300 pounds of problems

Hi Friends,

Note to newbie's:  If you're just joining us, feel free to stick around but you might enjoy the story better if you start at the very beginning.  It reads like a book so it's fun to start with the first post and read each entry.  Here's the link:  Click Here for First Post

As you may know, I work as a waiter, while I'm building my consulting business, these days at a restaurant in Santa Barbara, California called Benchmark eatery.  It's a pretty cool place located on the "main drag" State Street in the Arts and Theater District.  Casual dining and a nice al fresco patio.  Let's stop for a moment and think about that.  I'm 50 years old and I work as a waiter!! It's a very physically demanding job!!  The average waiter is less than half my age, literally.  But the thing that gets me is that if I tried to do this, even many years back, it would be the same as me doing this while carrying an entire case of wine with me.  Next time you're at the store where they have wine or booze on display by the case, pick it up.  Then walk around the store with it....for 5 to 10 hours.  That's about right.  Oh, but walk very, very quickly.

Well, I digress...that's pretty common for me I guess.

So while I was working yesterday, I waited on a couple.  The man ordered only a side of vegetables and asked for some bread and butter.  He was quite large.  He said that he needed to lose weight.  He said that he didn't have much choice because he had lots of health problems.

He really was very big.  He told me that he weighed 300 pounds.  But there were two things that struck me about him.  He fully accepted and "knew" that he "must" lose weight.  He was clearly committed to this.  He had enough health issues that it pushed him to the place of saying, "it's do or die".  Not that he used those words, but that is the general theme of what he said.

The other thing that struck me was what an amazingly nice guy he was!!  He had a personality that was bright and cheery.  He was funny but not silly.  Clearly he was intelligent and was an absolute joy to wait on.  He was positive, appreciative, and encouraging to me.  He thanked me sincerely, and often.  And he also gave me my largest tip of the day, in percentage, and in dollars.

This was certainly a good man.  But for good or ill, society tends to judge people by how they look.  And most would shy away from this gentle giant because of his size.

He told me that he was about to enter into some diet, I missed the name, but that he couldn't have anything with hooves or claws...or was it fins, I don't quite remember, but anyway, I told him about what I did with the "30 day broth fast".  He seemed very interested.  I gave him the address of this blog and I do hope that he reads it.  Not necessarily that he would do what I did.  I wouldn't be able to recommend it.  Perhaps it would be great for him, but I'm not a doctor and I only did this under the recommendation of my doctor for my specific illness.  But the reason why I hope he reads this is to find inspiration for however he chooses to loose the weight so that he can live a healthy life.

That is the same reason that I write this for you.  I hope that this is a motivational story that inspires you to take on life's demons and to improve yourself.

For me, it changed my life.  Once I lost the weight, I found that not only did I have much more energy, feel 20 years younger, lose any sort of illness, but perhaps more importantly, I felt good about the way I looked...pardon me, the way I look.  It has given me great confidence.  And for a guy who had none for many years, it's a thing to behold.  I remember one evening in particular when I was downtown in Santa Barbara on State Street.  I was wearing a new tailored black shirt, with skinny jeans, and black pointy shoes.  I remember walking along and seeing people smile at me.  I remember thinking to myself, "They're smiling at me because I look good".  Now I don't know why they were smiling at me but I felt good enough about myself to consider that as a possibility.  See.  It's a complete change of mindset.  It feels great to have confidence, not arrogance, about the way you look.  It's life changing.  It sure changed my life and I hope this motivates you to IMPROVE!