Fat Guy Diary

Tag: Moderation

  • My ‘why’ has gotten bigger!

    My ‘why’ has gotten bigger!

    My ‘why’ has gotten bigger!

    I WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE combating our obesity epidemic!

    My passion is to be healthy, fit, and strong enough to best help my family, friends, and community. It is my ‘why’ and it keeps me moving forward on my journey through all the highs and lows I experience.  I have worked on this for the past 8 ½ years. I am not perfect, but I am in a much better place to pursue my passion and live my ‘why’.

    Now, my ‘why’ is expanding! I want to change the obesity epidemic that plagues our country. With a third of our country obese and another third headed that way, I must do something! I want to sound the alarm! I want to wake people up! I want to turn the tide on this cursed epidemic that has become our health care crisis. It is truly a disaster!

    WHY? Because I have found my way out of my own personal fire and want to lead others out of their fire!

    I help people by coaching, nutrition support, giving away my story at fatguydiary.com, and volunteering with organizations, such as, Eat Smart Move More Charleston Tri-County. But, I feel this is not near enough for me. I have a burning desire to make a bigger difference! Bu how?

    I just finished a project that was published this month called “A Journey of Riches Personal Changes”. My contribution was a section titled “Hopeless to Amazed”. I wrote “Hopeless to Amazed” by digging deeper on my journey and because I see so many people that feel they are hopeless to change their lives, change their destiny. I want people to know they CAN change their life, they CAN change their destiny!

    My starting point is simple. I am doing more speaking engagements starting October 20th and I am working on a grocery store guide with Eat Smart Move More CTC. I am looking for more opportunities to sound the alarm and give people the hope they need to start their journeys.

    I am also excited to say I am embarking on a new writing project that I have been working on since early August. A chance meeting, has brought me together with someone that is giving me the opportunity to have a bigger voice to help give people some hope and direction out of obesity and unhealthy lifestyle toward a healthier happier future. This news will be coming soon!!!!

    Note to ME and YOU: It is going to take ALL of us to turn our obesity epidemic around! Let’s do it!

     

  • Transformation

    I’ve been blessed to see major transformation in my life, help others to find transformation in their lives, and help organizations transform.

    What do all of these transformations have in common? Commitment, vision, knowledge, energy,  and a can-do attitude!

    • Commitment to the transformation is key. In each case people fully committed to make a change, and in some cases a radical change. If you do not commit, then no other steps matter.
    • Vision toward where you needed to go was also a common thread in these journeys. People developed a vision and started down the road toward that vision
    • Knowledge was gathered along the way to travel the roads toward the vision. Knowledge about self and knowledge about the task at hand were key pieces to each transformation.
    • Energy is seen in each instance. People develop a certain energy to move toward transformation and they harness that energy to get where they need to go.
    • A Can-Do attitude is needed to make the transformation happen. Yes a positive Can-Do attitude can get you a long way down the road to transformation!  As TheFatGuy says, you choose your attitude each day regardless of your life circumstances. You will make good, sometimes great life choices with a positive attitude.

    You should know that YOU can transform your life at anytime!  I have been blessed to have it happen in my life and blessed to see it happen in many other lives and situations.

    Note to ME and YOU: Transformation can get you from where you don’t want to be to where you dream to go!

    TheFatGuy

    TheFitGuy

    TheBEAST

    pants_t180

  • April Fool! (Who ME?)

    As I look back, I can see that many days, if not most, were April Fool’s Day for me! I fooled myself for many days and many years.

    TheFatGuy Cat in the HAT 2014A

    How did I do this? I did this by ignoring me, ignoring my own weight, health, fitness, and life. I was pretty good at helping others and not so good at helping ME. I Fooled myself into ignoring these things. I immersed myself in the needs of others, thinking that if I took time for me I would be taking away from my efforts for others.

    I went from 300 pounds to over 360 pounds in 3 ½ years working to save a non-profit I felt passion for and helping youth I wanted so much to help succeed in life. I did immerse myself in the organization and the needs of others during this period of time. I worked 70 hour weeks for 3 ½ years to save this organization and did nothing much of anything else. I failed to do many of the things that helped me through life. I failed to properly embrace family and friends. I failed to manage my own life. I failed to create balance in my life. I completely failed to “ Take Care of ME!”

    While I may have done much good for the youth I served over 3 ½ years, I took major hits in health, fitness, body, mind, and soul. I did nothing to “Take Care of ME”. I do not tell you this to feel like I sacrificed so much for others, or for some altruistic feeling this might give me. I like helping others, it’s what I am good at in life. I was actually disappointed in me. When I started my journey and looked at what I did, why I did it, and what I wanted to do, I realized just how much I was fooling me.

    I was not only fooling me, I was cheating myself of the ability to be the best me for me and others I my life. Ultimately I ended up at a point where I was in such bad shape, I was no longer able to help others the way I wanted and it was not a good place to be. SO on March 2, 2009 I realized that I needed to be the best me for me and to best help others in my life. I know and talk to many people that are great at helping others and not so great at helping themselves. I see it all too often.

    I have to remind myself every day that to be the best me for me and everyone else in my life, I have to “Take Care of ME!” It is not a selfish thing, it is the best thing for all.

    Note to ME and YOU: Don’t be an April Fool and Fool yourself. “Take Care of YOU” so You can be the best YOU for all!

  • Moderation and TheFatGuy

    Moderation and TheFatGuy

    Moderation and TheFatGuy

    How do YOU define Moderation?

    Moderation was a foreign word to me for a long long time. Actually, several years ago, I told Dr.J of Dr.J & TheFatGuy that I had no idea what the definition of moderation was.

    Dr.J and TheFatGuy (ME) have done different TV and radio spots promoting healthy living, making the healthy choice the easy choice, and anything promoting a healthy lifestyle. Dr.J is a wonderful person that works with MUSC and is, what I would call, the queen of moderation. She is in great shape and health, no body fat, and so on. When we started doing our spots together I noticed she always brought up moderation and doing things in moderation. Sounds like a smart thing to do, huh?

    Well, we walked out of a session one day and I said, “You know, I have no idea what the definition of moderation is. If I did I would have never reached 360 pounds!” She just laughed, but I was a little serious about it and how moderation pertained to my journey. Moderation is much easier said than done with a person like me. You see I quit drinking in 1984 (recovering alcoholic), quit smoking in 1986 (nicotine addiction, 2 packs a day), and started my wellness journey to losing 150 pounds in 2009. Now does that sound like someone that knows what moderation is?

    When I describe myself to people I typically use the phrase “all or nothing kinda guy”. I am like a light switch that has no dimmer. I am ON or OFF! It has been this way with alcohol, cigarettes, and sugar. There are probably a few other things I could toss in for good measure.

    PENINSULA coconut cake
    Picture taken on our anniversary!

    Sugar is one great example of all or nothing. No moderation, no dimmer dial. I worked at giving up processed sugar for 363 days while losing 150 pounds. The only processed sugar I knowingly ingested for those 363 days was 2 bites of coconut cake on my wife’s birthday in November 2009. It was Peninsula Grill’s world famous coconut cake. It is delicious and loaded with calories. Presently one slice has 2,400 calories in it! Yep, about a dozen regular candy bars. But, I had 2 bites and that was it! YEA!

    I gave up sugar during this period because I knew I would struggle to lose weight, to stay on the journey if I did try to ‘manage’ eating any sugar during this period. I still struggle with it, but I do recognize my struggle and my issues with moderation.

    That is what I want to share with you today. I know moderation in many things in life is an issue for me. I know I struggle with the idea of replacing an ‘ON/OFF’ switch with a moderation dimmer dial. Creating honest communication with ME (TheFatGuy) has been a key factor in any success I have seen in my journey. I always go back to honesty, self-honesty. It is the toughest honesty I have ever experienced and many people I know feel the same way. Taking a hard look in the mirror and realizing there are things I cannot control or do well.

    SO, I may not be able to master moderation like Dr.J, but I am fully aware of what I do well and not so well.

    Note to ME and YOU: You don’t have to master everything! Just look in the mirror and master YOU!

    TheFatGuy

    Me June 2008

    ObliqueNDp17 a_2

  • Shameless Self-Promotion

    Shameless Self-Promotion

    The phrase ‘Shameless Self-Promotion’ has been something TheFatGuy took offense to over the years. He would hear these words and think ‘used car salesman’.  He would think promoting oneself at the cost of those around you. Shameless self-promotion took on a very negative connotation for TheFatGuy.  He was always the one promoting others, organizations, and causes; he thought rarely of promoting himself for anything. He became very good at being the champion for other people, organizations, and causes.

    TheFatGuy always enjoys seeing others do well. He likes to help people learn, grow, and find their way in life.  And he’s very good at it. He has helped many people attain supervisory or management roles. He has helped people find their way toward a career or calling outside of his organization or area of control. If he saw someone that was working hard to be successful in life, he liked nothing better than to help them on their way, cheer them on, and promote their hard work and talents to others. It’s something he did well, still embraces now, and, hopefully, will always have as part of his life.

    To TheFatGuy, there is nothing better than helping other individuals or organizations be successful. There is almost no better feeling in life than knowing you have helped someone else on their journey through life. The payment for this investment is seeing the success blossom and thrive; ultimately seeing the person you have helped, invest themselves in helping another. That, to TheFatGuy, is part of the riches he gets in this life.

    As good as TheFatGuy found he was at helping others be success, he fell woefully short in helping himself! He was excellent at shamelessly promoting other people, causes, and organizations. He was horrible at shamelessly promoting himself ……………………. to himself! Until March 2009, TheFatGuy lost sight of taking care of himself. He lost sight of taking care of himself, so he could be the best person possible to help others.

    So, on March 2, 2009, TheFatGuy started his journey and started shamelessly promoting his needs and wants to the person who could help him most at that time> HIMSELF! He started putting his needs at the front of the line, because, quite frankly, if he did not start working on his needs he would not be able to help others and may not be around much longer to help others. He has continued over the past 3 years to work on what he needs to be successful in his life.

    What he has done has worked well for him and, hopefully, some others along the way. TheFatGuy shares his story whenever he can. He likes to let people know he has made a tremendous change in his life in his mid-fifties (losing 150 lbs. and getting in the BEST SHAPE of HIS LIFE!) and that will hopefully help others know they can change their lives in a big way at any time. He feels it is a message worthy of shameless self-promotion!

    As he shamelessly self-promotes, TheFatGuy does not want to sell you a used clunker, he wants to sell you the fact that you can change your life for the better at any time. He wants you to know that nothing is impossible to any individual if they fully commit, have faith, develop the path, and always work toward the journey they want to travel. After all, you control the choices each day, you just need to shamelessly promote yourself to yourself! Hey, you can do it……………… YES, I CAN!

    Note to ME and YOU: Put yourself at the head of the line when you are trying to make a significant change in your life! Keep promoting yourself to yourself until you believe in YOU and what YOU want to do!

    TheFatGuy, TheFitGuy, TheBEAST

  • Habits!

    Habit: an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary.

    Good/Bad, You Choose!
    Good/Bad, You Choose!

    This past week was a week of constant stress and emotion. It was a week off log for me and a week Polly continued to log. Polly’s dad passing on March 31st was an emotional roller coaster for Polly and me. I allowed myself to go off log for the week and it was a week of ugly eating habits coming back to the surface with other bad habits creeping in that ended in a 8 pound weight gain.  Polly maintained her weight and has seen a consistent weight loss since mid-November. She is down 15 pounds since starting to log her daily food intake.

    This all brings to light the need for healthy habits in my life. I know that 32 years of adult bad eating habits have not been erased by 2 years of smarter choices, good habits, and logging. It would not take me long to return to obesity, diminished health, and 7 drugs I do not want to bring back into my life. As I look around, read, and study my issues, I see that we all revert to those ‘almost involuntary behavior patterns’ (yes, habits) that we unconsciously revert to in times of stress. It can be VERY HARD to deal with these ‘bad habits’.

    Good News! Although it can be hard to deal with years of unhealthy or bad habits, they can be changed. This past week is a good example. If I had stayed on log I would have stayed around 219.2 pounds instead of jumping up to  227.6 pounds. I went back on log yesterday and  know I will find myself back on the proper path. I work to Keep It Simple (KISS) knowing it is hard. The log helps me to move back to simple. Many times in life I/We come up with elaborate fixes to hard problems and bad habits. That seldom if ever works, at least for me. Going back to the log (fatguydiary that is) and Keeping It Simple helps me to combat those years of bad habits that are so hard to shed and so easy to give into in difficult and stressful times.

    Note to ME and YOU: Work daily to develop your healthy life habits and Keep It Simple (KISS)!

    TheFatGuy