The Colored Man came to a realization the other day. Well, actually not a realization, just cold hard facts. I am morbidly obese. This is something that I have known for quite some time, but it really hits hard when it's staring you in the face in black and white print. Being morbidly obese means that I face diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and host of other maladies that a healthier person might not face. To compound the issue, I also have the fact that I am the Colored Man, which puts me at a higher risk than other groups, and some of these health issues run in my family.
As I stated earlier, this is not new to me. I have had an unhealthy relationship with food for quite some time. It's gotten worse in the past few years. And the time has come to kick this relationship to the curb. With that in mind, I hooked up with an old friend by the name of Dave Pataniahttp://www.davepatania.wordpress.com/. I had met Dave a number of years ago, when I got on the fitness bandwagon and saw great results working with him and his trusty assistant, Ms. Amy. Dave is a noted fitness/health expert who has a personality that can be loud and abrasive at times, and quiet and encouraging the next when he is training you. He is a little bit of Jillian and Bob from The Biggest Loser.
Dave and I starting meeting at the gym once-a-week to work out. Of course, it had been some time since the Colored Man had worked out and after our first session I was quite sore, but ready to keep going. I remember the first day that we got together. Dave had been talking stuff all week, "I'm going to have you crying," "I can't wait to kill you," and other pieces of trash. He even started purposely mispronouncing my name, giving it an extra long e sound - typical jock boy stuff. One of his funniest bon mots was when he told me, "I am not going to be your cabana boy and count reps for you." Those of you who know me really well, know that I have a penchant for nicknames, so that little speech earned him a nickname.
Dave also gave me a meal plan which consisted of five meals per day, starting with oatmeal and egg whites in the morning, and ending with chicken or fish, a small salad, and baked white or sweet potato for dinner. I also had to focus and give up sodas, and hamburgers, and other fattening, unhealthy foods. The Colored Man must be honest, and tell you that I did not do the egg whites for breakfast, as I just didn't have time in the morning for all that. I also found that for me to stay on pointe, I needed to prepare as much food at one time as I possibly could, because if it was not readily available, then all hell would break loose, and I would begin to resort back to old habits.
Working out with Dave was always fun. It was something that I looked forward to every Saturday or Sunday. I knew that he was really helping me out, when he didn't have to. I wanted to make sure that he saw how serious I was about reaching my goals. We talked about different things and shared private stuff with each other, and of course, he talked "smack" and I gave it back to him, word for word. He always found it interesting that when I got to about the tenth or so rep, I would always want to stop, particularly with upper-body exercises. Shit, my damn arms would be burning. Eventually, I kinda learned how to embrace the burn and keep going. And occasionally I would surprise him, like the time I did 30 minutes straight on the StairMaster. I love the StairMaster!!!! Dave continued to have this fantasy that he was going to make me cry, and I had my fantasy that he was going to count reps for me.
But all good things come to an end.
Dave got offered a job in the Northwest and decided to move. At first, I was really pissed, and thought what am I going to do? One day Dave wrote something on his blog and it really hit home. I realized that I had been using him as a crutch, and that the power was really within me to reach my fitness goals. But even still, it's been somewhat hard to stay focused when you don't have someone encouraging and pushing you. I say that I can stay focused, but on the other hand I know that I need somebody behind me with a stick to get my ass moving. It just won't be Dave Patania with the stick!, and all his mouth, but I still can get inspiration from him through his blog at http://www.davepatania.wordpress.com/.
Be warned, that he is NOT going to count reps for you, but he will give you some good information, like "it's about the work, not the talk."
By the way, the Colored Man has lost 20 pounds, and looking forward to the next 20.
The Colored Man
Thecoloredman@gmail.com
Coloredm@yahoo.com
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