The Journey
He began his life-changing journey of losing 130 pounds in early 2010 and has successfully maintained his weight since.
Tony Vassallo the Founder of MODA Nutrition Inc., Author and Producer is a specialist in sustained weight loss and has mostly worked with men since 2011. Tony’s area of expertise is sustained weight loss in the real world.
Gaining “just a few pounds” every year
He detested the reflection he saw in the mirror to the point that he removed all full-length mirrors from his home. He cringed when he was referred to as a “big guy.” His obesity caused him to be treated as a second-class citizen.
Reality began to set in. Gaining “just a few pounds” every year, became fatter and fatter, until he started to fear for his future.
He was 37 with a host of medical issues: Type II diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, gout, joint pain, constant indigestion, and acid reflux. Simple tasks like putting on socks, climbing a flight of stairs, fitting into an airplane seat or booth at a restaurant, and getting out of bed became big challenges for him. Every afternoon he would have a sugar crash, leaving him with little energy to get through the rest of the day. He was always sweaty and tired. He began avoiding the outdoors and eventually just avoiding life. At one point it became apparent he might never live to see life beyond my 40s.
In March 2010 Everything Changed!
At a Big & Tall clothing store
The Last Straw
In March 2010, he sought to change all that once and forever. His last straw came purchasing pants at a Big & Tall clothing store. The expansion of his waistline from a 48” pant to a 50” was the breaking point.
By August of 2011, he had gotten down to 170 pounds and he has been maintaining that weight ever since.
his passion for food
- turned out to be his strongest asset.
Ironically, what he thought would be his biggest liability in losing weight —his passion for food — turned out to be his strongest asset. He was able to take his passion for creating culinary creations and adapt them to add a nutritional twist. Using his culinary training, many thousands of hours of Food Network viewing, his constant yearning for dietary information, he discovered how to create healthy, satisfying meals that did not leave him feeling deprived. He transformed himself from an eat-everything-in-sight foodie to a healthy foodie.
Tony reversed chronic metabolic diseases in the same way they were caused:
with a fork and knife.
In addition to losing weight, the many medical issues he suffered—all of them—vanished. His enduring passion is helping individuals achieve a healthy weight for life without dieting or depriving. This has made Tony the Man on a Nutrition Mission™.
Proverb
Do not dig your grave with your own knife and fork.
he began to help others
GET IT
During his weight loss journey he began to help others GET IT. Tony went back to school to study Nutrition and Wellness at George Brown College and spent his time researching obesity, weight loss, nutrition, and food addiction. He began to follow authors and wellness experts, learning everything he could and along the way he became the best kind of expert himself—one who has lived through the experience himself. For three years, Tony acted as a keynote speaker transforming lives at a men’s weight loss program (Harvey Brooker Weight Loss For Men), educating and inspiring hundreds toward their own success. It was this passion for helping others that persuaded Tony to leave a 15-year career in the IT industry along with a revived outlook on life.
per·spec·tive
the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance
Choosing Change
Over Confections
& Processed Food
SHIFTing Thinking
To Sustain Change
MODA for MEN
Working with Men since 2011
Tony is a specialist in sustained weight loss and has mostly worked with men since 2011. Tony’s area of expertise is sustained weight loss in the real world.
Tony's passion for helping men at weight loss began at The Harvey Brooker Weight Loss For Men Program. He was a key team member for over 4 years as a director of member development, men’s motivational speaker and educator inspiring hundreds of men towards their own weight loss success. In his time at the Harvey Brooker Weight Loss Program for men he significantly contributed a drastic improvement in the retention of members and their weight loss success.
In early 2015 Tony founder MODA Nutrition Inc.
Follow Me
The Documentary Film on Sustained Weight Loss
Tony is the Executive Producer of “Follow Me” a documentary exploring the journeys of individuals who have each successfully sustained their weight loss for 5 years or more. Follow Me has be screened at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Bloor Cinema in November 2019 and selected at the 15th annual Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF). Check out images from Hot Docs Cinema Screening or WIFF Screening.
Check out a Free Workshop or Set up a Free Evaluation Session.
Tell me a little bit about you