Day 12
2 ½ Years ago I sent an email to the Army National Guard expressing my interest in joining. A short time later I received a call from someone at the National office of the Army National Guard and they asked me a series of questions to pre-qualify me for service. The last two questions that were asked were, “How tall are you?”, and, “How much do you weight?” I gave my answers and then she said in a sympathetic tone, “I’m sorry but you are not within the height/weight specifications to be considered for joining the military.” I was speechless, because I thought that there wasn’t that much weight that I could lose. “Well, where would I have to be?” I asked. “Within 15 lbs. of you target weight which is 183.”
After I hung up the phone the realization came to me that I would have to lose close to 70 lbs. before they would even consider me. I thought, “I just lost a job opportunity because I was too fat.” The sad part about it was that I didn’t think that I had that much to lose. I thought it was all muscle. I assure you it wasn’t. It bothered me that I couldn’t have a specific job because I was too heavy. I made a goal, and a change. The change was I would give up soda and run every day. The goal was that I was going to drop 10 pounds. My only regret is I didn’t put a time constraint on it. That would have given me more motivation.
Every morning when I would come home from work I would be dead tired but I would get dressed in my running clothes and jog out the door at about a 10 mile pace for about 1.5 miles. I have to tell you I hated running. I was exhausted from having worked the night before and most of the days I didn’t want to leave the house, but I had a goal. I wanted something that I couldn’t have because of my fitness level and lack of discipline. One morning as I ran around the school block, I passed a group of kids playing and one started to mock me by chanting, “Run, Tubby, Run!” I wanted to stop and strangle his scrawny little neck and then walk home in shame and frustration. But I just kept running. The first reason I didn’t stop was I didn’t want to go to jail. The second reason was I wanted to prove him wrong. From that day on whenever I wanted to stay home and be lazy or stop in the middle of my run and walk home, I would think to myself, “Are you going to let that little punk be right today? Are you going to be too fat to join the military today?” The answer was almost always, “NO!” Steadily over the next weeks and months I slowly worked myself into 4 to 6 miles a day.
That is the power of a goal. That is the power of determination you need to have. I didn’t know what I was missing by being out of shape. I didn’t know the energy that I was missing out on. I thought it was just normal for adults to be worn out and have energy or lung capacity to chase their kids on the playground. That is not normal! I had deceived myself so much to think that I only had maybe 20 lbs. to lose. The truth was that, I was 90 lbs. over weight. The truth was I was living below my potential. If you feel this same way right now, make a goal. Make one fitness goal and one nutrition goal. The key in goal making is, make it simple and measurable. Changes that you make to accomplish the goal should be small, simple and measure able. For example, “I’m going to give up Soda for good.” That is a small change that over a course of months could have a huge impact, depending on how much you drink. Avoid make huge changes. I’m not saying you can’t make them stick it’s just been my experience that a person can change for only a short time, if it’s too big.
I know you can do this. You may look at this as a hard thing, but just like my daughter learned yesterday, “You can do hard things!” Now go out there and act. It will make you feel big and strong. Remember small changes while bring great results if done consistently.
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