A New Weigh For Big Tom Part 3

By Terry Hood, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- Three weeks in and he is feeling better every day.  That's the update from Tulsa musician Tom Basler, whose goal is to lose 200 pounds.  Tom still hasn't found a scale that can measure his exact weight, but he's more active and starting to get control of what he calls his addiction to food.

"It's an addiction and it's an insidious one because you can't quit," said Tom Basler.

Tom Basler has spent the better part of his life losing and gaining weight.  Most dramatically, several years back he went on a liquid diet and lost 120 pounds. 

01/30/2009  Related Story:  A New Weigh For Big Tom Part 2

"When it was time to wean off of the shakes and put me back on real food, I'm scared.  Because it was like the heroin addict having a bag dangled in front of him and I was like, Ii don't want to do this.  I don't want to eat," said Tom Basler.

Having gained back all the weight he lost and more, Tom is now in the hands of Tulsa chiropractor Shannon Schaffner.  She's developed a 12 week program called Health for Life.

"We're teaching people how to eat, exercise and more importantly how to think differently about their bodies," said Dr. Shannon Schaffner.

Schaffner's goal is to get people to look at their health from the inside out, starting with food they use to fuel their bodies.

"We teach our people that when you go to the grocery store if you're buying food that if you left on a counter and month later came back and it didn't have green stuff on it, it means that it does not even sustain life," said Dr. Shannon Schaffner.

For Tom, the program means getting back to the basics.  He has a list of foods to choose from and instead of doubling up on portions like he used to, he now eats five small meals a day.

Tom's refrigerator now contains salad, lean chicken, cottage cheese and fruit.

"I've eaten more salad this week than I've eaten in the last millennia," said Tom Basler.