construction and thought he was going to have to find another occupation because of his back but the second week he took the L-arginine he was able to jump off of the truck , he also said an older friend of his that has Parkinson's had a hard time dealing cards and shuffling but the second week he took this he was able to shuffle and deal the cards a lot better. For women she formulates it for bloating a Dema PMS hormonal problems and slow down the aging process. It's also the number 1 Sexual Health Dive for both men and women, . They had the L-arginine there to sample at the conference, the men's L-arginine taste just like piña colada and she formulated the women's to taste like cotton candy. when I got home my L-arginine was here and this is the second day I have taken it in my legs are back to normal. I took pictures before, I made a doctor's appointment for today to get this flu checked out and I'm going to show him this L-arginine because he had me on water tablets that just didn't work all they made you do is pee a lot.
She said on stage ladies it's going to be nice to know that you can sit on the couch drinking your couple of coffee in the morning watching them work out on the beach knowing that you're burning more fat than they are. Three months after drinking this product I was back out logging again off the oxygen, and working on the ranch.

That coffee is only three dollars a bag it makes a full pot and there's enough coffee for two people to burn fat all day. When you go to my website you will see a picture of me at Christmas time that my mom took in 08, and a picture after drinking the coffee 100 days. Right below the picture click on my name Leland Downing team leader and another page will come up that they recently added the new products and more information. I hope to hear back from you because now that you are a celebrity there are so many people out there that could use this all natural product and we could help cure this obesity problem in the United States. Imagine how many people sitting behind a desk that could use this. Rupert Bonham on the survivor series is now our spokesperson and he has lost 25 pounds.
So thanks again for your time
Hope to hear back from you.
Leland Downing www.burnfatcoffee.com

[martinez_ju]

I can actually relate to this story because I too was overweight for many years and suffered from Sleep Apnea. After seeking medical advice for several health-related matters?all 5 of my doctors (including my podiatrist for foot pain) informed to lose the weight, or else?.
However, my story is a little different because most of my weight gain occurred after giving birth to my son, and that I was also diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). So it seems the root of my problem was hormonal. After carrying the extra weight for about 7 years, my step-daughter invited me to join the YMCA in my hometown?it started with one Pilates class, then seeking the advice of a personal trainer and modifying my diet. No fads, no special gimmicks?just common sense about changing my lifestyle. It took about 4 or 5 months to notice any weight loss results, but the total transformation took about 2 ½ years. Yes, I hit a plateau for about 4 months, but I didn?t give up, just changed my fitness routine, modified my meal plans and continued my own research on how to avoid future ?plateaus?.
I am 5 pounds away from reaching my BMI, which was my original goal when I began my weight-loss program?..but through this journey, I enjoy going up the stairs at work without all the huffing/puffing, I appreciate my body more, and I avoided the early on-set of heart disease and diabetes. Not only was this a body transformation, but a learning process of eating cleaner and staying active. Congrats to Justine!!!

[patrickkc]

I read the article about Justin in Men's Fitness. Very inspirational story and goes to show anyone can do it. He mentions that he drank sugar free iced tea and also ate those Supreme Protein bars (which I eat also and they taste like candy FYI...:).

[egreenwood]

I think it is wonderful that Justin lost the weight. I want to know how to lose weight when you eat when you are not hungry or upset. I eat like that. I like to exercise but right now I can't I am having leg problem and can not work out. Maybe you can help me.

[fat2fitjen]

I think it is great to see that Justin got the weight off and did it naturally. I believe in the EAT CLEAN DIET where you eat 6 small meals a day as Justin did and as unprocessed as possible. Exercise to build muscle mass and cardio but make it a lifestyle forever not just a temporary fix. I dropped from 220lbs. as a 45 year old mother of 2 down to 142lbs. I am now 50 and enjoying vitality, energy and good health. Every American who worries about the Health care reform should implement their own steps to good health first so they can remain active, healthy and vital well into retirement. Bravo Justin!!!

[Bonnybelle]

I think it's wonderful that Justin lost the weight to maintain his health, but I feel it's important for the general public to know that sleep apnea is a very serious health issue, and it's not always weight related. I have weighed as much as 211, and as little as 140, and the weight loss didn't help my sleep apnea in any way. I feel much better after losing the weight, but unfortunately, I still have to use a CPAP machine at night.