Sticking resolutely to his fitness plan and his improved eating habits, Jeff reached 210 lbs three and a half months after taping for Season One ended in 2001 - within 10 lbs of his revised goal weight. But then he encountered several challenges even more daunting than getting in shape.
In early 2002, he was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease of the lymph nodes that causes extreme pain upon any physical exertion. "There’s literally nothing I can do," says Jeff. "When I go for a bike ride, my legs kill me for a week." The condition is a mystery -- the cause and cure are unknown and it can vanish as abruptly as it arrived. Jeff was prescribed prednisone, but the steroid caused him to gain all the weight he’d lost. So Jeff has decided to forego the medication. He’s focusing on other aspects of his wellbeing, one of which is finding a new job - his former position was eliminated when the car dealership changed hands.
He’s also trying to quit smoking again, no small task considering his stressors, which include the fear that he may have inadvertently contributed to his condition. "That’s one of the things that really bothered me. Did I do something, because I was taking supplements? Could it be related? The feeling from the doctor is there’s no consistency between sufferers, nothing so dramatic that stands out." A small percentage of males who have the disease also have tattoos, however, leaving Jeff wondering if the tattoo he got was a factor.
But Jeff’s resilient. He’s considering an experiment in which he exercises through the pain to see what the high end truly is. And he’s proudly continuing to eat healthily. "I still break up my meals daily. I’d rather go and have a soup and salad than a double greasy burger," he says. There’s a reason the skills he learned while taking it off are now second nature. "They say it takes 21 days to build a habit," he says. "Well, we did it for six months."
