Author Jason Jack here, interneters! What better way to start off the new year with a story of weight loss? For the next for weeks, my blogs will be centered around my personal ups and downs with healthy eating habits over the past decade.
My story begins in early Summer 2003 . . .
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The sensation in my chest, I could only describe it as my heart
“popping”.
My body went warm and my pulse quickened, while I sat in
Chemistry class during my Junior year of high school. I wondered whether I would die in
seconds or last the remainder of the day.
Being only sixteen, I didn't want to die. That was enough motivation
to jump-start a lifelong path towards good nutrition and exercise.
Roots of the Problem
I still remember telling doctors about my heart. They did
tests but told me nothing was irregular. Funny thing, though, not a single
doctor asked or even attributed my heart popping to the food I was eating. Just crazy! That’s the first thing I looked to.
After all, I was a 225 pound sixteen year old made of extra
fat and little muscle. I also wasn't very active at the time doing little more
than a daily walk home from school which my body already got accustomed. I had
added on the pounds over the years, and something had to be the culprit.
Devil’s Food
It was definitely the overabundance of food, as well as the
types of food, I was shoveling down my throat that added inches to my waist and
was subtracting years from my short lived life. Here’s a sample Saturday
morning breakfast I ate back in 2001-2002. I warn you—it’s not pretty:
- 4-5 Large whole eggs
- 1 Large Onion Bagel with cream cheese
- 5 Finger-sized sausage links
- 4-5 Pieces of bacon
- 2 Pop-Tarts
- 1-2 glasses of Soda (usually Sprite)
- Perhaps a bowl of ice cream or a piece of cake if we had any
And that was just for breakfast. Whoa.
The daily candy bars, chips, Cheese-Its, cheese, ice cream,
and cakes didn’t help (nor did my penchant for sweets). The occasional fast
food burger and fries made things worse. And to top it all off, I can’t
remember drinking much water during my pre-heart popping years. It was all
about the soda and kool aide.
Knowledge is Power . . . Is Weight Loss
The first step to a nutritional, healthy life is to
acknowledge the unhealthy eating habits. The second is to find and recognize
nutritional replacement foods.
Given that my family as a whole was not overly educated (or
enthused) on eating healthy, I took it upon myself to find better alternatives
for breakfast through dinner.
I analyzed what needed to go and what could stay. I also
knew I had to be more active rather than getting most of my daily workout from
pressing buttons on a video game controller.
I was determined to live. And I wanted to enjoy my Senior
year of high school looking—and feeling—as good as I could.
Summer Is Here
I was 225 pounds at the start of the Summer before my Senior
year. I knew vegetables, fruits, and juices were healthy. I also knew candy,
sweets, chips, and fast foods were out. Going into my three month vacation, I
vowed that I would not eat any sweets or eat any fast foods for the entire
Summer. A lofty goal for a sweet fanatic like me, but it had to be done.
I also vowed to work out on a consistent basis, with no gym
membership and no workout gear.
And finally, with the help of my mother and my measly
bus-boy income, I would start buying better food for myself.
The goals were set. The time was now.
The Fight To Live
I can still remember the seconds feeling like hours the
moment after my heart popped. My arms were jittery and I had no idea what was
happening. The sensation of muscles pulling and contracting in my chest was a
startling experience that sent me into a “Oh crap—I better take care of myself”
state.
My parents and family had little knowledge of proper nutrition and my doctors even more oblivious to my needs. As it should be, it was up to me to take control of my
weight and nutrition. The only other option was to die, and I was going to
fight to live.
Come back next week when I detail how I shed over thirty
pounds in a single summer . . .
Until then.
(I'm an author of adult and children's books, a positive advocate, and lover of sweets [to my detriment at times]. What you just read is a snip-it of my ever evolving, very malleable philosophy of life based on experience, conversations, and years of studying. If you get anything out of reading my words, I hope it is to think and be positive :)
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