Crying Over Meat
Can you believe that’s me?! That was 1994. Back then, not only was I in good shape, but I also had hair! Seeing this picture again after all these years reminds me that I can do this. I can be as I once was. Some of you, however, may be thinking “How can I relate with this guy? He used to be skinny, but I’ve always been fat, always struggled with my weight. He’s not like me.” You’d be wrong if you think that. As far as I can remember I have been overweight. As a young kid I was pudgy and on up into high school and beyond. When I wanted to join the Navy, they rejected me because I was too fat.
So I worked with my recruiter and I went on a crash diet and exercise program. Part of the deal to get into the Navy is your waist measurement. When I went on the diet and tried to get in again, I still wasn’t quite there, but the girl taking my measurements told me to suck my gut in . . . that still wasn’t enough. Then she pulled the tape measure tight to squeeze my stomach still further . . . still not quite there.
So she just subtracted an inch from the final sucked-in-tightened-tape-measure measurement – she cheated to help me out. When I got to boot camp, I was immediately labeled by the Company Commanders (the Navy’s equivalent to a Drill Sargent) as a Fat Boy. As it turns out, Fat Boy is an unwritten official term used for over weight recruits on the base. There were a few of us Fat Boys. Our uniforms were a little bit bigger than everyone else’s. The pants had an extra belt loop in them, and it was right next to another belt loop, so it was a common mistake for those wearing Fat Boy pants to accidentally miss this belt loop when getting dressed. Of course that’s a HUGE no-no when getting an inspection.
During boot camp, anytime you’re out walking, you can get “pulled over.” When a CC (Company Commander) pulls you over, he’ll inspect you and question you and quiz you. Of course, every time I got pulled over, the first thing he would do is check my extra belt loop to make sure I didn’t miss it. He was looking to bust me (or whomever he pulled over). For the record, I never missed. To this day, I’m overly paranoid about my belt loops not being missed.
Half way through boot camp, I failed my physical fitness test and got bagged back, as they called it, to 3 weeks back. Thus my boot camp experience was 3 weeks longer than your average sailor. That was extremely emotional. It wasn’t my weight at that point; it was strength. I couldn’t do push ups fast enough. That three weeks did me some good. It got me in better shape. All we did all day was exercise our butts off, literally. By the end of boot camp, I was the one the CCs came to when they needed someone to be a pacer for slower runners. When someone couldn’t do sit ups, I was the one they called to train them on how to do sit ups.
I lost a lot of weight, and when I got out of boot camp and came home, nobody recognized me. I was thin, healthy and tanned . . . also known as “Tall Dark and Hansome!” Then it was off to Nuclear Field “A” School for 3 months, and then Naval Nuclear Power School for 6 Months. That was basically almost a year of 12 hours per day at a desk studying and, of course, eating junk food. The catch was that during Power School the material we were studying and all of our text books were classified so they weren’t allowed to leave the building which meant that all studying had to be on site which meant, vending machine food for dinner.
Half way through Power School, I got put back on the Fat Boy program. Yes that’s what they called it there too. By the time I got out of Power School I had gotten back in decent shape again. Then it was off to Naval Nuclear Prototype Training. This was in Idaho. Everything else (boot camp, A School, and Power School was in Orlando, Florida). I got there after a couple of weeks of leave (Naval term for “vacation”). When I reported to duty at I.N.E.L. (Idaho National Engineering Laboratory), guess what program they put me on! You got it. They had a Fat Boy program there too. The work, however, was much more hands on and active, so I got back in O.K. Shape. This is all 1991 – 1993. Somewhere in 1993/1994 the above picture was taken. It was during a period of being on the Fat Boy program and working in the ship yard in Groton, Connecticut where my Submarine (USS Santa Fe) was being built.
Shortly after that, I was ready to go out to sea; the boat was ready, and next thing you know, I’m sitting in a submarine doing nothing for twelve hours a day, working for 6 and sleeping for 6. A lot of card playing and a lot of eating. As a Nuke (Naval nickname for those in my field) I was required to do two terms. First a 4 year, then a 2 year . . . back to back. However, after four years they “allowed me to not sign my second contract.” Any guesses why? Yup . . . Fat Boy. However, the good news is that I was glad to take it. I got out before any of our kids were born, so they never knew a life with daddy out at sea for months at a time. Well I got out, and I got fat, and it’s gotten worse over the past decade because I’ve been spending my life in front of a computer eating McFood, Twinkies and Chocodiles. Which leads us to today (or five days ago when this blog started).
I’m trying to stay motivated, and this blog has really kept me going. Thank you all so much for the love and support. So now for those of you struggling with weight and for those of you wondering why I called this post Crying Over Meat, here comes the point. I was on the Atkins Site just a few minutes ago. On the home page you’ll see a section with a little ribbon that says, “Welcome To The Program.” Beneath it you’ll see a link for “Phase 1″, “Phase 2″, etc. Clicking on “Welcome To The Program” starts a short video presentation. Ultimately you end up watching 5 mini videos of the girl on the home page talking about the Atkins Diet. Each video is barely a minute long, if that. Watching them was extremely motivating and emotional for me. I actually started crying, not hysterically, but it was definitely more than just a few tears. I was completely moved by the presentation and really felt motivated to continue sticking through this.
Please, take the time to watch that video, especially if you’re struggling with weight issues yourself. Thanks again for going along with me on this journey, and now to quote Alton Brown, “I bid you . . . Good Eats.”
