How I Became a Shadow of My Former Self.

By Chip August

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, December 27, 2005, I weigh 204 ¾ pounds.  Last December 28th, one year ago, I weighed 308 ¼ pounds.  This is what happened.

 

I’ve been gaining 4 or 5 pounds every year since I turned 30 and quit smoking in 1983.  Every so often I’d put myself on a diet for a few weeks or a couple of months, lose 10 or 15 pounds, then go right back to my eating patterns and gain back more than I’d lost.  I believe it’s called “yo-yo dieting”, but whatever it’s called, that was my pattern.

 

I seem to remember that my jeans in college (1974 or 75) had a 34-inch waist.  The first suit-coats I bought after college (1975) were sized 44 regular and my waist had already grown to 36 inches.

 

Fast forward about three decades, and I had become, in my estimation, huge.  My waist since had grown to 44 inches.  My jackets were now 54 regular.  Tee shirts were XXXL.  Looking at photos of me in 2004 I see a good-looking man built like Santa Claus.  Looking in the mirror after a shower I was whale-sized.  While I hate the expression, I knew I was “morbidly obese”.

 

I began to contemplate the idea of losing weight.  Now I want to be clear, I didn’t actually start a diet, or even research diets on the net.  I didn’t increase my exercise or cut down on desserts.  I just started thinking that I “should” go on a diet.

 

Then someone I know, who was only a year or two older than me, and only a pound or two heavier than me, had a stroke.  He just collapsed one day in the middle of his living room floor and had to be rushed to the hospital.  This got me contemplating weight loss even more.

 

On a routine visit to my doctor (I had a persistent rash that I hoped he could give me something for), while waiting in one of the examination rooms, I saw a brochure for an organization called “Lite For Life”.  The brochure talked about “sugar addiction” and “lasting weight loss” and the “calm of emotional clarity”.  I took the brochure and brought it home for further contemplation.  (Now I can see all my resistance for what it was, but even when I brought the brochure home I still hadn’t moved from contemplation into action.)

 

I left the brochure on the kitchen table and went back to work.  Later that day my lovely wife, Leslie, thanked me for bringing home the brochure.  Sugar addiction was her self-diagnosis and she was very pleased I had remembered that and brought her this possibility.  She informed me that she had already made an appointment for a consultation.

 

Now I could have just kept my mouth shut and let her believe that the brochure was for her.  I could have let her think I was being thoughtful and helpful.  But our relationship is based on trust, honesty and communication.  So I sheepishly admitted that the brochure was for me and asked if I could join her at her appointment with the Lite For Life counselor.  She, of course, welcomed the company.

 

You would think that at this point I was finally motivated to start a diet, but I wasn’t quite there yet.  We went to the interview and liked what we heard.  I was skeptical but wanting to believe.  Then we went home to think about it.

 

On December 28th Leslie and I returned to the Palo Alto Lite For Life store.  During this interview they asked to weigh us.  With trepidation I got on the scale expecting to weigh 275 or maybe 285, not the 308 ¼ that the scale registered.  I asked myself – how overweight to I need to be before I’m willing to stop contemplating and start losing?  I asked myself – Was I waiting until I had a stroke?  Until I had obesity-related diabetes?  Until I had a heart condition?  I asked myself – Do I want to be around when my 13-year-old kids were old enough to be getting married and having kids of their own?  Do I want to live?

 

And suddenly I knew that this was the opportunity, this was the time, this was the path out of obesity and back to sanity.  So, last December 28th Leslie and I enrolled in the Lite For Life weight loss program.

 

In one month I dropped 18 pounds.  The only exercise I did was two walks a day, each about a half-hour long, around my neighborhood with the dog.  By carefully picking and choosing and also talking to the cooks at the various workshop sites I stayed on the diet whether at home or leading workshops.  For airplane travel I packed and carried my own food.

 

In six months I was at 236 ¾ pounds and my six-month program was ending.  While losing 71 ½ pounds in six months was quite an accomplishment I knew I wanted to keep going.  At my weigh-in on September 26 (nine months into the program) I was 220 ¼!  And on December 27th, fifty-two weeks after starting the program I weighed 204 ¾, or 103 ½ pounds less then when I started.

 

I’m not finished.  I’d like to weigh 180 to 185 and to stay at that weight for the rest of my life.  So I’m still on the Lite For Life reducing plan for another 25 pounds.  Then I’ll switch to “maintenance”.


Lite For Life was started by a woman whose husband died of obesity-related diabetes at 39 years-old. She designed a diet that could help people fight that craving we often feel for foods that are not healthy for us. As I understand it, the diet follows the style of Glycemic-index diets – by eating 3 meals and 3 snacks a day and taking supplements in between. In this way the body's blood-sugar level never crashes or spikes.

So even though I only eat about 2000 calories/day I'm eating all day and don't feel hungry or deprived. And because I 'm never "starving" myself my body gently burns up excess fat instead of storing it.

And I get diet "coaching" in person, one-on-one as often as I want it. We signed up at the Palo Alto branch and our "counselors" - Jeanine, Christine and Kate are fabulous. At first I was going in 2 or 3 times a week, talking about my feelings, my fears, my challenges. They gave great advice about food and exercise and were incredibly supportive and non-judgmental about the emotional stuff. I chose when -or if - I got weighed. I set my goals for me. I never felt any pressure from them, just support.

At the Lite For Life Center they have all kinds of foods you can purchase to make the diet easier and Leslie and I definitely found that helpful. But you can buy everything you need to stay on the diet at your local Safeway, Pathmark or Jewel. We managed to keep on the diet on 2 cruises, and I've been able to stay on the diet in the UK, Germany and all over the US.

When I signed up I thought it seemed a tad expensive, but with these results and with the money I'm not spending on junk food everywhere, and the money I won’t be spending for the increased health problems related to obesity, I now think it was a bargain.

I think Lite For Life has locations in Los Altos, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, San Carlos, Burlingame, and San Francisco. I hear they're about to open an East Bay Office. And I heard a rumor that the goal is be nationwide.


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