Successful 'Loser' helping others beat weight woes

By Mike Stucka
Staff Writer

January 13, 2009 09:27 am

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SALEM — Though he's just half the man he used to be, Neil Tejwani has gotten twice the life.

In the weight loss begun on "The Biggest Loser" television show, Tejwani found redemption, health and a new calling. With a Web site he's still tweaking, Tejwani is planning a business that will offer support and consulting to people who are just as he was, people struggling to lose weight without wrecking their lives.

"I think for the first time in my life I'm doing what I was put on this planet to do," Tejwani said.

Before the show, he'd been working with printer ink as a chemical engineer.

Tejwani — who peaked at 460 pounds and now weighs about 240 — hopes to make some more converts to a healthier lifestyle tomorrow. That's when the Marblehead native talks in a Salem recreation program that begins at 7 p.m. in Olde Town Hall in Derby Square. Tejwani said he knows people taking his advice won't be thrown into a full-time boot camp, but he hopes to bring some of the show's support and inspiration.

"I use a lot of the techniques I used when I was on 'The Biggest Loser,'" he said. "But I'm not going to ask you to hop on the treadmill for six hours like I did. We're going to ease you into it."

Tejwani said he's been giving talks to groups over the past year, since the show ended. But people in the audience kept asking for personal advice. Some are elderly. Some can't walk. All have weight problems that Tejwani wants to solve.

Though he had the weight-loss experience and plenty of advice from trainers, Tejwani didn't know everything. So he partnered with Joan Schwager, a Long Island-based nutritionist. They met, of course, at the gym.

"I kind of fell into this, and I'd like to make my success story into other people's successes," he said.

Tejwani said there are plenty of fad diets out there. There are plenty of weight-loss programs. There are plenty of trainers. What Tejwani hopes to do with Schwager, and their new NeilzHealthWorld.com, is pull it all together and provide personalized support. Tejwani says the secret to weight loss is to introduce small lifestyle changes, building to a healthier life. That can only be successful with a coach or a support group, as well as reasonable expectations.

"We're people, we're human; we should be able to go out and have some pizza," he said. "You can have your cake and eat it, too — just not the whole thing. Finding balance is the key in anything."

With moderation, people don't have to live a bland and boring life while trying to lose weight. Tejwani said that weight loss itself is actually easier than maintaining a healthy weight.

"As hard as losing weight is, I think keeping it off is the harder challenge. I want people to keep it off five, 10, 30 years from now," he said.

Now 26, Tejwani is no longer a borderline diabetic, no longer wears what he called the "Darth Vader mask" to combat sleep apnea and no longer has high blood pressure. A doctor once told Tejwani he wouldn't live past the age of 30. Now, a doctor tells Tejwani he has about 15 pounds of excess, loose skin from when he was twice the size.

Tejwani now has to figure out how to schedule the skin-removal surgery around his new business and a wedding he expects around the end of this year. The girlfriend he wanted to live for, Stefanie Nigro, said "Yes" in July. He expects to have a long, happy and healthy life with her.

"I'll be seeing way past the age of 30," he said.

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