There But For The Grace of God…

It wasn’t until I’d jumped with both feet into the weight loss blogging pool that I slowly came to understand just how incredibly, indescribably lucky I was.



Oh, I didn’t feel very fortunate in by triple-XL non-designer shirts. I didn’t feel fortunate when the seat of my slacks ripped in public. I didn’t feel very fortunate when my body wouldn’t allow me to do all the things I wanted or I woke up each morning feeling like I’d been run through a cotton gin.



I didn’t realize back then that there were others out there who had wandered so much farther down that dark path. Folks like Sean, Tony, Stephen
 and others.

You see, some safety switch in my headbone wiring fired off whenever I got within spitting distance of 300 lbs. Up until that point, I’d always managed to stave off that miserable milestone (or at least jump back over the fence pretty quickly).

It wasn’t always easy, and I give much of the credit to my wife and trio of daughters. Anita helped me by encouraging me and by being a healthy inspiration, and my girls helped me by regularly eating all the food in the house.



I don’t know what the point of this rambling wreck is, except that I recognize that different circumstances could have made for a different, more difficult road for me.  I have a frame that can pack on pounds and–given the wrong conditions–I’m pretty sure I would have kept blowing up out of control.


What got me thinking about “the road less (fat) traveled” was stumbling across Holly’s blog and a heart-felt video about her struggles, her setbacks and–ultimately–her successes.

I know that there are people out there (and you might be one of them) who feel that positive change won’t or can’t happen.

You’re wrong.

You just are.

There are people out there who (chances are) were in worse shape than you’ll ever be. For them, the simplest acts of daily life required extensive effort or an imaginative engineering solution. Gravity pressed them to this Earth in a way that I hope you or I never experience, and yet they got up on their feet and they got themselves going.

Are there forces at work that are conspiring against you?

Does Life seem to invent new hurdles to litter in your path?

Are you sometimes your own worst enemy?

Well, welcome to all our worlds.

Rediscovering our health requires effort, discipline and, most of all… copious amounts of time. Some say that the first step on this journey is the hardest, but I haven’t necessarily found that to be true.

For me, the hardest step is the next one.

Can you make one more step without struggling or stumbling?

Can you make one more step towards where you’d like to be instead of where you’ve found yourself stuck in the past?

Can you make one more step in the right direction?

Just so you know, the answer to those questions is a resounding “Yes!”

Use Holly’s (and other folks’) successes to fuel your own drive, to light a fire in your own gut.

She’s doing it.

They’re doing it.

You and I can, too.