Read Online Fit2Fat2Fit by Drew Manning - Free Book Online

my wife’s plan the previous evening hadn’t been as effective as we had hoped it would be.
    This day was also a celebration, I reminded myself as I closed the lid of the garbage can. I was going to get back to taking care of my body and treating it right. It was time to get healthy, this time from the starting point of being overweight.
    The day seemed to go well early on. I did, after all, finally get to make and enjoy my signature spinach shake once again. This little concoction was my idea of heaven in a cup, designed to start the day off right and keep the hunger pangs away.
    Ironically, I also was tasked with coaching in the championship game of the community Little League football team I helped with. What a perfect way to get back into the life of fitness—watching Mini-Me’s battling it out on the frozen tundra.
    Yet the day slowly became a never-ending parade of reminders of what had been easier times—when I was gaining weight on purpose.
    It started when I was running on the field with my team. I didn’t make it to the middle of the football field before I was winded. Clearly, just because I decided to be fit didn’t mean that my heart, lungs, and body were immediately up to the challenge.
    At halftime, one of the kids’ moms offered me a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Out of reflex I reached for the cup and was moments away from drinking the delicious treat in one gulp.
    The same mom asked, “Isn’t this the first day of your Fat2Fit stage?”
    I slowly lowered the cup of hot chocolate from my lips, embarrassed and annoyed. First, how could I have nearly slipped just hours in? Second, was she toying with me? Offering a cup of pure chocolate just to see if I’d fold under the pressure?
    Next were the hunger pangs that I’d been sure my spinach shake would keep at bay. I wasn’t even into the fourth quarter of the game when I could hear and feel my growling stomach. Worse yet, I knew that the snacks awaiting me had nothing to do with a cartoon character baking miniature pieces of cinnamon cereal, and had everything to do with furry greens and crunchy nuts.
    The hunger was manageable, in part because I was somewhat prepared; I’d anticipated that problem as I got ready for my big day. But the headaches were a different story. Shortly after we lost the game (perhaps I would have been better as a self-indulging overweight coach?), the pounding began.
    With each twinge of pain, the vision of my daily Mountain Dew floated before my eyes. It was calling to me—and probably mocking me—telling me that my body needed the caffeine, required the carbonation. I had never lived through drug-induced withdrawal, but this was the effect of a caffeine headache, and it wasn’t pretty.
    I persevered. Sticking to my meal plan that first day, I pushed myself through the continued headaches and hunger pains. I tried to convince myself that the healthy food I was eating was more enjoyable than, say, a can of Pringles, and that the absence of sweets and desserts was probably better for my wife and children, too.
    When I’d climb the stairs and feel my lungs ache for oxygen, I’d tell myself that tomorrow I’d be a little lighter and the trek wouldn’t hurt quite as much. And more than anything else, when I got on the computer and read the stories of the countless individuals in the community who had joined me in pursuing their own health, I felt a sense of both responsibility and accountability.
    I remember anticipating that the hardest part of the Fat2Fit stage would be the exercising. I’d feel sore, struggling to do exercises that I had long since perfected, and would probably feel self-conscious at the gym.
    After only one day, I realized that the upcoming exercises were the least of my problems. I had to deal with my nutrition, and it wasn’t going to be as simple as switching back to “what I’d always eaten.” I’d