Earlier this week, my 8-year-old son offered a prayer before our family ate dinner together. Just after we’d all said “Amen,” he blurted out, “Wait! I forgot to pray for something.” By then, his siblings were already chowing down so I asked what addendum he’d like to add to his prayer, hoping to explain that God would still listen even if he wasn’t officially praying. His answer surprised me. It wasn’t “Please help (insert sibling’s name) stop being dumb” or “Please help Santa Claus bring me a bike.” Aidan wanted to add, “Please help that Dad will go back on his program.”

[Read more…]

Have you ever done something that made you feel all tingly inside at the time only to be haunted by it later?

And in this case, I’m not actually talking about my teenage years when mooning people and pantsing friends were some of my finer achievements.

I’m not referring to deciding to have kids, either.

Let me share a passage from my old “Losing It!” weight-loss column that I wrote for the Deseret News in April 2009:

I am obese. Have been — by clinical definition, not my own — for the past 20 years.

That time period, by the way, includes all of my adulthood, plus most of my senior year in high school when I was voted “Most Likely to Own a Fast-Food Joint” and won a mouth-stuffing marshmallow contest.

Ah, those were the days. [Read more…]

I felt mixed emotions before going to my health program’s national convention last week in Dallas. While I was excited about being a Top 10 finalist for our nationwide transformation contest, I also experienced some disappointment, some sadness, some regret.

I had big goals for this convention. For the past year, I’d targeted this gathering for being the end point for reaching my goal weight. I wanted to wear a snazzy suit — something I haven’t worn in 25 years aside from my wedding tux — while being introduced on stage as a health coach leader. (I’m rewarding myself with a suit and a wood-pellet smoker when I reach my goal.) I wanted to look and feel like a million bucks. I wanted to have the weight-loss portion of my health journey in my rear-view mirror.

As my before-and-after photos show, I’ve made a TON of progress since March 2016. I’d lost 168 pounds heading into convention — down even more now! — and feel like a different person. But this is where I was struggling. I felt like I’d let myself down. I’m not where I want to be yet and, honestly, where I could have been if I’d made healthier choices the past few months. I haven’t blogged in four months and my weight loss progress has slowed down in that period.

As you can see, I still have a ways to go — about 45 pounds — to reach my goal weight. That actually caused some inner strife as I battled back and forth in my mind. [Read more…]

Ever have one of those eventful weeks where life is crazy and you think you’re going to go nuts from event overload but some pretty dang cool things happened?

Yeah, that was my week.

Here are some highlights that relate to my health journey:

• The Utah Jazz held a neat reunion for members of the 1997 team, which was the first in the organization’s history to make it to the NBA Finals. It was fun to interview some guys that I really admire, including Hall of Fame point guard John Stockton, and guys that are always entertaining and goofy like former Utah center Greg Ostertag.

One of the personal highlights was getting to shake Hall of Fame coach Jerry Sloan’s hand. He and his wife Tammy have really been supportive when they’ve seen me over the past basketball season.

Here’s the fun little conversation Sloan and I had when we saw each other: [Read more…]

I was engaged in a delightful conversation about my health journey on an airplane yesterday when my friendly seat neighbor asked a question many people wonder whether they ask or not.

“Do you have loose skin?”

So I did what you’d expect. I unbuckled the seatbelt — a More of Me to Love extender is no longer required after losing 150 pounds, thank you — and then stood up in the aisle, ripped off all of my clothes and flexed for a cabin full of awestruck passengers.

Women whistled and fanned their flushing faces. Men grunted and gave me high-fives. The captain turned on the Smoking Hot sign.

I was floating somewhere between heaven and Cloud 9. [Read more…]

There were a lot of reasons why I became 210 pounds overweight.

I had no self control or discipline. I lacked motivation. I couldn’t muster up the desire to change. I adopted an all-you-can-gorge buffet mentality anytime I was around food. I fed my ravenous emotions. I ate for sport. I ate when bored. I ate when bored at sports. I was quite depressed and, as my empty-feeling life swirled into a pit of despair, eating was the only thing that never failed to give me pleasure or comfort — temporary pleasure or comfort, of course.

The thing I lacked most? [Read more…]

An interesting phenomenon often happens when members of the human race decide to start a diet. The process goes something like this:

Step 1: Eat a half-cup of steamed broccoli.

Step 2: Run to the scale to see if you’re skinny yet.

Step 3: Groan while standing on the scale — after disrobing, of course.

Step 4: Take frustrations out on chocolate and chips — clothing optional.

If patience is deemed to be a virtue on an everyday basis, then the patience required on a diet is the equivalent of Mother Theresa.

Looking back at the last 11 months, I’ve had 13 different weigh-ins during my 141.8-pound weight loss journey that I’d consider between a slight bummer and extremely disappointing. Honestly, the struggles have been as important, if not more important, than the successes. [Read more…]

Utah Jazz forward Boris Diaw was asked who he’s rooting for in the Super Bowl this Sunday, and his answer made me smile.

The French player didn’t pick the New England Patriots, the Atlanta Falcons or even Lady Gaga.

His response?

“Commercial breaks.”

The next-best answer, of course, would be: “The food.”

[Read more…]

I was outside in the snow the other day, clearing my driveway and sidewalk, when I had a revelation.

The profound thought?

Shoveling snow really stinks.

OK, maybe that wasn’t exactly a deep revelation, but the snow sure was deep — about a foot high after a huge storm. My driveway is pretty wide and long, and there was so much snow that I couldn’t just push it to the side. Rather, I had to dig the shovel in, lift up a big chunk of snow and toss it or carry it to the side of the driveway.

The only sounds you could here in this winter wonderland were the hums of several neighbors’ snowblowers and the voice inside of my head that was loudly reminding me that I, too, have a snowblower in my garage. It works great! It takes a very labor-intensive job and makes it kind of easy and fun. What guy doesn’t like powerful machinery that launches stuff out of their way and does the hard work for them!? [Read more…]

 

I was recently attending a church function for my 7-year-old son on a weeknight when a couple of neighborhood friends asked me a bizarre question.

“Do you want to play basketball with us tonight?”

My reaction?

Laughter and a “Thanks, but no thanks” response.

They didn’t take no for an answer. My ward (local church congregation in the LDS community) had a game that night and we didn’t have enough guys to form a team without me. Truth of the matter is, the Rose Canyon Fourth Ward Elders Quorum team probably would have been better with four guys than with five guys if I was one of the five. [Read more…]