The Struggles of Being a Bicep-tual

So, I noticed something today. For the past couple of months it seems like I’ve always had someone at work or home or wherever I am say something to the effect of “Good Luck!” or “Rooting for You!” And there are still a good number of people that are doing that. Mainly, my family, my church family, and close friends. But the majority of others, like colleagues and acquaintances, have kind of tailed off.

Let me first say that I’m not fishing for encouragement. Most of my encouragement comes from old re-runs of Rocky movies and a good solid snort of pixie sticks. At least I thought those were pixie sticks…hmm… And it would be easy for me to turn this into a pity party and make it seem like I’m complaining, when I simply am not. What I am saying is that I suspect people have just come to accept that I am not longer a fatty. Or at least that I have not settled for being one. And that’s a major victory, in my opinion.

Having been on the other side of all of this, I used to actually make fun of people trying to get healthy. If we were at a restaurant and someone I was with would order a salad, I would make a joke making fun of their choice of food. I even used to find people ordering salads who I wasn’t with, and just walk right up to them and point and laugh (is he kidding?). I had a Shoney’s birthday chant to go with it, too:

Lamest mascot ever...

You’re a healthy freak show,

We’re so glad you came,

You ordered a stupid salad,

Wow, that is so lame!

Enjoy your leafy lettuce,

Enjoy your water, too,

I’m chowing down on fries now,

I’m glad that I’m not you! HEY!

Okay, so it’s a little overboard, but you get the point. Oh, you don’t? Well, let me get to it then.

The point is, being on your way to healthy, making good food decisions, working out, “being bicep-tual”, if you will, is actually a whole lot cooler than shortening your life span. There’s a large community of people who support one another when you take the plunge. They call you, they text you, they email you, to see how you’re doing. They encourage you to write more blog posts, in my case. They actually care. And then, when they feel like you’re on the right track and you’ve made a lifestyle change, they tend to leave you alone. Because they realize that the greasy burger-ordering Andrew has now been replaced by the salad-ordering Andrew. And, if they’re brutally honest, they like that guy even more than the fatty.

So here’s what I’m after from all Fatty Fighter readers. Instead of encouragement from you to me, I want to encourage you. GO GET AFTER IT! ORDER THOSE SALADS! And then, if you would, as a testament to how inspired you were by the intellectually stimulating musings of The Fatty Fighter, drop a line on the blog telling me YOUR story of “being bicep-tual.” I promise you I won’t do the Shoney’s chant. Shoney’s is so 1990’s, anyway.

Amen!