Bodfather: Plenty to Give Thanks For

Subject #3 in the "Bodfather" 

Witness Reduction Program: Tom

Height: 5' 9"
Starting weight:  437.5
Current Weight: 426.5
Loss: 11 lbs.

You know, if I’d thought about it some, I might have put off this “Bodfather” business until the first of the year.

I mean, how fair is it to get these individuals all amped up to lose weight right as he head into the headwind of the holiday storm? It’s a time of year filled with cookies and cakes, parties and pigouts.

But there’s nothing I can do about the calendar, and here’s the thing:  the holidays have to be navigated every year, don’t they? I read where the average person in this country gains 7 to 12 pounds over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays (I used to pick that up about a week after Labor Day).

Anyway, I was a little worried about my “Bodfather” family as Thanksgiving rolled around. For those just tuning in, I’m following five individuals over a six-month period and blogging about their weight-loss struggles and successes. I even hooked each of them up with a Philips DirectLife activity monitor to encourage them to make exercise a part of their daily regimen.

The lone male member of the Bod Squad, Tom had quite a bit on his plate this Thanksgiving. He made plans to participate in a – are you kidding me? – 10K race.

"One of the best things though about this Thanksgiving is the 10K I did on Thanksgiving Day,” he told me recently. “And it was not so much about doing the 10K and completing it (which was great, don't get me wrong), but it was more about having my daughter out there with Grandma seeing us (my wife and I being active).  I got to pass them as the race started and said ‘hi’, and then my wife (who had well finished by the time I came around) met me with our daughter with about a mile to go. We all walked to the finish together. It’s just great to know that I trying to set an active example for my daughter to follow.”



Tom confessed that he couldn’t walk for two days after the event, but the experience of completing that 10K did him a world of good.

And I’ll tell you what I told him: if you think you’re full of pride now, imagine how you’re going to feel next Thanksgiving Day when it’s you waiting for your wife because you’ve already finished the race.

Tom finished that Thanksgiving 10K, but the real race is just getting started.