Excerpt from “THE FAT BOOK”
How I Lost Over 100 Pounds (and You Can, Too)
We’ve all heard the statistics and most of us actually live them – an estimated 129.6 million Americans (a full 64% of the American population) are overweight or worse! We Americans are fat! A higher percentage of Americans than ever before in history are considered obese and even morbidly obese! Fortunately, most of us can overcome our own problem with obesity and avoid all of the health problems that come with it through proper diet and exercise. I know it’s possible. You see a couple of years ago, I was one of those obese Americans and today I’m one of the few remaining fit Americans!
My life had pretty much spiraled out of control. I was consumed with work, and pretty much nothing else. As such, I got absolutely no exercise, and ate anything I could as quickly as possible. My days and nights were spent in front of a computer, on my cell phone, in the car, and sometimes sleeping. With this lifestyle I ballooned to over 350 lbs. What’s funny, though, is I really didn’t realize how heavy I had gotten. I never weighed myself, and rarely even looked at myself in mirrors. What finally motivated me to do something about my weight was the fact that I had gotten tired of being tired. It seemed I never had energy anymore. I got tired of my steering wheel poking me in the stomach when I drove. But what really got me were some pictures that were taken during Christmas one year. Thank heavens I finally decided to do something.
I wrote this book as a result of my personal struggle with losing weight, and what I finally decided to do to get in shape once and for all! I have spent well over $10,000 in gym fees, personal trainers, weight loss programs, exercise equipment, and special food supplements over the years. And finally I got the equation right! I wanted to share what I learned during this process with others who have struggled with their weight in hopes that they may be able to save a few dollars while actually seeing a difference in their level of success.
EPIPHANY
It wasn’t like I became fat overnight, but that’s how it felt when I suddenly realized how far out of control I had gotten. It was Christmas. There was a new digital camera, and before I knew what was happening, I was being photographed multiple times. Suddenly, my ecstatic nephew was showing everyone what great pictures he took. I was appalled when I saw the outcome. One picture sticks out in my memory more than the others. I was sitting on (or I should say, filling up) one couch and five other people were seated on the other. I couldn’t stop staring at that picture, and wondering how that could be. I didn’t feel like I was huge, but the proof was right there. I was gigantic.
That was when I started to evaluate things very seriously. Up until that point, I knew I was “heavy”. But I had no idea I was that big. I avoided weighing myself. I got up in the dark, showered in the dark, dressed in the dark – all the while avoiding as best I could looking at myself in mirrors. I would drive to work early in the morning, stopping at McDonald’s for my daily intake of a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit meal with a large orange juice and an extra sausage biscuit on the side for good measure.
I was a middle manager at a software development house. I was usually one of the first, if not the first, person to arrive at the office every morning. I took pride in the fact that I was there to open the doors and start getting productive before everyone else. Surely the “powers that be” would notice this dedication and good behavior and reward me, right?! I would work quietly in my office, hunched over my computer, exercising my mind to the point of fatigue. Unfortunately, no other muscle in my body received any sort of exercise. Well, I take that back. I must have gotten some sort of exercise as I trekked back and forth between my office and the break room to take advantage of the free candy bins and free soda fountains. (It was all free as part of incentive to keep the developers and everyone else “productive”).
When I broke for lunch, it was usually to head out to a local eatery with colleagues from work. We would rush in, devour our food, and rush back to work. On days that there was no time to go to a sit-down restaurant, one of us would run to a fast food joint and order up everyone’s favorites and bring them back to the office so we could all enjoy a great meal while slaving away in front of our computers again. And don’t forget those late nights (which were more common than not). On those nights, the company would generously pay for our dinner from whatever restaurant (within reason) that we desired. I was always amazed that it would turn out to be pizza!
My drink of choice throughout the day was the perennial favorite – Diet Coke. I didn’t believe in nursing one drink all day long. No way. I guzzled those Diet Cokes like they were . . . well . . . water. I drank them by the can, by the bottle, but normally by the 32 oz cupful that were always available at the fast food joints. I learned to enjoy the burning sensation of the bubbles as they went down too quickly. MMM-MMMM.
And it wasn’t just my weight that was the problem. Even though I outwardly appeared happy go lucky, inwardly I was depressed. Nothing seemed to go right. Life was unfair. Not just unfair, but more unfair to me than to others around me. Activities that used to be fun, were now unappealing; mostly because it took too much of an effort to do them. Gardening left my knees and ankles aching from the simple act of kneeling down to pull weeds, plant seeds, or even to enjoy the fruits of my efforts. With such simple tasks out of reach, you can forget about the more challenging activities that I used to enjoy: swimming, skiing, and even traveling. Sitting on an airplane had even turned into an embarrassing nightmare, as I needed to request an “extender belt” from the stewardess; an attachment to the seat belt that made the seatbelt that fit around normal waists able to reach around my bloated waist.
That Christmas was when I realized I was no longer me. I had become someone that I never expected. Worse yet, I had become someone that I swore I would never become – my very own father! After years of a stagnate lifestyle, he died at 53 from a heart attack, and now I was repeating his old habits. That was when I realized I had to make a change. But how? And what if nothing changed? What if I failed? I determined then and there that failure was not an option.
I had gotten to the point where it was very difficult for me to sleep at night. I was in a constant state of being tired, but could not get a full night’s sleep. I had terrible heart burn that would wake me up in the middle of the night, and then I would be unable to go back to sleep. During this time, I could recall some of my dreams so vividly. As if the potential of my body was calling out to me from the depths of my soul during periods of downtime. I had dreams of competing in swim meets. As a teenager, I was a champion swimmer. Butterfly was my specialty stroke. I used to love it. In these dreams, I could feel the adrenaline flow as I took the starting block. The gun sounded. I felt my leg muscles tense and push me forward into a flying entry into the clear, blue water. The liquid surrounded my body. I could feel it streaming by as my kicks and pulls pushed me easily along. My lungs filled and emptied. My arms began to ache. But I was swimming! I was winning! And then I would awaken. For a moment of bliss, I was young, free, and fit again. Then reality would set in. The let down was palpable. Being the size I was now, there was no way I would even get near the water, much less put on a swim suit. It was too humiliating. I had allowed myself to get so out of shape that I had been robbed of one of my favorite activities.
After graduating from college, I had lived and traveled extensively overseas. It seemed like everyday was a new adventure. My life was exciting. I lived and traveled throughout Asia, South America, and Europe. I swam in the Amazon River. I hiked through the jungles of Southeast Asia. I basked in the warming suns of countless beaches. I shopped for days in the markets of Hong Kong and Seoul. I rode motorcycles and scooters through some of the craziest traffic on earth in Taiwan. I danced until the wee hours of the morning in some of the most exclusive clubs in Asia. My life was exciting and worth living. That was when I was fit and could do those things.
Now that I had let myself get out of shape, there was no way I could do half of the things I used to. My bloated body had limited my activities. My breathing was heavy. Instead of walking, I lumbered. My dance moves looked more comical now – not so sexy like before. Ha! What a vision! Not only that, but I had put my health at risk, too. I didn’t dare go to a doctor’s office. I was too afraid of finding out how bad off I really was.
My dreams and my past kept haunting me. They were ghosts of a time past. I wanted to resurrect those ghosts and make them realities again. I could feel that possibility inside of me. I could do it! It would take effort. It would take patience. It would take time. But it was worth it. I didn’t just want to get back in shape; I NEEDED to get back in shape.
There’s something you need to know about me. As with most people, I’m dreadfully fearful of failing. My dreams can be very fragile. With that fear of failure in mind, I didn’t want to draw a lot of attention to my new resolution. The last thing I wanted to do was to tell people about what I was trying to do. Reason being, if I told someone, there was the risk that they would try to police my progress. For me, that would not be helpful. The last thing I needed was someone holding my dreams and new plans over my head. That just results in making me want to rebel. So, I had to keep it a secret. If I was successful, people would notice at some point. If I wasn’t successful, there was no reason to make a big deal over it.
Losing the amount of weight that I needed to lose was going to take some time, and instinctively I knew that. I knew there were certain habits that I had been clinging to that I could fix immediately, so decided it was time to take action. One of the most obvious was my consumption of soft drinks. It was time to free myself of the caffeine, carbonation, sugar, NutraSweet, corn syrup, food coloring and more. This was actually a much bigger step for me than I originally anticipated. I was hooked on Diet Coke. It was my “drug” of choice. It was time to get serious and determine which was more important to me – getting in shape and making my dreams a reality or the short-term satisfaction of a soft drink. Getting in shape was the obvious answer. I gave up soft drinks cold turkey. There would be no more soft drinks. Besides soft drinks, I knew that there would also be no more coffee, tea, alcohol, energy drinks, milk, hot chocolate – no more of anything except for good old fashioned water. That, in and of itself, was not going to be the magic elixir that would change everything, but it was a start, and I had to start somewhere.
I was surprised that no one really noticed that I wasn’t drinking soft drinks anymore. To me, it was such an outward change to my routine that I thought everyone would notice and ask about it. I mean, I used to drink Diet Coke ALL THE TIME. There was always one on my desk. I always had at least one during meetings – even more depending on how long the meeting was. Now that I was drinking water, I was surprised that no one really said anything. So far, my plan was working. I had changed one of the most obvious bad habits that I had without bringing it to anyone’s attention. I felt good about it. I had always heard that it took at least twenty-one to thirty days to change a habit, so I was determined to make it a month of drinking nothing but water. I wasn’t going to change anything else in my routine until I could consider my conversion to water a success.
I had to admit, for the first few days I could tell that the lack of caffeine was affecting me. At first I had a few headaches. I even felt a little tired and light headed. But once the toxins had worked their way out of my system, I didn’t even miss the soft drinks. I was amazed. Something that was so much a part of my daily life really held no temptation for me anymore. What was even better was that my heart burn was subsiding. I wasn’t being awakened at night by that burning in my throat and chest! I was starting to get a full night’s sleep! If nothing else came from this whole experiment, this was worth it! If you’ve never suffered from insomnia and from the burning sensation of dyspepsia, you can’t know what a relief it was to be able to sleep through the night!
That first month passed by remarkably fast. During those first weeks, I started to consider my next steps. It was going to take more than just drinking water to get back into shape. I knew I was going to have to change my daily activities to include an exercise regime. That is when I decided that no matter what, I would have to join a gym and get a personal trainer. I really wanted a personal trainer, because I knew I had very little self-discipline after years of not doing any exercising. I also lacked the knowledge of how to effectively reach my goals.
At this point, I had reached the first time that I really felt intimidated. I was FAT! I knew it. Everyone else knew it. Anyone with eyes knew I was fat. Even those without eyes, could probably hear the “fat-ness” in my voice. That’s how fat I was. I was filled with dread. I felt like I was going to enter a cathedral of fitness where all the beautiful people spend their time. I was going to enter a Gold’s Gym. I pulled into the parking lot (which, by the way, was completely full) and sat in the parking lot for a good 15 minutes. I don’t know why I was so intimidated. I guess I thought that trumpets would sound when I walked through the front doors. Everyone would take one look at me, and then all heads would be together whispering things about me. I would be humiliated.
That was also the day I learned a very important lesson. When I walked through the doors of the gym, none of the other patrons looked my way. They were all too occupied with their own workouts and achieving their own goals. It was obvious to me that most people at the gym are not there to stare at everyone else. Most people at the gym are at the gym during their own ugliest moments – working out, breathing heavy, sweating profusely, and hoping that no one else is looking at them. Psychologically, this was an important realization for me. It helped me understand that even though I was in the worst shape of my life, I wasn’t getting judged each time I walked into the gym. Mentally, this made a big difference in my attitude towards going to the gym. I felt like I had found the right gym for me. As I toured the facility before signing up, I was shown all the various amenities of that particular gym – a swimming pool, a whole series of cardio equipment, a plethora of resistance machines, and an entire selection of free weights. Even to the untrained eye, it was obvious that there was more than enough equipment there for me to use to be able to reach my fitness goals. I wasn’t sure what I would do with all that equipment, but it was obvious that there was enough equipment to keep my workouts fresh. Plus, when I saw the pool, I made a mental note that I would use that pool to the max when I got to the right size to be able to wear a swim suit again! My dreams, even though far off, were much closer to coming true!
Part of my plan for losing weight and getting back into shape included a personal trainer. I wasn’t exactly sure how to go about doing that. I looked on the internet and in the phone book, and realized that there was no lack of individuals and businesses offering their services with prices ranging from the very cheap to the super expensive. This posed another decision that almost paralyzed me. I wasn’t sure what to look for in a personal trainer or a program. I wasn’t sure what was realistic price-wise. I started to call around, and soon found out that since I had signed up at Gold’s Gym, I had to use one of their personal trainers if I actually wanted to have someone on site with me showing me how to do the exercises and use the equipment. With that in mind, I returned to the gym the next morning and got set up with a personal coach.
The process was actually somewhat amusing. Alarming, but amusing at the same time. To get started, we had to take my measurements. First we walked over to the scales. This was something I was dreading. I hadn’t weighed myself in years – literally years, maybe even a decade! I had no idea what to expect, but I knew it wasn’t going to be good. As we approached the scales, I prepared myself for the worst. At the same time, however, I knew it was something that I had to do if I was going to have any chance of improving. I stepped up and waited for a few seconds for the digital read out to appear – 338 pounds! I waited for it to adjust and give my final weight which was obviously going to be lower. No such luck! I was 338 pounds! I felt dizzy. I couldn’t believe it. I tried to hide my surprise. I think I did. The guy that was taking me through the process maintained his professional outlook. He jotted the number down on a form where he would annotate my other starting measurements. He measured my height – six feet one inch. He then did a test to measure my percent body fat. Another very alarming number – 39.6%. I couldn’t believe it, but my body consisted of almost 40% fat. I think the young man taking my measurements was trying to play down the severity of the situation when he said, “I have some good news and I have some bad news.” I was surprised he had any good news at all! I couldn’t imagine what it was, and gave a nervous chuckle as I asked. The bad news was that I was morbidly obese. Yes – MORBIDLY OBESE! The good news was that he had worked with worse cases than mine! Cold comfort.
Well, now I knew. I was armed with the information I needed to know to get started. I guess at that point, I could have gotten pretty depressed, because of how bad the situation was. I could have given up right then and there before committing to working with a personal trainer. I could have determined that my case was hopeless. In short, I could have wrapped myself up in the comfortable blanket of self-pity. However, I decided that I had to remain as optimistic as possible. I had to remember that those numbers represented my starting point. There was nothing I could do at this point to change those beginning numbers. I had to be resigned to the fact that those were simply numbers. The other important fact to remember was that those were my BEGINNING numbers. They were not my ENDING numbers. I knew that I was not the person that everyone else could see on the outside. I knew I had it in me to take control of my life, change my habits, and improve my lifestyle. With that in mind, I determined that I was going to do whatever it would take to lose the weight – AND I DID!
The day after I signed up with a personal trainer, I started working out with him. His name was Clint. He was 24 years old – young, well-built, and in college. I was almost twenty years older than him. I had life experience. I had a good job. Coming at it from Clint’s perspective though, for all he knew I was yet another old, fat man, in a dead-end job. Even so, something inside of me had the gall to ask what I could learn from a young kid with no life experience! I started to have my doubts. How was I going to learn anything from someone so young and inexperienced? I had to get that out of my mind immediately. I took a moment to re-evaluate the situation. It takes a certain amount of humility to recognize that you are not able to make the progress you need and want to make by yourself. I had also learned years earlier, that knowledge can come from anywhere and anyone. It was important to stay open minded. I couldn’t let my ego get in the way. So, I sucked it up and looked at it from a different perspective. Clint was my new coach. In some ways, he even came to be a sort of life coach for me.
On our first day together, Clint jumped right to the point. I was sort of surprised by his approach. I thought we would get together and start pumping weights or something. Instead, the first thing he did was ask me what my goals were, and what I was going to do to stay on top of my workouts and goals. He asked if there was someone that I was going to report to during this process to help me achieve my goals. Fortunately, I had already thought that through. I had set up a blog where I would post videos and daily commentaries on my work outs, progress, and eating habits. He was intrigued, but didn’t look convinced. What I didn’t know then, but found out a few months later was that he didn’t hold out much hope for me. He had seen people come in with the best of intentions so many times, but not stick to their resolve. He had seen people ignore his advice over and over and over again. He later told me, that when we first met, he gave me three weeks and then I wouldn’t show up anymore. Boy, was he ever wrong!
So, unbeknownst to me, we both had hurdles of doubt to overcome! In the beginning, the workouts seemed brutal. I was dying! Everyday my blog entries talked about how sore I was, how difficult the workouts were, and how I wished I had never put myself in that position. However, secretly I was LOVING it! My muscles and my stomach ached, yet I took that as a reminder that I was making progress. For the first time in so many years, I felt like I was alive again! I immediately started to see results. The pounds started to melt away, but what was even more exciting was my body started to take on a new shape.
I can recall a specific workout one day. We were working on biceps. This was probably a couple of weeks into my experience of working with Clint. I was doing the exercises, and suddenly Clint told me that he had noticed that I never looked in the mirror when I did the exercises. He told me to watch myself as I did the workouts. I doubt he understood what he was asking of me. He wanted a man who wouldn’t even get dressed with lights on so he wouldn’t have to look at himself in the mirror to start looking at himself in the mirror while working out?! That was so hard for me. All I could see during the workout was some fat guy trying to lift weights. But Clint was my coach, and I had resolved to follow his instructions. At first I focused on my form – was I lifting the weights the way Clint had indicated? If not, I worked on improving in that area. However, as the days and weeks passed, I started to notice that my stomach was shrinking. My arms – which at the beginning of this process just looked fat and meaty – were now toning up! My self-confidence started to return, and it wasn’t so difficult to look at myself in the mirror anymore. Believe it or not, I even started getting dressed with the lights on again! I wasn’t repulsed by myself anymore! As the days and months ticked away, I saw real changes both physically and mentally. It was very exciting!
During the following months working out with Clint, I learned some very important lessons that were crucial to my success in losing the weight and more importantly the fat! I have to mention that throughout this story I keep referring to losing “the weight”. I really should be referring to losing “the fat”. There have been times during this process that I noticed that although my body shape was improving, my weight was not changing. That is something very important to understand. Losing “weight” is not the only indicator that your body is improving. And it’s really not the best indicator either. Many times your best indicator of how you’re progressing is to pay attention to how your clothes are fitting. It’s nice to see the numbers go down, but remember to pay attention to the other indicators, too!
As I mentioned earlier, I have learned from experience some very important lessons that were crucial to my success in losing the weight and the fat. I have broken these lessons down into what I call my SEVEN WEIGHT LOSS SECRETS, and I’ll share those secrets with you now.
SECRET #1 – “WHY”
SECRET #2 – ATTITUDE
SECRET #3 – NUTRITION
SECRET #4 – ACTIVITY LEVEL
SECRET #5 – ACCOUNTABILITY
SECRET #6 – ENVIRONMENT
SECRET #7 – PERSISTANCE
I hope you enjoyed this “snippet” from “The Fat Book”. If you’d like to read the rest of the story, get access to the workout schedules, the food journals, the food plan and so much more, be sure to get the complete “The Fat Book” on my blog at:
www.Lose-100-Lbs.com
