Bill Reimka is our guest blogger for Health Weight Week!
Bill Remeika is a on air personality for WXIN Fox 59 Morning News. He took on a six month challenge to lose weight after a trip to the doctor last year revealed some medical issues. While not wanting to diminish those issues Bill has elected to approach his situation in a humerous, off-the-wall manner by writing about his weight reducing exploits for his works website. This month Bill makes a guest appearance to let you know how tough or easy it is to “reverse the curse” of losing weight from years of bad decision making.
It’s funny as one gets a bit more “mature” in life and reflects on what they thought was great as a kid or adult is actually haunting them as they get older.
Take my first 40 years on this earth. I have been a typical person eating and doing about whatever I liked with no fear of anything coming back to haunt me. As I fast forward to today I look back and marvel and regret a lot of those eating and exercising decisions I made about 20 to 30 years ago.
Poor eating habits have affected others aspects of my life too. I was starting to wear clothes big enough to cover the roof opening at Lucas Oil Stadium as well as those extra 10 -15 pounds. After all, I thought that “Extra Large” meant that I was “Extra Special” Well I was “Extra Special” in that I was starting to gasp for air in doing simple things like bending over and tying my shoes or walking up two flights of stairs.
I never thought I was overweight as my age and size structure always gave me that allowance I thought was acceptable. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that when I couldn’t put the belt on the first notch that wasn’t a good thing. {Just so you know putting the belt on the last notch is preferred!}
Of course a recent trip to the doctor to assess my overall health brought me back to earth with one simple statement by him about my weight. He commented that overall I was in shape but could afford to lose about 20 pounds. Of course my reply was if I was in good health, why the worry about losing 20 pounds. His comeback was that being 20 pounds overweight now could lead to 25, then maybe 30, and before you know it, reversing the weight curse might be unattainable.
If you have ever seen a 40 year old something man look horrified, then I was that guy. All I could think about was my having to forgo eating chicken wings and drinking milkshakes in an effort to drop pounds. I would then learn that altering a diet is needed but more importantly learning what to eat to help fill me up and to keep me healthy is the most important thing.
I then figured I had better learn about food a bit more than what I thought so I caught up with a Registered Dietitian, Jenni Purcell who also works at the American Dairy Association of Indiana. It has been an ongoing dialogue which has lead to plenty of questions for her about my lack of brains about food. She has helped dispel some of my beliefs that I was going to die from not being able to eat as I thought I would only be eating lettuce and drinking prune juice to attain any desired weight.
It’s funny when you think you know something but then find out you really don’t. I think that was my case when I thought if I just cut out fried chicken wings and ding dongs I would be ok. Jenni assured me that I still could eat those things but in moderation. Of course once she found out that I normally ate two dozen wings and washed it down with a half gallon of milk she proceeded to tug on my ears and ask if I had seen my brains of late! I had to ask her what moderation was. She assured me that it wasn’t two dozen wings, but more like 5 or 6 wings ONLY!
That word moderation has become the foundation for my weight control. It is not that I will never eat wings or donuts or pizza again, it is that my mass consumption is now down to the normal serving of one or two pieces. Tough for a guy like me to realize, but easier to digest that information than being told excessive weight could kill me if not treated and corrected.
As I begin the New Year, I am on my life mission to correct or un-do things that got me looking like the “Pillsbury Doughboy”. Losing some of the weight has been easy. Maintaining has been tough, but the hardest part is trying to lose that next pound and the pound after. No one ever said getting and staying healthy and maintaining a proper weight would be easy, but I think is sure beats the alternative. After all, if I am going to die I would like to have my pallbearers be able to lift my casket and not drop it from being too heavy!
Filed under: Diet, Fitness, Health, Indiana, lunch, Nutrition, Physical Activity | Tagged: Bill Reimka, Dietitian, extra weight, Healthy Weight Week, pounds, weight loss | 1 Comment »
Winners Drink Milk! 