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TOTAL BODY WORLD
Work Out - Feel Good!
Mike's Story:
My name is Mike Potter.
I graduated high school with Rich, and have a similar story. I have been obese all of my life, and always made excuses about it. I have always considered myself healthy, with no health issues at all. In fact, I have maintained a Commercial Drivers License since 1993, and have always been able to pass any physical examination and perform any physical test requested.
However, like Rich, I was the fat kid in school and was always made fun of. It was just something I accepted and learned to live with. My weight issues caused me to get involved in many bad things in my life, always trying to fit in, and be somebody. Due to being heavy, I started and failed miserably, 2 marriages which, tragically ended in divorce, and left 2 sons without their dad in the home. These failed marriages were due to my weight, because, I settled for women who I did not love, and who did not love me back. I certainly did not deserve better. No woman in her right mind, would want to be with an obese, un-educated, man of modest upbringing. My father was always ashamed of my weight, and used every opportunity to let it be known.
That was then, but this is now. Fast forward to July 2008 when my wife, Karen was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. By the way, the day we found out, she had a blood sugar level of 1006. Her doctor immediately admitted her to the hospital, where she spent 3 days in ICU while they tried to get her regulated.
As bad as that time was, God had a plan. Due to her illness, we enrolled in a nutrition class, and changed our diet and lifestyle. Through this, I learned many things about food, and how the body reacts to it. I had always wondered why I treated food as comfort and why I would eat when I was not hungry. Why does eating make you feel better at the time but makes you fell terrible about it later?
This is what I know: skinny people eat to live, fat people live to eat.
So now we are in July 2008, and Karen and I are on a better path, but I am not there yet. I work @ Melton Truck Lines in Tulsa, Oklahoma and in 2007, the owner became very fitness conscious and began taking steps to make his employees the same. He removed the smoking lounge at the Tulsa terminal and replaced it with a gym. This was a huge decision. 70% of truck drivers smoke, and most of us thought he was crazy. I even joked, saying "I hear about skinny people dying while exercising, but I have never heard of a fat man dying while eating a burrito”. Melton also hired a full time fitness coordinator to assist in helping us become healthier.
Brett Bringham has been a huge part of my transformation. I have never spent time in a gym in my life and did not know how to use most of the equipment. So in September 2008, when I approached Brett about help with starting a program, he was quite surprised. At this time I was topping the scale @ 370 pounds, and was the heaviest I had ever been.
In 1990, I went on a diet and lost over 100 pounds, but of course gained it all back. I did not change my thought process. When the diet ended, so did the weight loss. I do not know anyone who can diet forever. To be successful, there must be a change of mind-set.
So now after 14 months, I am down to 250 pounds and I feel great. I work out at least 4 days a week and feel better than I have felt in my entire life. Standing in front of the mirror is not a terror-ridden event anymore. I would like to lose 25 more pounds, but if it does not happen I am ok with it. I am healthy and now understand the proper use of food and how it affects me. I am not on a diet, I have developed a life style that I can maintain for the rest of my life.
Karen, has lost 60 pounds and is no longer insulin dependent. She is also doing well.
I hope my story will help someone else with their weight issues, and thanks to Rich for the idea to write to you and let you know about it.
Mike Potter
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