Hello. My name is John, and I'm quite overweight. I guess that's an understatement. I'm obese. actually, morbidly obese. On 28-August, I saw my primary physician, Dr. Schneider, for some back pain I had been having, and weighed in at 294.
Before I get into what this is all about, first I'll share some information that I think is pertinent to my current weight. I want to be clear, however, that I am NOT placing blame on anyone else, but simply stating relative information. It is what it is.
Growing up as a child to a single mother making her own way, we didn't have a lot of money. Mom did the best she could all along. My most clear, early memories begin when we moved out of my grandparents house, into our own place in Alhambra when I was in the first grade.
As mom worked, I had to go to a baby sitter. The first one wasn't far away, but my memories are very unpleasant. I remember getting to her house after school and being made to sit outside on the porch steps all day, alone, every day until I got picked up by my mom.
The second sitter was better in some respects, but not so good in others. Mostly, it wasn't bad, but she had children of her own, one of which was maybe 3 or 4 years older than me. As such, I got picked on quite a lot. I have lots of memories in being in what is described in MMA as being in the full-mount position - on the receiving end, of course.
Subsequently, around 4th or 5th grade, I became a Latch Key Kid. If you're not familiar with the term, I'd go to school, and come strait home afterward. I would let myself in to the empty house, and lock the door behind me. I would immediately call mom at work to let her know I made it home, and from then until she got home, I was to stay inside. Period. By the time I was in the 8th grade, I'd become quite pudgy. I guess I should go on to say that during this elementary time (my elementary school went from Kindergarten to 8th grade - no "middle school"), it's probably worth mentioning that I did one pass at a bowling league and at around age 11 or 12, I did a season and a half of little league. Other than that, I didn't do anything organized.
It's probably worth mentioning here that during this Latch Key period, I'd save my $1.25 per day that mom gave me for lunch, skip lunch at school, and after getting home and calling mom, I'd make a super-quick trip to the neighborhood market that was a block away and buy food I wanted to eat, which was nearly always either Jell-O instant pudding, or Hostess mini doughnuts.
We did go to the beach on weekends. Most weekends, as far as I can recall... probably more than we didn't, anyway.
Before my sophomore year of high school, we moved to Fontana. The house we lived in was in the Rialto school district, which was less desirable than Fontana, so through some hocus pocus, I went to Fontana High School, which was both far away, and none of the other kids in my area went there. I didn't end up knowing anyone in the area I lived in. I made friends at school, but they all lived far away and were only friends at school.
I wasn't involved in activities in high school. No sports, or other clubs. I didn't go to a single dance or football game, even though the team was CIF Champions. I took a bus to school and back, and once I was home, I pretty much stayed inside. No longer because it was required... it was just what I was accustom to by then. Go home. Watch TV. Commercial break? Time for a snack.
Despite riding my bike everywhere in the later high school years, I was still pudgy. After high school, I worked at a major warehouse distribution center, having productivity standards of more than 400 cases per hour loading cases from a conveyor onto several trucks. Still I was pudgy.
At age 27, I got married, and my weight was maybe 200-210 pounds. Still, not quite fat, but still pudgy. Overweight. Four months later I broke a bone in my left foot; the "fifth metatarsal," at work. I remember the Worker's Comp doctor telling me that this particular bone is quite dense and thus would "take a little longer than normal" to heal. I didn't ask for specifics, but in my mind, I thought, okay, instead of 6 weeks, it will take 8 weeks to heal. Nope. Week after week after week, month after month, I'd go to get checked and x-rayed and it was clear to see that the bone just wasn't getting any better. Long story short, it was about 18 months before the bone had finally healed. Even after it was healed, I still wasn't exactly what you would call comfortable being on my feet. I mean, I could walk, but for example, I tried to hit the tennis ball around with my wife and experienced some serious pain in my ankle and foot that had been immobilized for so long. Also at the end of this time, I had gone up to over 250 pounds.
In the past 14 years since then, I've dieted. I've exercised. The lowest I've gotten was 225 when I tried Atkins, but that didn't stick. I was around 280 when I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I had gotten down to around 255 shortly thereafter, but I couldn't sustain it.
Now that all of that is out of the way, I can get to what I'm looking to do to reverse this now. More to come.
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