Mine is NOT a Success Story

My story is an underdog hero's journey. I am the unlikely person to overcome overwhelming odds to not only help myself by also aspire to help others. Success would mean I am done. I am just getting started.

Starting at class 3 obesity, because that is as high as it goes, I was a highly disabled person. Standing for more than about 5 minutes was torture. Walking a sidewalk required a rest at the end. I was sub sedentary. My health was beginning to fail. I had tried and failed to lose weight for 3 decades. I had given up. I believed I had 5-7 years left to live. My doctors would not disagree. My conditions were still in their early phases but they were the kind that snowball quickly.

Early 2018 I engaged in a situation that resulted in weight loss. It was accidental. It was also an epiphany. Weight loss is not something to force. Weight loss is something to allow to happen. With a change in perspective I wrote a new plan. A plan based on making the process as easy as possible being very kind to myself. Initially I didn't try to exercise or even move more. I should have been trying to do sitting exercises but I never said I handled it all perfectly.

For the first couple of months I still was not really into cooking for just myself so a lot of my meals still came from the freezer. I was eating more salads too but I knew eventually I was going to need to do better. The thing is doing better is easier when you lose weight and feel more energetic so I am thankful for all the chicken nuggets and fries and their kin for helping me lose that first 30 pounds.

My underdog hero's journey did not have a musical montage to speed up the story. It was a daily process of incremental change. That is why it had to be easy. That is why it had to feel mostly normal and not like I was "dieting" for almost 3 years. You have to find your happy and your normal in as many days as you can along the way. That way you can more easily weather the bad ones. Do not go out of your way to make days harder. That is what I always did. It always led to failure.

There is no room for style points for doing something social media worthy. The process of weight loss should be as boringly easy as it can be. People are often eye glazing over bored when I answer their question of how I lost my weight. They want to hear me say something like omad vegetarian keto with a side of autophagy. Nope. Eat less and, as possible, move more. The thing is the process is boring. The results are anything but. My story is told and retold and some of the ones telling it are my doctors. I consider it a tragedy to be this rare and unique. I hope that everyone reading this will make what I have done more common.

In the course of losing over 250 pounds my life and health have dramatically improved. The person who could barely walk down a short sidewalk can now walk over 8 miles in a single session. As I mentioned I didn't do it all perfectly. I made mistakes. I had my share of weak moments. I even planned to eat more than I needed on occasion. When you create a landslide of right choices the wrong or possibly questionable ones get swept under.

However, I am not the hero of your story. You are. I am the mentor janitor who serves as a guide. You have obstacles in your path. That is part of the hero's journey. Put one right choice in front of the next and chip away at what stands in your way. Do it for yourself, but others will notice. It will give them hope. That is an awesome gift to give.

Wake up each day in your story. Show up ready to do what you need to do. Embrace that part of you that is already a hero. If you have a great day then you move closer. If you stumble and fall you try to learn from it and also realize that, too, is part of your journey. You don't become a hero without a few bruises.