First Draft

On December 15th, 2007 I visited my doctor. At the time, as I recall, I had a few vague complaints about my health. I actually knew what the diagnosis would be, but decided to get a professional opinion. While I sat waiting in the examination room, I examined the BMI chart on the wall and confirmed for myself what I knew the doctor was going to say. I was morbidly obese and destined for all sorts of trouble.

On that day I was sixty-seven years old, six foot tall and weighed about 313. My BMI was out-of-sight.

After listening to my symptoms, the doctor smiled and said, "You will feel much better and save yourself a lot of grief if you lose weight and get your BMI down to an acceptable level."

He suggested I limit my calorie intake and stay away from fatty foods. He also gave me Phentormine capsules to help me with my hunger. I committed to trying to limit my eating and followed his advice. To my astonishment, I lost about 40 pounds over the course of the next six months. I thought I was well along the way to reaching my goal.

Then the plateau began -- June and July came and went and I lost zero pounds during the two month period. When I visited the doctor, he chastised me and suggested I had lost my resolve and zeal for the task at hand. He then informed me that the price of the pills was going up by $5 to $35 every two weeks. I was feeling defeated.

In August, my Health Insurance Company - HAP HMO in the Detroit area sent me a letter with an interesting offer. They promised to pay the balance of a 3-month Weight Watchers membership if I would pay $25 and make a commitment to lose weight. I took them up on their offer and joined my local Weight Watchers Meeting.

I looked for a meeting for men only because I thought it would be easier to discuss weight-loss concerns in that environment. Since joining W W in August, I have lost 12 pounds and now feel like I am on my way towards better health.

So far I have lost 52 pounds and still have six weeks left before the December 15th anniversary arrives. Last week I joined the local YMCA and have begun weight training and aerobic exercise.
Weight Watchers has given me some great tools to use to help me change my lifestyle. More about the tools in another post.

I feel elated to have come this far and feel that with my new lifestye -- better nutrition and more exercise -- I have entered a new phase of my life where I can truly say --

I am Older but Thinner.