No energy, focus was lagging, sense of humour was challenged. 
 

To be a business owner and therefore a leader, motivator and visionary, you must have tons of energy. You have to be motivated to get out of bed in the morning and stay on your game all day and night if necessary. You have to have time for serious and deep thought. You have to have time and focus for selling your ideas to your team - colleagues, investors, bankers, suppliers, customers and, one might add, your family. What little of that kind of energy and focus I had left in late 2007 was laughable.
 

And because I had allowed myself to get into this state, it had a cost to the business and many of my relationships (I have a lot of relationships).
 

So when I went to see Dean Hartman, owner of Nubody's (regional chain of health-and-fitness gyms) I think back and now believe I was in quite a state of despair. Simply, I had no idea where to turn, how to address this increasingly risky lifestyle and while not at my wits end, I had become pretty close.
 

When I wrote the column in Progress I had managed to shed 15 pounds and was actually starting to believe that I could reach some goals I had set.
 

With the help of Roger Young at Simply for Life (a regionally based healthy-lifestyle company headquartered in Saint John, NB) I was starting to address the gargantuan issue of what went into my mouth. Seems rather pedestrian but that what was required to address first. Roger and I talked at length about what I needed to eat and drink and how I could address everything else. Chips, fries, pasta, bread, chocolate, sauces, gravies, treats, blah, blah, blah. It was all part of my life and I was seriously challenged in my own mind as to how I would ever remove them. I really didn't want to part company with those deliciously addictive Kettle "Salt & fresh ground Pepper" darlings. They are so darned good late at night with that last 4 ounce rum and coke or bottle of wine.
 

So Roger and I decided we would give it a try. I had committed to Dean Hartman that I was "all in". That I would give it everything I had to beat this bad lifestyle and seek to make healthy choices...for me! Because if I succeeded I was going to be the winner. No one else...just me.
 
 

So I'll flash forward to today.
 

I have lost 55 pounds in just under six months. (Pick up a 50 pound box of nails if you want to get a sense of just how heavy that is).
 

I enjoy a really good and fun lifestyle. I drink red and white wine, I drink gin and tonics and the occasional martini, and I occasionally have a big helping of those stupid chips. However, I meet every week with Roger and we discuss what I ate and why. And if I was off track, what did I do about it to get back on track.  During the past six months I have learned that in any weight loss program it's 80% about what goes in your mouth and 20% what goes on in the gym.
 

I have met several colleagues in the gym who can't understand why they work so hard there and yet never lose any weight.
 

However, it is really all about a complete package - making healthy food and drink choices and staying with a rigorous fitness routine.

I am in the gym three times a week on my own and once a week with my personal trainer Cathy Grad. She and I are now working on a program that will allow me to look like a normal human being when I reach my final weight goal and not look like someone who just has skin hanging on their bones.

She and I work on cardio, strength training (I actually have muscles now and everything isn't soft and fleshy), core training and endurance.
 

Core is vitally important because all that muscle and ligaments and girdle-like stuff around your middle is what holds all the internal organs in place and helps keep them healthy - who knew?
 

My relationship with both Cathy and Roger is strong even though they probably don't see it that way. To them I am a client who they care about and work hard to help and serve, and at the end of the day another client. But for me they're with me all day long. Not only do they provide great guidance, support and motivation, they are on either shoulder when temptation presents itself. I am amazed at how powerful that is. I look at pastries or fast food joints or liquor and I think what would Roger or Cathy say right now? And I know what they would say and almost every time I am able to pass up on whatever is tempting me.
 
 
There was just no way I could have accomplished what I have thus far without Cathy and Roger.
 

And to give you an idea of what I think I have accomplished, let me just say this - it seems to me everyday that I have won the lottery. I can't believe that I look like I do, that my clothes fit in such a different and wonderful way. People who haven't seen me for a long period are flabbergasted. It is exhilarating...plain and simple.
 
 
I started to run this week. I used to do that 15 years ago and never dreamed I might do it again. That is just plain fabulous.

 
Last year just before our Face to Face conference took place, I had to go to the Large Man's Outlet to get a size 50 blazer. This year I went to a regular store and bought two size 42 regulars for Face to Face. What a rush.

 
How people perceive me is also a new experience. I get a sense of greater respect and people wanting to be around me (although this thing has become so overwhelmingly exciting that I fear I am becoming quite an obnoxious, born-again bore).
 

But I guess the most exciting thing is something that is really deep down. A friend asked me what was the single most important thing resulting from this endeavour and its success. I had to think but it comes down to this, I believe that I now have the capacity to finish what I started with Progress and this great team here. We have built wonderful assets but we hadn't yet turned them into equity. That's what I have given myself - a real chance to see this through to a completed state. And my goodness what a wonderful feeling that is.
 

The one thing I can tell you is that I was so weak and undisciplined that in my mind there was no way to ever save myself. (I can't say to have dreamed of getting here because this Neville never once appeared in any of my dreams).
 

And so my thinking is that if someone like me can get this done then anyone can do it...what a freaking rush...

 
Stay tuned.