The story of Luke's dramatic weight loss began in his bed very early one morning during the last week of February 2011.
"I was on blood pressure medicine and a sleep apnea machine," he said. "The blood pressure medicine was a diuretic, so I had to get up and pee. I take the apnea machine off, but I can't get off the bed. I'm too fat! I had to rock myself out of the bed. I finally got out of the bed, but I could barely walk. My knees couldn't support the weight."
Bad enough, but the kicker was yet to come. "I dragged myself to the bathroom, and as I'm leaving, I turn and catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror," he continued. "I couldn't believe I allowed myself to get to that point. I almost didn't recognize myself. That's how big I had become! "That's when I said, 'OK. It stops today!' "
Luke, an accomplished actor, musician and TV personality, as well as a local food-industry giant and philanthropist, immediately embarked on a self-created program of diet and exercise that resulted in a loss of about 25 pounds in less than two months. But then, he recalled, he "hit a wall" and couldn't seem to drop any more weight.
Undaunted, Luke did what any 21st-century inhabitant would do when confronted with questions he couldn't answer: He hit the Internet, where he discovered Dr. Matthew Pinto, a South Jersey osteopath who, Luke decided, held the key to his future. Pinto was a proponent of a highly regarded meal-replacement weight-loss system. Intrigued, he made an appointment with the doctor.
There's no doubt in Pinto's mind that Luke was cruising the outskirts of serious health problems when the two men first got together on April 21 last year. "When I met Tony, he weighed 325 pounds," Pinto remembered. "His BMI [body mass index, which determines obesity] was 48. Twenty to 25 is normal. Twenty-five to 30 is obese. Over 40 is morbidly obese."
