Being the youngest, and she being the oldest of 4 children, she had always taken care of me. She was a registered nurse, she was overweight, but she always watched what she ate because she was pre-diabetic and was hypertensive. She suddenly collapsed at home in front of her husband and suffered a massive stroke and never recovered. Both of her carotid arteries were blocked in several places and there was nothing the doctors could do to save her life. I was at the pre-departure area of JFK waiting for my flight to Houston, TX to be at her bedside when I got the call that her blood pressure was dropping fast and she would be soon gone. I remember breaking down in the midst of so many people. I remember the kindness of complete strangers who must have seen my grief and offered small acts of kindness that renewed what I must have known all along – that most people are generally good and kind-hearted. December 2016 came and I found myself in SFO airport on the 22nd and Mary Jo Montano, our Slenderiiz queen, picked me up. I had met her many years before and I’ve always known her as this 200-lb bundle of beautiful goodness. I was so surprised to see that she had lost so much weight! So I immediately acknowledged the elephant in the room and asked her, “How did you do it?”
I’m 5’5” tall and I was then 227 lbs – I’ve been hypertensive for the last 18 years, a diabetic for the last 7 years, and a stage 3 colon cancer survivor. To say that I have health issues would be an understatement. My doctors have always urged me to lose weight, saying that it would help my diabetes and HBP, and lower the chances of the recurrence of cancer. I lost a lot of weight during my fight with cancer 6 years ago, but I quickly gained it all back in less than 2 years. Weight loss all seemed like a hopeless, unachievable dream. I was morbidly obese and if I didn’t do anything about it soon, I would end up like my sister. Mary Jo was eager to show me how. As it happens, my dear HS classmate, Mary Paz Montano-Herrera, was holding a sample party at her house in Hayward that very moment. We went there and I listened. They wrapped up that SP and then whisked me off to meet Jason Lee at another sample party. I decided to sign up right then and there, barely 2 hours after I had just landed from SFO airport for the Christmas holiday. I eventually decided on the Ultimate Pack because I saw Jason’s vision that this could be huge and the potential for growth as a business was something I wanted to be a part of. By then, my planned Christmas vacation road trip had been highjacked! I had lined up a string of reunions with people I hadn’t seen for the last 20-30 years from LA to San Diego. But I had the Slenderiiz dream team with me: Mary Jo was “Exhibit A” and one look at her and customers would be convinced after seeing what she looked like less than a year ago; Michelle was the “product specialist” and did most of the talking and the presentations; Mary Paz was the “Boss” keeping everyone on point – she’s also a very good closer because she’s tenacious in following up with all the leads until they all sign up. This was the Slenderiiz dream team indeed. All my reunions became sample parties. We held them in restaurants, homes, bars – anywhere where people had gathered to see me. While catching up with my long lost friends and classmates, the Slenderiiz dream team was working and signing up people. I would introduce my friends to them and my introduction of the Slenderiiz Queen, Mary Jo, was always a good ice breaker. In one week, I saw Los Angeles, Temecula, San Diego and the Rose Parade, all for the first time, and found myself with a “Senior Director” title within that one week from the time I signed up, and all during my Christmas vacation road trip. That was quite a ride! Take note that at this time, I haven’t even received my ultimate pack yet because I had it shipped to NYC. I wasn’t even on the Slenderiiz program yet because I only started taking the Slenderiiz drops on January 4. I personally had nothing to show results-wise, but Mary Jo’s results were truly hard to ignore. I then entered the 2017 Slenderiiz competition - Round 1 last January 4th. I lost almost 20 lbs in 28 days. I also joined Round 2 that followed and lost even more pounds. I started weighing in at 226.8 lbs on January 4. Today, I weigh 191 lbs!!! I lost over 35 lbs and I feel and look great. Btw, these amazing results without a day of workout, no sweating, no gyms!!! Last year, my blood sugar A1C levels were at 7.0 and my doctor was considering adding more medications including insulin injections to keep it under control. As of end of February, my AIC blood test went down to 6.2 which put me at pre-diabetic level. I was ecstatic! The A1C is a 3-month average, so that blood sample included only 1 month on the Slenderiiz program. I can’t wait for my next AIC exam this coming May because this will be my first blood test where all 3 months will be while on the Slenderiiz program. I’m hoping that my blood sugar will be so normal that my doctor will have to take me off some of my diabetes medication. This will be my biggest victory. My physical transformation is really just the icing on the cake. I really shouldn’t belittle my physical transformation because that is what has been driving business activity for my team. I have sparked interest from friends and classmates from all over the world: Nepal, Australia, Indonesia, Germany and the Philippines. My before and after pictures have driven even a co-worker of my friend in Florida who I have never even met, to order the Slenderiiz product. I am clearly on to something here. I cater to a specific demographic: people of a certain age who want to be more pro-active in the management of their health issues. It has been my experience that Ariix products provide a solution to many of the issues that are prevalent among the baby boomer generation. I have been fortunate to belong to what is probably the greatest Slenderiiz team on the planet – a team that genuinely cares about each and every customer – a team that treats them as individual people and not as another statistic. That I believe is the formula for the success of the team. I haven’t reached my goal weight yet. I want to 175 lbs sometime soon. I am only 16 lbs away from that goal. I know I can do it. But I’m having way too much fun getting there to even try to speed things up.
