I was FAT and now I am a pretty damned good triathlete! Can I help you?

  

Many of you that read my blog know that just a few short years ago I was FAT, not just fat but very obese.  I have been cursed with a very slow metabolism and have battled weight issues all my life, until two years ago when I made the decision to finally put away the fat suit for ever.  I made this commitment to myself because I was absolutely disgusted with what I saw in the mirror.  I was tired of not being able to take part in normal summer activities because I was embarrassed of my body, but most of all I knew I was killing myself with the life style that I was leading.   So I made this commitment and have stuck to it and will for the rest of my life.

I have always been uncomfortable talking about the changes I have made, and really still am, mainly because I am embarrassed of what I was.   In fact I have found that I actually harbor feelings of disdain and disgust when I see Fat (oh and by the way I am not going to be politically correct on this issue, it is what it is) people continually making terrible choices, ie. walking out the door from McDonald’s, feeding there children crap, and my favorite; walking through the buffet line at Sweet Tomato’s with 3 plates piled high, cmon its sweet tomatos, its healthy right?  So recently I have been thinking alot about these negative feelings I have for these people.  Stemmed from a conversation I had with a training partner who said to me “I would think you would have sympathy toward overweight people, knowing where you came from”.    “That is why I don’t have sympathy for them” I replied.  “It actually makes me angry seeing these people killing themselves and setting there children up for a life of torment and embarrassment.”  The conversation was left at that, but I could tell he clearly did not understand how I could feel  hostility toward someone I did not know based on body composition and lifestyle.  I have thought about this allot since.  I realize that its not healthy for me to harbor these feelings and I would be better served helping people make better lifestyle decisions.  But lets be serious, can I really make a difference?  “who could I possibly help, and how?”  This is how these thoughts would generally end.  Until this last week I got a call from a good friend of mind who was seeking help and advice on how he can set some goals to lose weight and get into shape.  I told him I would do anything I could to help him, but it was him who needed to make the changes. 

So since that call, I have been replaying those questions in my head, “Can I make a difference, who can I help and how?”  Well the answer is yes, I think I can make a difference, and I can help anyone who asks for it.  So that is why I am putting this on my blog.  I want to help people make healthy changes in their lives.  Maybe the right people will see this and if nothing else get some inspiration to make changes.  But hopefully they will seek my help and advice because  that is truly what I want to do, help.