Rich Wood 3

Food is Fuel

A Journey Through Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Diabetes and Lifestyle Change

Through the way I was eating and living my life, I got up to 265lbs. One day I was at work and I was bending down to snap on a video screen and I was so out of breath and my belly was so in the way that I told myself “that’s it, I've got to change.” The next day I woke knowing I was going to try to lose weight but not sure how I was going to do it. 

It was a hot summer day and I was driving with the windows down. I drove past a popular ice cream/burger franchise. The smell of the hamburgers being cooked was in the air and for the first time I thought to myself “I don’t want to eat anything that smells like that ever again.” I came up with a diet on my own that consisted of eating  nothing white – no white bread, no dairy, no rice, etc. Later on a found out this was a well known diet, I didn't know it at the time. I kept fried chicken strips in my diet – tell me I wasn't setting myself up for failure. I joined a gym, I started lifting weights, I skipped a lot of meals, overate things that I thought were healthy, and I lost 65lbs. 

I also started training Chinese Kenpo Karate with 8th degree black belt Sid Gee. This had a great and positive effect on my life and my health. Sid has an important role throughout my story. We met when I was 200lbs, and his words of encouragement stuck in my head when I got to my heaviest at 275lbs. He simply said “don’t worry, you’ll get it back.” Even though everyone would say I was doing great, and looked great – I knew there was a chink in my armor. I began to think that if I worked out hard enough I could burn off the bad food I would allow myself to cheat with. I’m at 200lbs. at this point in my life - not doing the best workouts and not eating properly.  (http://www.sidgeekarate.com/)

On Christmas of 2008, I went to a party and ate whatever I wanted. This included lots of candy, which I had completely excluded from my diet. This began a slow descent back into my old ways. My workouts  started falling off, and I would allow myself bad food more and more often. This would continue at a slow pace until the following year. I went on a trip to Memphis in December of 2009. This was the tipping point where I no longer cared about working out, and what I ate. 

At night I was taking two complete meals back to my hotel room – a hamburger with fries, and chicken strips (there they are again…) with fries –then I’d have desert. I was setting a new pace now. I was burying my old heavy self with a new version that cared even less. Now the real problems began. It started with not being able to sleep well. I had health problems that I was not telling anyone about. I made a doctors appointment in March of 2011 because the fingers on my left hand were going numb and because my vision had become so poor – I had to find out what was going on. Little did I know, my whole life was about to change…

Next week: Diabetes, Debbie Portell, and the Powerhouse staff

Rich Wood