TOMS RIVER-Mike Defalco is a 53-year-old man with a colorful life history. Once a Marine Corps infantryman, he did pretty well for himself after he got out of the Marine Corps. After leaving the Marine Corps he became a bodybuilder and began setting national powerlifting records for bench presses. His wife Stacy set a national women’s weightlifting record and at that point in his life he weight 275 pounds of almost solid muscle.
Then things started going downhill for Defalco. He had worked as a vice president of a carpenter’s union in Staten Island, sold cars, worked at the Fulton Fish Market and even owned his own restaurant in Staten Island. In 2012, he got himself into trouble with the law and was sentenced to probation. He lost nearly everything he worked his whole life for and it began to take an emotional toll on him.
He gained almost 200 pounds during that time. Not knowing how to get out of his downward spiral, he began using caffeine, ephedra, and aspirin to try to shed the unwanted pounds.
“I started gaining weight and before you know it I was 440 pounds. I lost 150 of it in a contest and won a nice chunk of change but since I used an unhealthy method I gained a lot back and it didn’t really help me,” Defalco said. “I currently weigh in at 222 as of this writing, I was 392 in December when I went to my cardiologist and he wanted to put in a pacemaker and/or defibrilator, I lost 30-pounds using caffeine ephedra and aspirin”
Around 2012, Defalco started to turn his life around and his first step, he says was finding God.
“Around 2012 I found God and he saved my spiritual life and eternal life, I started looking at the world differently and trying to set the example instead of being the example,” he said. “I came to the Lord after being asked by my trainer for months and one morning I said yes and it changed my life. I felt the Holy Spirit grab me and I was in. I have completed pastor and leadership training-taught Sunday school among other things. God is good.”
He began selling cars again and was quite good at it, often leading his car dealership in sales volume. Things were turning around for Mike, but he was still having problems shedding the unwanted weight he had accumulated through his dark times. It was one of his co-workers that helped him find a new way to lose weight, get back into shape and begin living the life he used to have once again. That was in January of this year.
“I start working at a dealership and meet Doug a persistent pain in the ass and thank God he was,” DeFalco said. “Doug introduced me to this nutritional company and I started the week before Super Bowl January 25th. I weighed 362 pounds at that point. I lost 133 pounds by May 18th or so 16 weeks. It was done healthy and I am sustaining it.”
1-My name is Mike DeFalco and I am 52 turning 53 and I want to share with you how I saced my life and got my physical and spiritual life back. I live in Toms River with my bueatiful wife Stacy DeFalco and our four children- Samantha lynn, Alexandra tynan, Giovanni Octavio, and Rocco Luciano and my grandson Colton Anthony. I was born in Brooklyn, New York on August 23rd 1966. My family did the whole Brooklyn to staten Island thing and I settled in New Jersey. I currently sell cars for Honda Universe in Lakewood New Jersey on route 88. My previous jobs included being Vice President for the Carpeenters Union in Staten Island, I owned a restaurant in Staten Island, worked at the Fulton fish market, sold cars at various places, had a Mortgage company etc. around 2012 I was convicted of a crime and currently serving probation for it- I lost all of our material things but my family stayed with me and that was all that mattered.
“I started working out again and I started learning all about nutrition,” he said. “In December I could not even walk 7 minutes on a treadmill in the doctor’s office to do a stress test. I now do 40 minutes cardio every day and lift for 45 minutes and box three to four times a week.”
Other aspects of Mike’s life began to change. 
“I was throwing the football with my son in the street the other day,” he said. “It was significant because as he said ‘dad remember when you had to sit and throw and did not last very long’. He is 10 now. I no longer need the surgery and my waist has gone from 68 inches to 40 inches. I can shop in a regular store and wear regular clothes.”
Mike credits his amazing transformation to the nutritional program and routine that he was introduced to by his co-worker and now wants to share his story with the community to help others who are in similar situations he was once in.
“The nutritional system works for everyone whether losing weight, maintaining weight, gaining weight or just wanting to get healthy again,” he said. “The products are phenomenal and meant to give you all the nutrients you need.”
Mike will now be writing a column here at Shore News Network to reach out to others to help them find themselves again. If you want to contact Mike, you can email him at mikedefalco@outlook.com or call him at 848-245-6571. You can also reach him on Facebook.