It was the summer of 2005, before my sophomore year, when my mother made me join the gym with her. I begrudgingly became a member at 24 Hour Fitness Active in Palmdale, California; where I had my first personal trainer, Dexter. While working with Dexter, I dropped down from 375 to 306 in one year. However, a summer vacation in Norway resulted in a gain of 12 pounds, and it was a steady climb from there.

I ended up going through 6 different trainers who couldn’t help. Each trainer would eventually give up on me, and I was left to deal with the frustration of not losing weight. I switched to a different gym, called Monster Fitness, where I trained with Steve, for four years where I sat stagnant for 2 years at 400lbs.

Eventually, I moved to the Midwest for college. I attended a college in southern Iowa, during which time I gave no thought to diet and never bothered with exercise; I even drove my car to class from me on-campus apartment. I never exercised and continued eating whatever I wanted without any regard for my health.

During a summer vacation trip, my girlfriend and I stopped at the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas, Nevada; which offers free meals to anybody who would weigh in at over 350 pounds. As I stepped on the scale in that restaurant, I discovered I had reached 504 pounds and that was the push we needed. In the fall of 2013, my girlfriend and I both agreed it was time for us to make a change, and we signed up at 24 Hour Fitness in Independence (now Genesis Health Clubs Independence location).
We began training with Trent Stephens and paying careful attention to diet, and exercise. I saw great results with Trent, decreasing to about 470 pounds.

After graduating with my bachelor’s degree, we moved back to California. After returning to California, I sank into a deep depression. In a very short time, I was back over 500 pounds. We got memberships at In-Shape Fitness but only went twice, once to sign up, and once eight months later to cancel. Life continued and I eventually found myself in rural Duplin County, North Carolina in late 2014 where I still currently own a radio station.

I didn’t know anybody in North Carolina, and had a very stressful time trying to make the radio station succeed. I struggled to fit in, because I wasn’t from the South. Needless to say, I didn’t pay any attention to dieting, and never exercised. In March of 2016, my mother unexpectedly passed away from a pulmonary embolism. This whole process of laying my mother to rest was emotionally draining. Many of my friends in California tried to get me to go bowling, or some other activity, but I just didn’t have the emotional strength to do much of anything while I was back there…except eat large quantities of food, of course.

After I returned to North Carolina, I, once again, sank into a deep depression, and used food for comfort. I began developing many health problems; swollen feet, chest pains, high blood pressure, panic attacks, frequent bronchitis and sinus infections, and shortness of breath, among other things. I went to visit a local urgent care near my home in Wallace, North Carolina for an upper respiratory infection and found that I had reached 565 pounds. After being checked out by the doctor, his remarks were, “The fact that you’re 26 years old is the only thing keeping you alive right now.” I didn’t care. I felt that continuing to live in Duplin County, North Carolina was a fate worse than death, and I didn’t care if I lived or died. Every morning, I went to a local diner where I would eat around 40 strips of bacon in one sitting. I wasn’t suicidal, but bacon was my comfort food.

My father was planning to move to North Carolina with me, as him and I were planning to purchase a radio station in Williamston, North Carolina. However, after Hurricane Matthew came through in late 2016, my father watched on TV from California as the rivers continued to rise, and wipe towns around me off of the map. Fortunately, myself and my radio station were not severely physically affected by the storm. However, financially, things became quite tough. Finally, that Monday morning after the hurricane, my dad called me and asked if I would like to move to Missouri. That was all he had to say.

Things seemed to fall into place almost effortlessly, which I can only attribute to the goodness of God. I took a position with a radio station in Liberty, and we found the perfect house in Independence. I flew back to California to help my dad get ready to move. Along the trip, we again stopped at the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas. I stepped on the scale and I discovered I was pushing 600 pounds. The scale read 584 pounds. I was not far off from breaking their record for the heaviest person they had, which was 613 pounds.

After we arrived, one night at about 9pm, I took my friend, Vaughn, over to Crackerneck Road where I was going to show him the 24 Hour Fitness that I used to work out at. When we arrived, the 24 Hour Fitness sign had been replaced. We drove up to the building, and my remark was, “What the hell is Genesis Health Clubs?” Vaughn ran inside to ask for more information and when he came out I was informed that all the 24 Hour Fitness locations in the Midwest had been purchased by Genesis Health Clubs.

About a month later, I went back and signed up at Genesis in Independence. I asked if Trent Stephens was still working there. I was told he was, and I requested him to be my trainer. I, shortly after, was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. I began a gluten-free diet. I was also introduced to the Ketogenic Diet by a friend on Facebook. By restricting carbs, and having a high intake of fat, I put my body into a state of Ketosis, and I was very quickly gaining strength. I was also almost never feeling hungry anymore. I purchased a scale to weigh myself at home, and, when I stepped on, I found out that I was at 545. I had lost 39 pounds in only about three months.

As I kept working out with Trent, I began getting into different exercises that I never would have imagined doing a year ago. I currently weigh 481 pounds. Despite that fact, I can deadlift 370 pounds, I can bench 260, I can do 200 in lateral pull downs, I can do 270 on leg extensions, and I can even do squats (though not with a bar… YET). Oh, and did I mention I play Tennis? Tennis is the first athletic sport that I truly enjoy playing and I found that love at Genesis!

Genesis Health Clubs is a company I can really be proud to be a member of. Rodney Steven II is an entrepreneurial hero of mine. He is doing what I had originally hoped to do in the radio business in North Carolina. It’s fascinating to watch the company grow and to see pictures on Facebook of the progressions of the remodeling projects of the various locations. In my free time I enjoy traveling to visit different clubs with my friend Vaughn; we have worked out at 23 different locations so far!

I look forward to continuing my fitness journey with Genesis Health Clubs. While dropping 103 pounds is a definite milestone for me, at 481 pounds, I still have a long way to go. I’ve also dropped from a 10XL shirt size to a 3XL shirt size. If I can do it, certainly anybody can do it; and with Genesis Health Clubs, you have pretty much all the tools you need to change your life for the better.

We are SO proud of you Ken Santarelli, keep up the great work! 💪