That Very Special Day In November Of The Year 2003

Then came that one day in November in the year 2003. What day in November, I don’t have a clue? Why that day, beats me? From what I can tell, it was the events of the previous 17 years of my life that propelled me into my father’s office and told him that it was time; I wanted to lose the weight.

It was the numerous articles my grandparents would give me about childhood diabetes. It was their constant speeches about how they only bothered me about my weight because they love me. It was the constant looking in the mirror and asking myself why I was blessed with brains but cursed with a fat body. It was the want to be at least sort of attractive, to maybe even have a girlfriend. It was the want to be athletic; to be able to run a 5k race. In fact, I did not just want to run the race; I wanted to beat my dad, a man that I always looked up to throughout the weight loss process. It was all of this and more that picked me up off my seat and said to my dad with conviction, “I am going to lose this weight, I am going to look like you do.” My dad used to be fat and now he is ripped and while I weigh less than him now, he has much more muscle than me, he is what I still strive to look like.

I was serious this time. With my feeble attempts behind me it was time to really work at it and shave off the pounds, to become half the man I used to be. I was determined to jump into losing weight with two feet and give 110% to become a thin person.

There are two things I remember about the day I decided it was time to lose the weight. First of all, my dad told me I should call the pediatrician and get the name of a dietician. I gave him this dumb look on my face to which he responded my saying, “I get the point, I will call them tomorrow.” The other thing is that from the outset my dad was 100% there to do anything and everything to help me lose the weight. He was my goal as well as the main support going through a grueling, yet extremely rewarding process.

The journey that followed was one of the best experiences of my life. In fact, it changed my life forever. I can truly say now that I have lived two lives in the short span of 18 years. In, November 2003 I began the transition from fat Aaron to thin Aaron, from one life to the next. I was about to go from 235 pounds to 160 pounds and I was not going to let anything get in my way.

My Attempts At Losing Weight

I certainly came off topic a little in my last post, but it does lead very well into my next topic about all the times that I tried and failed to lose weight.

I had such horrible experiences socially that every once in a while I would get the great idea in my head that I was going to lose weight. To say I gave 100% each time I tried to lose weight would be a lie. If I had given all my effort, I would have lost the weight, and that is eventually what happened.

I do not remember exact details about each time I tried to lose weight; I don’t even know how many times I got the weight loss idea in my head. What I do recall is a series of stories surrounding these attempts, and it is those stories that I want to share with you.

I remember on at least two occasions trying to be bribed to lose weight. Once, my grandmother offered to pay me 5 dollars for every pound I lost. That worked for about a week and I am not sure I ever cashed in. I should have made a deal like that before I started to really lose weight. I could have made $375. Money certainly was not a good enough motivation to get me to lose weight.

My mom also tried to give me gifts for every pound I lost. They would be little things, but something worth my while. Again, this only lasted so long, as my mom ran out of things to give me after about a week. After that my exercising and attempted weight loss went out the window.

From these attempts to end my obesity I learned that the motivation to lose weight must come from the inside. One must lose weight because they want to for themselves. I wanted to improve socially and get better looking, so I finally set my mind to losing weight and I pulled it off, eventually.

I was clearly never close to being successful at losing weight and keeping it off in the two attempts I talked about above. I am sure there are other instances where I would try to increase my physical activity for a few weeks only to come up with some great excuse why I needed to cut back on exercising, but I can’t recall them. I do know this, every time I tried to lose weight prior to November 2003 I only attacked one of the two problems that most obese people have. These two problems exist in physical activity and caloric consumption. I was not exercising enough or at all, and I had horrible eating habits. In my previous attempts to lose weight I only tried to fix the exercise half of my weight problem. When I finally decided it was time to lose weight for real, I grabbed the bull by the horns and took on both aspects of weight loss at the same time. I started to exercise more and I began to eat right. In my opinion the only way to lose weight is if you can create good exercising and eating habits.

There is one last story I want to share about my attempts to lose weight. I kind of would like comments back on this to see if anyone went through the same thing. Every once in a while when I was obese, I would have these dreams or thoughts while in bed and all the sudden I would start moving my legs and I woke up thinking I have to lose weight. Call me crazy, which I swear I am not, but I would wake up to see my body trying to work out. My body was trying to tell myself it was time to lose weight, but always to no avail. It freaked me out, but eventually my brain got smart, and come November of the year 2003, it was time for me to lose the weight for real and I did.

My Social Life or Lack There Of Before Losing Weight

If gym class was a disaster, my social life in general was horrific. Not only was I a nerd, but I was also the fat kid. Yea I had a few friends, but I was picked on constantly. I became so accustomed to the ritual of getting made fun of for being obeses, that I grew a thick skin and let everything roll of my back. I think this is what kept me sane. This avoidance technique is also preventing me from remembering a lot of my experiences as a fat person. I never let the insults bother me as a young kid and therefore rarely stored them in my memory. When I was a kid I thought this is what the rest of my life was going to be life. I had nightmares about growing up alone and not getting married (granted I do not even have a girlfriend right now, but I am not too worried anymore). Aside from a few little stories that left a lasting mark, there is little I cared to remember when I was younger and fat.

What I do remember besides the fact that I got picked on is the general lack of attention paid to me by girls. I mean I had a few friends that were girls, but you know what I am talking about. Girls were not interested in me as someone they would date. I became a very shy kid who lacked almost all confidence. Unfortunately, my experiences as a kid still affect me today. My confidence has grown exponentially, but there is still part of me that thinks like I did when I used to be fat. When I figure out how to overcome this I will let you know.

Now that I think about it, I was able to lose the weight, but there are some things that I will never be able to get back. I am 18 years old and I have essentially lived two lives already. I have been through the fat Aaron and not I am the thin Aaron. Two completely different people, two completely different, well almost everything.

I have sidetracked a little, but the point is that my life as a fat kid was basically hell and I was able to keep my head a float knowing that I was a smart kid and by some miracle I was able to repel the verbal abuse. My social life was pathetic when I was obese and I think that is one major reason that I decided to grab the bull by the horns and lose weight. It was not until I lost weight that I asked a girl out, and my first real girlfriend was after I lost weight. I started late, and I regret the mistakes I made, but guess what, I have lost the weight and I am prepared to make up for lost time.

The Adventures of Gym Class

I feel it is only appropriate to recount some of the unfortunate memories from my many years as a fat kid.

I was always picked last for everything in sports. I would not say I was the most un-athletic kid in the world, but I certainly could not run to save my life. I remember coming in with a mile time of 14 minutes. I know people who can walk a mile faster than I ‘ran” it. Today I can run 2 miles in the time it took me to run one mile for the State Physical Fitness testing. Do you know how embarrassing it is to have the class have to wait for you as you finish the mile run? Everyone watching you, hoping you make it soon because everyone wants to go inside, but I was still there chugging around the track.

Besides the mile test, there was also the sit-ups or push-ups. You had to have a partner and then report your number to the coach. I always picked the other fat kid to do sit ups with, but I was always the worst one in class. Some kids were coming in with 80 sit ups, I was lucky to break 10, and for some reason the coach always liked to announce the scores for “accuracy”. It was not malicious, but still, it felt like he was just pouring more salt in a huge open wound.

The one area of gym I always succeeded at was the sit and reach; I always could and still can palm the floor without bending my knees. Don’t ask me how, but it was the only time that I had clout over the other kids in the class, but it was certainly not enough to make up for all of my failures in physical education.

Gym class was by far one of the worst experiences when I was fat. Going in the pool swimming, I am not ever sure I need to say more. I had a bigger chest than most of the girls; it was sad and pathetic at the same time. I was more embarrassed than the kids who did not know how to swim. My shear inability to excel at anything in gym class was a horrible feeling for me.

(This story does get much more encouraging and cheerful as I get into the weight loss part, but I feel it is important for me to preface the entire feel good story with an accurate portrayal of how bad my situation was before I decided it was time to get my life under control and do something about my weight loss.)

The Early Years of Fat Aaron

The beginning is always a good place to start. The problem is that I don’t remember the beginning of my obesity. My best guess is that I was a chubby cute kid like everyone child when they were younger, and I just never lost the fat. Not only did I not lose the fat, but I also gained more. I asked an old friend whom I went to kindergarten with what she remembered about me. She said I was the smart chubby kid. I figure at least I had one thing going for me, I was smart, but I was also fat.

Good or bad, I have put a lot of the old Aaron behind me. I have no use for the fat Aaron except as a benchmark of something that I will never go back to. I attribute past memories as one of the main forces keeping me from putting on more weight. I never ever want to go back to the old days of the fat Aaron. I remember getting made fun of since who knows when. It was a horrible experience. All throughout Elementary School and Middle School I was the fat kid. There was no one bigger than me. It pissed me off, but there was nothing at all that I thought I could do about it. I was going to be the fat kid for life, or so I thought back then.

Introduction to my story

This is a blog about a kid, who, for as long as he can remember was a fat, chubby, obese kid. Then came one November day when I became determined to change all that.

Hi, my name is Aaron and I am a reformed fat person who went from a whopping 235 pounds at 5’9” to 160 pounds. This is my story about life before, during and after my weight loss.