Challenges

"I don't have enough time", "I can't find the time", "I am too tired" (another way of saying "I am too lazy"), and my personal favorite, "I'll do it tomorrow". What is wrong with people? We live in a society of fat people who refuse to take care of themselves. I know because I was one of them. We are too busy working! We are too busy letting life pass us by! We are too busy being busy! And, when we are not too busy being busy, we are "resting" from being too busy. I was opening and closing the health club seven days a week. I worked a commission job for 99 hours a week, yet I found a way to get my rotund body up and away from the desk, the phones, and the damn sandwiches that the male trainers shoved in my face to get on the treadmill and lose some weight. Some people will say, 0k, but there are 168 hours in a week. However, after 99 hours at work, and balancing the rest of the time between a new girlfriend, eveyday routines, and sleep........ I really did not have enough time-but guess what? I MADE THE TIME! I chose to eat better, I chose to exercise. If I wanted to watch cable I had to go to a bar or Stacey's house. I was not going to fall back into old routines. I cared about me! I cared about Stacey! Was it easy? NO! Was I perfect at it and lost weight every week? NO! Did I ever indulge in good food and better beer? Hell, Yes! Did I back slide? Yes, often, but at the end of the day I was accomplishing what I had intended. I have always loved the movie Braveheart and the tagline was "Every man dies, but not every man really lives." I was damned if I wasn't going to live a full and happy life. Now, I had to find a way to get out of this club before I went insane. Living life to the fullest is often a struggle just like losing weight, but if you don't persevere what is the point?

My Worth?

It had been a month. I was ten pounds lighter and much happier. The mammoth poster of me actually did not seem that intimidating. I knew that if I stayed focused and in control I could accomplish anything. The boss came in one day and fired everyone.....except me. I was now the "Managing Director" of the health club. It was awesome. All the responsibility, but without any of the extra pay. Fantastic! Not only that, I now had no staff and did not know how to balance the time to hire, train, and still make sales to get paid. At least with Stacey being a trainer I could still see her everyday. He had only fired the sales staff. What did I expect from a guy who one day fired me for answering the phone in the morning, then when sales sagged, rehired me in the evening? Stacey still would not let herself be considered my "girlfriend". I had a feeling that it would not be too long before it happened. Stacey was so easy to be with, but she thought we were just having fun. I was twenty-one and just beginning my life and she had already been living a full one. She had traveled around the world, had had a career she loved, been married for ten years, and had a daughter. I knew I was falling in love with her. I was scared- was this real? Would she love me back? I was twenty-one and she was thirty five. Did I really know what I was doing? What could I possibly offer her?

Grasping Control

Stacey actually thought this was like a one time fool around thing- even though we didn't even sleep together. We promised to stay friends no matter what. Was she insane? I was a 21 year old who was eighty pounds over weight. There was no way in hell that I was happy with my self. Suddenly I had this beautiful, sexy woman in my arms. I was not gonna let her get away that easily. I woke up the next morning and was excited to go to work. I walked in with a new found hop in my step and stared and that ridiculous poster of this person that I was SICK and TIRED of being. Right then and there, I vowed that this control I now felt I would never relinquish. If I did not change my direction, I would DIE a very young death. My fattiness or big bonededness or whatever you want to call it would kill me in one way or another. I was going to lose that weight by January. I had five months and eighty pounds to go. First and foremost, I was going to let Stacey know we had a date that very night!

Moment of Clarity

I took control of my life. Finally, after all the wondering of what the hell I was doing in the middle of Ohio. I really mean the middle! Columbus is smack dab in the middle of the whole damn state! I was going to let Stacey stay on the futon since it was not a good idea to drive (the bar was across the street from my apartment). I would sleep on the floor. My roommate Andrew and I were currently sharing a one bedroom apartment and I was the one who moved in last. Stacey and I were doing a lot of talking when the Guinness knocked me off the futon onto the floor. As I looked up at Stacey laughing uncontrollably, it hit me- I was here for her! In that moment of clarity, I leaned up, took her face between my hands, and gave her a kiss. Not just any kiss. The Kiss! The one the princesses talk about in fairytales. The Earth moved at that moment. I will never forget it as long as I shall live.

The Coolest Chick Alive!

I had a plan and I'd be damned if it wasn't going to work. In retrospect, I ought to preface this plan with the fact that growing up, I was a big fan of Married With Children. However, at some point I must have forgotton that Al Bundy's plans never worked. PROMO NIGHT! I could get Stacey to come with me to help promote the club. At the local dive bar, Spoonz, they were already doing a a promotion with another club.....a strip club. I thought I could invite Stacey to this bar, it would be a good place to sign new members up. Strippers need to stay in shape too! Stacey said she would go since it was a "big promotional" event for our club. Since it was a "big promotional event" for the gym I realized that I needed more people to go. Otherwise it would be Stacey, me, and a whole lot of strippers. Stacey didn't know about the strippers yet. During the next six hours I was able to get only my roommate to come and that was because I promised to buy his drinks. At this point, you could add the title of Giant Idiot to the already growing list of fat, lazy, and immature. Of course, Stacey figured out the plan almost immediately, but she did not leave. I might have picked the coolest chick alive. She was hanging out and playing darts with my roommate and I while being surrounded by half naked women, and having a lot of fun. Now, I have always wanted to say what I'm about to write. After enough Tanq and tonics and Guinnesses we ended up back at my place.......

A First Date?

What do you know? She was faster than me with one friggin leg! We were cutting it close for the movie because Stacey ran late. We had to sit in the first row in this massive theater. I think my eyes are still messed up to this day because of that stupid theater. Midway through she took her foot cast off and draped her beautiful leg over me. Needless to say, it was very difficult to pay attention to the movie. It was a good thing I had already seen it. The movie ended and I tried to keep up with her as we went to the car but her sexy legs are very long and I was very fat. In the car, I heard her entire life story in about thirty minutes. This woman would not shut up- which was fine by me because all I could do was stare at her. She smelled so good too. I never wanted to leave the car. When we pulled up to my place, she apologized to me for talking so much. She said that she was nervous. I didn't know why. It was like beauty and the beast. When I think about it that way, she probably thought I was going to eat her! The night had been perfect up until the point I blurted out, "So, you want to come in for a nightcap?" What the hell was I thinking! It wasn't 1940 and all I had to drink was soy milk and Jaegermeister. A NIGHTCAP! She probably thought that The Blob was going to slip her a roofie! She gracefully declined. Now all I had to do was try and trick her into going on a real date. God, she is beautiful.

The Jacket of Shame

Another inspiring day at the office: Eric came up to me and said that I was required to wear a jacket when I'm wearing California Fitness Center attire. I tried to explain to Eric that it was summer time. Summers in Ohio are no better than the winters-except with heat. It was ninety- eight degrees out with 100% humidity. He said the boss, Greg, told him that while wearing his company's stuff I had to wear a jacket to cover up my gut. I felt like a sledge hammer was just swung into the enormous tub of lard that was apparently my stomach. It is one thing to make fun of yourself, but to basically be told you are ten pounds of crap in a five pound bag is entirely different. As I was slinking over to go get the car cover that was supposed to be my jacket, I overheard Stacey mention that she was going to see Spider Man 2 all by herself that night. In that moment, I barreled over to her table. It was a good thing no old people or children were in the way because I would have squashed them like Godzilla does the Japanese. As I was so graceful, I practically destroyed the poster of me that every day was beginning to look more and more like a billboard. I blurted out, "I'll go with you". Stacey looked up at me and grinned. Then she replied, "Excuse me?" and I stammered, "I-I-I I'll go with you." She smiled and said, "Okay, pick me up at seven." Of course I still didn't have a car in Ohio yet, so the world's first Biggest Loser had to explain that she had to pick him up at seven instead. Somehow we still had a date or whatever it was. I went to go get my jacket of shame but I walked a little bit taller going to get it and then I went to exercise hoping I could get the last seventy pounds off before my first evening with Stacey. I figured if anything, she still had a cast on- at least she wouldn't be able to get away......