Jan. 24, 2026
Blood Pressure Was 160/110 then He Lost 60lbs While Running A Business - 50
Imagine you are 29 years old with successful businesses and a family that depends on you.
Your doctor tells you that your high blood pressure 160/110 means lifelong medication unless you make changes now. Drake went through this exact situation. His story starts next.
Drake built and sold businesses as a driven entrepreneur. He managed high responsibility. At 29, blood pressure hit dangerous levels. Stress drained his energy. His doctor warned of medication or worse health risks like diabetes.
Drake picked The Call To Rise, the 100-day fat loss experience for men. It uses strength training, personalized nutrition, and accountability. He dropped over 60 pounds. Blood pressure normalized. Confidence and leadership returned.
Listen to his full story. He explains daily struggles, the simple system that worked, brotherhood support, and lasting changes. Men facing midlife weight gain, fatigue, high cholesterol, or family health fears will relate.
This episode delivers real results for busy professionals. Proof from a man who leads.
Join The Call To Rise
Driven men drop 20-30 lbs in 100 days. Fix high blood pressure, cholesterol, or diabetes risks. Get strength training, nutrition plans, and brotherhood accountability.
Rebuild your health and body.
Start at www.thecalltorise.com.
Want help applying this to your own health, weight, energy, or lab numbers?
Coach Brian Parana offers Health Hot Seat coaching segments for men who want a clear next step with nutrition, fitness, weight loss, blood pressure, cholesterol, A1C, or daily consistency.
Learn more about The Call To Rise, a 100-day coaching program for driven men over 40 who want to lose weight, improve their health, and rebuild confidence:
To connect with Coach Brian:
brian@brianparana.com
Disclaimer: This podcast is for education and coaching support only. It is not medical advice. Always work with your physician before changing medication, treatment, or medical care.
- Today's episode is a special one. I'm sitting down with my client Drake. And this is one of those conversations that reminds me why I do what I do. This work. It hits my heart and my soul. And Drake is a grand slam type of a client. You're going to hear exactly why. Super successful in his career.
- At the age of 29, he felt like he was on top of the world. had a a mid6 figure job position that he was doing very well at at the peak of his industry, but he was running into some massive health issues. Behind the scenes, he was 270ish pounds and not doing well. His blood pressure was dangerously high. His stress levels were through the roof.
- his doctor sat him down and had one of those mono and mono conversations that not the one that you want to have with them. And he she said that you have a choice. You're either going to start medication or you're going to change your life. And Drake did a hard stop. He didn't want pills, medication.
- He wanted to take control of his health and his life. In this episode, we walk and talk through honestly about where he was, what was going on. He is an open book and you're going to hear a lot of stories, some passion coming from this man and he is more alive than he ever has been. He's lost over 60 pounds, got his blood pressure back down to normal, and he was rebuilt not only his health, but his life in a variety of different ways.
- Wait till you get to the the Shelby GT Mustang story. Oh man, that one was amazing. real conversations with real people about the pressure, the lives, the responsibilities, everything that's happening in their day-to-day lives. That's what I do and how I help transcend health in a huge way for guys to thrive in their lives for themselves, but also those most important people around them, their family, friends, and whatnot. Hope you enjoy this episode.
- Go. All right. Today we have Drake. This guy is a Grand Slam client. He came on board looking to improve his health, his nutrition. He was struggling with some high blood pressure. His doctor immediately said, "You have super high blood pressure. You need to deal with this now. It's either take care of it yourself or start with some medication.
- " and he was completely against that. This guy is such a hard worker. He's a entrepreneur, a philanthropist. He's bought, sold multiple businesses very successfully. So, he's traveled, he's moved, he's done all the things that your typical, my type of client works and does all the time. So, I wanted to bring him on to talk about what we did together. So, Drake, introduce yourself.
- Who are you and what brings you to our call today? Hey, I appreciate you uh having me on today, Brian. Yeah, so my name is Drake Wolf. I am uh like you said, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist. Um I own multiple businesses and uh what originally brought me to Brian in particular uh was what he said. Uh the focus was mainly on my health.
- I had become financially successful and I had become successful and abundant in the vast majority of the other portions of my life. But unfortunately, it came at a cost to my health and uh my stress levels and everything were super high. So I reached out to to you Brian and uh and now I here I am uh just a little over a year later 60 pounds down.
- So it's been incredible journey and we started talking and we we talked about the nutrition, the fitness, other lifestyle, health behaviors. So let's stack the set the stage so to speak. Where was Drake at when he first reached out? Your body, what you were feeling. There was certainly stress. >> Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely, man.
- Uh I honestly I was a different person. So when about a year ago when I reached out to you, I was extremely stressed out with work. Uh my blood pressure was very high. I was getting very little sleep. I had little to no physical activity in my life. Um I was dedicating no time or uh money or um any sort of excessive amount of work.
- >> Yeah. No work towards my health. No work towards the focus. all that and uh yeah that's that's pretty much where I was man I was at the lowest point in my life I was actually unfortunately also struggling a bit mentally u during that time so >> great right great and so what were some of the things that we started doing that started making almost an instant change within the first week or two you felt substantially better what was what was some of that that we started doing >> yeah So, um, well, you introduced a
- whole host of food groups to my diet that, uh, drastically changed the way that I was eating. So, I was eating a lot of whole grains, um, fruits, veggies, uh, making sure that my calories in versus calories out, uh, were, uh, were were on point. And then the major thing I would say other than the diet was the consistency for exercise.
- So, I didn't jump right into the I didn't dive right into the uh the shark pit or anything like that. Uh we we started off slow and I started walking and getting my steps every day and that really started to make a significant impact. >> Right. I remember you wanted to sign up for this super bodybuilding gym and Drake, I don't know if that's the best idea.
- but we just need to move and then we can start doing more stuff as we get going because you hadn't been moving a lot and and so therefore just movement in and of itself was super important in our process. So we did get some strength training in and that certainly helped substantially with your body reshaping itself burning body fat and and such.
- So we became very calorie aware basics of nutrition and became very calorie aware started better uh portion control food combining having different foods that were that you enjoy eating and then fit them into your life. We also were juggling a couple other things, some stressful events in the background, but we still kept re regoing back to what does Drake want? And and so what was that underlying drum beat that kept the process going for you? I think that uh mainly the obviously consistency from you and the ability for you to every day check up on
- me and make sure that I was doing what I was doing. uh the texts, the phone calls, um the constant uh communication from you and the at the very beginning that really helped me set the stage for myself to be more accountable for myself. And then as time went on, as I was uh I fel felt more comfortable becoming more accountable with myself.
- Honestly, it was just the drive to see how far I could take it and uh see how healthy I could become using the new found information from you and your program. So that that was the main drive. We got momentum happening. Now, none of it was overly complicated. It wasn't these weird bad diet things. Uh you were able to still be social and enjoy yourself and even travel uh as well.
- >> So, we're we're down 60 pounds. What does your doctor say now when you go in to see the doctor? Because in the beginning, you know, let's talk about that conversation the doctor had. What was it that she clearly said to you? >> Yeah, so uh I was 29 years old. Um I had just accomplished pretty much my main life dream and uh but I was deeply and profoundly unhealthy.
- So I went into the doctor's office and she sat me down and pretty much said, "Hey, you need to change pretty much everything in your life physically uh because your stress is way too high. Your blood pressure is insanely high for how old you are. you're 100 plus pounds over where your mark is like BMI wise and uh and you just need to get your life on track and that was difficult to hear especially as a 29year-old man who had just become very successful.
- Um and uh yeah it was hard to hear that if I didn't get my health in order none of the stuff that I've done up until this point would have mattered. So, >> right. And having a a GT Shelby Mustang wouldn't matter either, right? [laughter] >> No. No, not at all. >> And and some of our conversations, we actually learned that there was a not there wasn't a congruency around what your lifestyle was of who Drake actually was.
- you got sucked into this rat trap of the got to business, got to, you know, perform, have to, you know, all these things that people get worked up into. And when we're able to pause and start focusing inward on yourself, what were some of the changes that happened through that process? >> Yeah. So, um, like you said, I think every remotely successful business owner, um, you get caught up in the keeping up with the Joneses thing where you want a big house, you want nice cars, you want to, you know, be a little flashier. And I got caught up in that
- unfortunately. And what happened is it created a lot of stress and pressure for me that was unnecessary. And, uh, I hadn't taken the time to mentally and physically focus on myself. So when we were going through this process, being able to really take a moment, focus, refocus myself on my mental and physical health, I started realizing like you said that uh a lot of the physical things in my life, the materialistic things I did not need.
- Um and I didn't want that life. Um so I shed that um for the very most part and decided to live a simpler u more content life. And honestly, I feel better than I have in a very long time. >> Right. Right. Responsibility does weigh you down. And just talked to about how you're actually an F-150 guy. So, yeah, exactly. So, I was driving a, you know, a a sports car uh that was way too expensive for me and it just didn't make sense in my lifestyle when in reality I I was just a truck guy.
- So, um you know, getting healthy is it goes way beyond just being physically healthy. the the more physically healthy that you become, especially in your situation where you kind of are extremely involved in the process. And we had conversations that were outside of your realm of expertise, but you had them with me anyways. >> And that that was a really awesome thing to experience to be able to kind of call you as a friend, too, and say, "Hey man, I'm not doing so well.
- >> Uh what do you suggest?" So, yeah, definitely awesome. oftent times the health, nutrition, fitness are the first three things that come in when they people work with me. But then there's so many other layers to the onion. We're humans. We're complex creatures. There's a lot of stress management, time management, there's relationship things.
- There's all these external pressures that are coming in. And then not only do we have the external, I remember there was many many many many many many zeros behind your responsibilities at the in the career that you were at. It was a sign more than significant amount of money you were responsible for or even a $100,000 felt like $100 bill in in that amount of of uh of money.
- And and so there was a lot of stressor. We had to talk about some of that stuff, some of the relation relationship stuff and how you internally were responding to that and being impacted by that which was amen tremendous. Like to to be honest like you just kept every as one thing would come up because you started dealing with yourself and what was going on all these things started showing up because there was friction now and you had to deal with change and and and what is it that you want? >> Yep. Absolutely.
- That's exactly what occurred. And uh for a moment I realized that I had opened Pandora's box uh when I started to you know uh heal from these things and and focus on focus on bettering my life in every aspect of the word and not just physically. Um I think that that had a a severe impact on my physical health as well.
- I don't think I would have been able to continue along the process because a lot of people give that stuff up. you know, when you're busy it, >> but when you focus on everything, you focus on the mental aspect, the physical aspect, um the the emotional aspect of it, how it's affecting you, and you get to the root of it all and you fix it, it's a lot easier to to become physically healthy when your mind and your your soul was right.
- So, >> 110% agree with that. Now, we're we were we went pretty good for a couple months and then what has all of that equipped you with for the last couple of months that you've been, you know, you reached out again, you're like, Ryan, you know, here's where I'm at and and this was a result of some of the things that we worked on.
- So, where are we at now as a result of you just all the things you're stepping up to the plate and starting to make things better for you? >> Yeah, man. Um, I'll tell you a rat. So, where we started was 285 lbs. Uh, 160 over 110. Um, my blood pressure I am now at 225. Uh, my blood pressure is just under 120 over 80 normal. And, uh, the the drastic differences between what I had then and what I had now are three major categories.
- my stress and mental health levels or my mental um my uh the mental strain I put on myself and the stress levels have come down significantly. The way in which I eat and approach my diet and the nutrition that goes in my body is is just much more thoughtful. So when I shop now, I shop around the ring of the shopping uh of the store.
- I eat a lot of fruits, a lot of vegetables, a lot of whole grains. U I'm very cautious about my caloric deficit to make sure that I can continue to lose weight and or maintain weight. Um all the knowledge that you gave me definitely kickstarted the ability for me to really dive deep into understanding what the macronutrients are that my body needs.
- Um what I actually need to be successful physically. And then uh after that it was making sure that I was exercising consistently. So that that was difficult. That started off with walks. That started off with 30 45 minute walks. Um and then >> stretching because you started moving a lot more.
- You needed to stretch and stay loose. >> Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Stretching uh uh walking and then elevated walking up and down hills. And I just slowly started to progress to where I could I went from not being able to walk to the mailbox without being winded to walking five to seven miles a day um and working out five times a week. >> And and some people like, "Oh, that takes up so much time.
- " But you don't understand. When you are an entrepreneur, business owner, you need space. You need time to think to create the vision or subconsciously run through the situations that are going on to find better solutions. So walking and being able to just focus on on that you were able to start to create answers and find solutions within yourself which is we all have the answer inside.
- It's just it's blocked and there's a just a lot of things that block people up. >> So Drake, you have crush it. Do you happen to have that shirt that you had showed me the other day? [laughter] >> Yeah. Uh I don't >> not not around. Well, >> I don't have it with me, but I'll send you a picture of it with me holding >> Yeah.
- this thing. It literally when you you were outside when we we talked and you you flucked it and it literally I was I just thought like I hope that there's not a strong gust of wind because it might blow him away. It was like it was >> yeah significantly different and that in and of itself creates a ton of body confidence and just so much energy for you.
- So, uh, wrapping this up, Drake, if you were talking to yourself back when you were is struggling with your health or someone else that might be watching this, what would you tell them and advice would you give to them? It this is simpler than you think. It can be simplified. We are told all of our lives that things like this that making drastic life changes in your physical health, your mental health, spiritual health, all that.
- We're told that it's difficult. It is not. It is much more simple than people realize. What it takes is consistency. Small percentages of working towards a common goal for several months in a row. That is it. Just stick to it every single day. No matter what you tell yourself, no matter if you're tired or you wake up or you're feeling lazy or you can't do it because you're busy or work's not going right, business isn't going right, family's not going right, none of that matters if you aren't here to enjoy it all. So what I would say from a deeply
- unhealthy man to now a very healthy man, I would say get up, put your shoes on, and go make it happen every single day for several months. And I promise you, you will feel so much better about yourself and your life. >> Yeah. >> Sounds like a typical trip of an entrepreneur and business owner. One step, one day, one moment at a time to overcome all the obstacles that show up in front of you.
- and how do we navigate those successfully long term? And that's that's where I can come in and play and and have fun with you with this. Right. We had a really enjoyable time working together. I heard what Drake said. I understood where he was at. I've worked with a lot of people for years. Came up with an effective solution that was simple and easy to replicate, create consistency around.
- And then every week we checked in to make sure that the process was going on and that it was you think of me as like I was like your business coach for your health in a sense and we just kept moving forward. So it it went wonderful. So Drake I I really want to appreciate it shows my appreciation for showing up uh for yourself most importantly.
- That's that's it. I was just able to facilitate on you deciding that this was important to you and that you wanted to take control of your health and and all the rest comes in after that decision. So, if you watch this and you're inspired by Drake's choice to take his health into his own hands and need some help, support, I'd love to help you.
- My website, brianpraana.com is there. You can check the link in the descriptions and I'm literally like a phone call away or a text away. As Drake said, we have had a significant amount of connection and texting and conversation to help ensure that he's empowered to never have to get into that situation again.
- He can be his best self for all the important people. And it's like now, right? because you've got a lucky lady that you're moving on to the next phase of of your relationship with and then also moving into even a bigger next phase of life. You know, I I double dog dare you to join my crew of having four kids. [laughter] >> They're they're fun. They're a lot.
- >> So, well, Drake, thank you so much. I really appreciate you. And off we go. Awesome. Thanks, Brian. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Before we wrap up, I want you to hear this clearly. Drake didn't win because he found some secret trick, some hack, some whatever. He didn't win because life all of a sudden got easier for him.
- He won because he made a decision and showed up with radical accountability and support to change his future. What you just heard is what happens when a man stops outsourcing different areas of his life and he actually steps up and stands up for what is important to him. If you saw yourself in Drake at any point in this conversation, high stress, successful on paper, but your health is a dumpster fire, then understand this.
- You need systems, processes, a lifestyle change that impacts your daily habits, your routines for the better. And you need to be able to navigate that just as if you'd hire a consultant or outsource for a specific job role in your business or in the company. This is what you do with your health.
- You find the right people that can help you transform. And that's exactly what I do. If you're looking for some radical support, accountability, and some structure that's going to be simple to fit into a crazy busy life, then consider the call to rise.com and check out the link in the show notes. And you're just one conversation away from truly impacting your life.
- I've brought multiple people on that have lost 20 to 30 plus pounds in my 100 day challenge and it's awesome to see the success that they have and I hope that you're inspired and you take action whether you do it with me or you listen to me or you find someone else that can help create the change that you need.
- Thanks again for Drake for showing up being honest and talking about what is actually possible when you take your health seriously.
