Current Weight: 340lbs
I really never could get into the blogging thing. I've made several and never dedicated to them. Most of them, however, were my poor web developing attempt to add a comment section to a movie review website. This was many years ago, of course - prior to things like DISQUS. I never actually attempted to write a personal blog to chronicle my daily activities because I've never believed in doing that. I'm the kind of person that bottles up my thoughts and feelings, which all come gushing out as anger most days even if the bottled feelings were happy. Unfortunately, this tends to ruin relationships for me one way or another.
I really never could get into the blogging thing. I've made several and never dedicated to them. Most of them, however, were my poor web developing attempt to add a comment section to a movie review website. This was many years ago, of course - prior to things like DISQUS. I never actually attempted to write a personal blog to chronicle my daily activities because I've never believed in doing that. I'm the kind of person that bottles up my thoughts and feelings, which all come gushing out as anger most days even if the bottled feelings were happy. Unfortunately, this tends to ruin relationships for me one way or another.
Enough of my blogging history emotional well-being. On to the purpose of this one. It's called "How To Lose Weight and Escape From Gringotts." An odd combination of words. To me, it has the potential to mean a lot. In June 2014, Universal Studios Orlando will expand and open a new addition to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which will be in Universal Studios, be connected to Islands of Adventure by the Hogwarts Express, contain re-creations of Diagon Alley, and feature an all new ride called "Escape From Gringotts." Islands of Adventure already contains a ride inside the faux Hogwarts Castle called "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey," a new-age theme park ride that I'm sure is spectacular. I attended Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure just 1 week after the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened in June of 2010. My birthday is June 29 and I was elated to go and check out a re-creation of a fantasy world I grew up with and, to this day at age 25, still love.
I mentioned that I'm sure the ride is spectacular. Why didn't I ride it when I was there? Long lines? The sweltering mid-June Florida heat? No. I didn't ride The Forbidden Journey because I am now and was at the time obese. I don't know my exact weight at the time, but Universal, for most part, had "modified seating" (a.k.a. fat people seats) on all rides I wanted to check out except that one I guess due to the newness of the attraction. I was able to enjoy myself and have a good time at the parks albeit I was embarrassed enough riding in modified seating; it's humiliating to ask for it. When I went to ride the Forbidden Journey, I went to have the restraints pressed down over my shoulders and was told it wasn't going to work for me. In shame, I left the ride in front of a dozen people who saw my fat ass not be able to have the restraints pressed down over my shoulders. Weight aside, I am no small person in general. I currently am 6' 1" and weigh 340lbs - I truly believe my shoulders also contributed to the issue. There is, of course, no mistaking that my fat gut made it difficult to fit in even the modified seats.
After watching my then girlfriend ride it over, and over, and over again and talk about how great it was, I was bound and determined to lose weight so that some day I could return to WWHOP and ride the Forbidden Journey. As it turns out, maybe a year after I'd been there, they added modified seating to the ride. This of course did not encourage me to continue being tubby because hey at some point I'd just become so fat I couldn't even ride the modified seats right? I was as determined as ever.
There's hardly ever a good excuse for obesity in my opinion. That of course is an intense medical debate I am unwilling to have because I don't claim to be an expert and I never will be. However from what I have learned in my mostly feeble attempts to lose weight is that the physical challenge is a very small percent of the mountain you must climb to achieve your goal(s). I think that the psychological challenge trumps the physical challenge. It all boils down to one thing: Willpower. If you don't have it, you will never lose weight on your own.
I did succeed in losing weight one time though. First, a background of my physical appearance, work habits, and education achievements, which are all linked to my current physical state. I have always been on the overweight side throughout my life. I've always been one of the "fat kids" to some extent. I never cared however. I got by in life never being hindered or embarrassed by it. I fortunately wasn't really even a victim of bullying somehow. At age 14 I started working for a Grocery store when I started high school. I wasn't necessarily bogged down by work and school work then because labor laws restricted the amount of hours I could work to only 2 on weekdays and 6 on weekends not to exceed some small total (maybe 20hrs?). However, as time progressed and I got to college, I changed jobs and started working for a banking operations center full time 3rd Shift AND going to school full time; I'll mark that down as when my physical health really started to decline. I literally worked, ate, procrastinated on school work, and slept my entire day away. Not only was it full time 3rd, but it was 4 10s. I was away from the comfort of rest and relaxation probably well over 60% of my day. I learned very early on in life how precious sleep is. The last thing I wanted to do when I had an inkling of spare time was care about my physical well-being. It was something I thought about but completely lacked the motivation to do.
During the Christmas break of my final year in college I attended a study abroad that changed my perspective on life and what I needed as a human being. The country I went to was Egypt. I'd been out of the country twice before (Spain, Gibraltar, and France), but the Middle East, where knowledge of the region is twisted and media-fed into our brains in this petty country, was an entirely different experience. I was one of only 2 students there graduating the spring semester and I related to and fit-in more with the faculty than the students attending the trip so I spent a lot of time talking with and having fun with the trip leader, his wife, and 2 other NKU professors, who were actually very close to me in age. One person who I feel a debt of gratitude to and he will never truly know the impact he had on my life on this trip was Alex Kuhl, one of the 2 aforementioned younger professors. All it took was one thing he did to impact me - he peer pressured me into taking a falucca ride on the Nile! I was going to go and tail the girls in the bazaar because I wasn't really interested in riding in a small schooner on the Nile. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!? Alex talked me into it and I still hold that it was the best thing I did on the trip, probably the most memorable of any of the Study Abroad trips I did. Why did this impact me so much? It showed me that I was wrong for not taking risks. It showed me that I will never know how fun life can be if I just unwind. So for that, I am forever grateful, Mr. Kuhl. I have done more spontaneous things in my life since that moment to this point than I did in the 21 years of my life leading up to that point.
Another thing that changed my life on that trip, was the culture. It's so different from the West that I actually wasn't enjoying myself as much as I expected until Alex changed my perspective. The living conditions in Egypt were so deplorable for some that I became ashamed of the way I looked and the borderline gluttony I participated in when it came to dining. For the first time after traveling abroad, I returned home feeling alienated in my own country; it felt odd driving and it felt odd mingling with other over-indulgent Americans at Wal Mart.
I immediately set out on a course to change my physical habits. I signed up for the gym, I started monitoring caloric intake, and, coupled with the chance to leave 3rd Shift and work 1st for the 1st time in my adult life, I started to see results. I met a new girl, formed a family, and by May of 2012 I was under 300lbs for the first time in my life. I got as low as 279lbs. I was HAPPY with my weight, my job, my LIFE. Physically I had never felt better. I could breathe in the spring and summer months without needing to cling to an inhaler. I didn't get winded at the smallest physical tasks. I went on a Disney Cruise and proposed to that girl and life was great.
Then, in January of 2013 my life changed again. I took a management job that I couldn't refuse. However, I had to go back to 3rd shift. Since that time my physical condition has quickly degraded. I feel bigger than ever, my clothes that have always fit are tight, I eat like shit, I get very little sleep (less than I ever have), and I sulk about how awful I feel and look. I've had a gym membership since May 2013 that I have never used. I make a lot more money, I own a house and great, reliable vehicle, and quite frankly my job is easy. It's a bit emotionally and psychologically demanding, though. Unfortunately I fully believe I waste that money I made on things that actually make me happy, but it's a temporary happiness. I am still largely (no pun intended) unhappy with my physical appearance and that overshadows my monetarily produced faux emotional well-being.
The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my new journey, my quest to take that Forbidden Journey with the Gryffindor Gang and Escape From Gringotts with them when I attend Universal Studios Orlando Resort on October 2, 2014. I WILL be able to ride those rides then and I WILL be able to do it without the help of fat seats. I DO have the willpower. My quest starts today.
