July 20, 2006 I had a story to tell like I had previously stated in my letter to you. The period for the bariatric surgery benefits are all but over. I am a regular dieter with all the desires to cheat and abuse my eating just like all of the people in the world. I was to have learned a new way of life through getting a jump with the surgery. Did I? I really don’t know. If not needed for serious health concerns I would not have followed this path. As I have stated before your equipment was the start for my come back to some kind of health miracle. Bariatric people are struggling all across the country with their exercise programs. The Gazelle and Tony have taken me from a total invalid, to a person who is able to walk and exercise less strenuously. With the amount of calories I was consuming the calorie burn from exercise did not have to be very substantial in order for me to loose a large amount of weight. The low impact of the Gazelle was the ticket for me. I received huge amount of calorie burn for the one hour exercise period I was able to work up to. My total weight loss is around two hundred and fifty pounds. I attribute the fact that I don’t have much of the excess skin hanging from the weight loss to the total work outs I received with the Gazelle. This machine has brought me back and herniating in the Bariatric surgical area. I am an insulin dependent diabetic and with the walking program I often do damage to my feet which I have no feeling in except for pain. All my physical ailments are documented with all of my doctors. As for the ever growing Bariatric community the Gazelle should be the number one form of exercise for the seriously handicapped person’s weight wise and physically unable to get into a regular walking program of low impact. Like I had stated before, I was a mess. I am on my way back. I continue to walk, ride a bike, and use the Gazelle. I try to maintain a calorie burn in the area of around twelve hundred calories, in order not to gain any weight back. I have a constant problem being on my feet with the walking program, I put myself through. When I get the ulcerated sores on my feet from excessive amounts of walking I am in trouble. The Gazelle is the go to for my upper body work out and low impact exercise, along with a bike ride for additional calorie burn. Through Tony’s dynamic and energetic personality I really feel he could make a difference to all those dieters trying surgery for weight loss. The loss is a guarantee with the operation you just aren’t prepared for the rest of the story. Maintaining is a hard thing, just like all programs work both exercise and diets. Is one better than the next? It’s all in the tailoring for ones individual needs and desires. Tony can get most of these people on the right track for what ever program they choose. Just like the surgery giving me the new chance at life; the Gazelle will give everyone the chance for physical wellness to stay and do more or continue on to different elevations. It’s a long hard and some times a boring road. A good program filled in my casewith music I can exercise is the ticket for me. For others, it may be a different time, but Tony’s Gazelle is the beginning of the “Journey of the Fat Man”. My journey. The surgery I had probably saved my life. Good, bad, or indifferent. The Gazelle has given me back to my family. I am still disabled with a slew of problems, but to look at me now you will know it is the same man. Patrick