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"Taking a
Swing at Weight Loss - Update #18"
06 February 2002
A Super
Greeting To Those I Am Blessed to Have as Family and Friends!!!!
I pray you are able to read this update in a state of health and peace. It has
only been a month since my last update but it certainly feels like much longer
than that!!! While life's pace rapidly continues in the express lane, I
have thoroughly enjoyed my gradual transition back to a "new"
routine. The New Year has brought with it a new lifestyle. My RV
and mobile home of 8 months "The USS Spirit of Reduction" has been
sold, piles of mail and papers have been read, bills have been paid and some
sense of order and routine are again slowly becoming a part of my daily
existence. The "new" aspect is the privilege I have at least
for now, of working only 20-25 hours a week doing urgent care and some
consulting. This allows me the needed time to do my real job of
stabilizing at my new weight and spending 2-3 hours per day at the gym along
with other forms of rigorous physical activity including jogging!!!!
This from a guy who 9 months ago had a hard time making it to the top of a
flight of steps. I have been blessed with many opportunities to share God's
blessings and the joys of my accomplishment with others individually, in large
groups and even with live TV appearances and interviews. Its so
interesting how often I find others are much more enthusiastic about the
accomplishments than I am. While thankful and blessed beyond
description, I maintain a very humble and guarded attitude toward the
challenge that lies ahead to make this a permanent and lasting change.
I have even had the opportunity to preach and having done so recently on
consecutive weeks, thought about changing my nickname to "Pastor
Nick." Actually, I feel more like a beggar telling other
beggars where they too can find bread. The issue of obesity is such a
monumental struggle for so many that I sense desperation in the hearts of
those who hear about my drastic transformation. I am still trying to
sort out a concise and relevant way of sharing the "ingredients" of
my success that so many are eager to hear about. Please pray for me in
this regard as there are many struggling with their own weight who are seeking
out my advice and counsel.
I must admit that in the midst of all this drastic lifestyle adjustment, I
have missed the open road and the carefree lifestyle of a sports geek. I was
definitely going through some major "withdrawal phenomenon" from
being a sports spectator. I went from attending a Major League Baseball
game almost everyday to not attending any sport events at all and it was quite
a shock to my fragile skinny system! There's something so special
about the anticipation in the air before a big game. The fresh air,
relaxed atmosphere, the competition on the field and the companionship of
sharing the game with someone I love, are all elements of the sporting
experience that I deeply enjoy. With that in mind, I was recently
invited with the rest of my family to the wedding of Mike Fatter who is the
older brother of my sister-in-law Betsy. Of course, Phil and Betsy with
their children and my sister Pauline all planned on going to the wedding and
when I found out it was on January 26th in New Orleans, it was an easy
decision for me to join in the celebration. The weekend after the
wedding there was a little sporting event planned for New Orleans known as the
Super Bowl!!!! Mike and Betsy's grandparents Dr. "Daddy"
Fatter and Mrs. "Birdie" Fatter live in the French Quarter along
with their daughter and son-in-law, Laura and Donald Ogrady. The whole
family is so hospitable and they live right in the cultural heart of the city.
I had so enjoyed my time there in early June and the prospect of another visit
with a family wedding was something I could not resist! It was a
glorious time of celebrating the creation of a new family and I was honored to
witness Mike's marriage to his lovely bride Kimberly. The weekend of the
wedding was also the beginning of Mardi Gras and we got to enjoy several
traditional parades and take in some of the seasonal celebrations in what has
to be one of the richest cultural cities of America. I felt almost
guilty taking a week off as I had only been home for 2 months and barely felt
like I had worked hard enough to "deserve" a break.
When the dust from the wedding settled and all the out of town guests other
than myself were gone, I now faced a dilemma. The Super Bowl was coming
to town and I had no ticket. I was ticketless in New Orleans!!! I hit
the streets in search of an affordable seat but the cheapest I could find from
a scalper was $900 for a single ticket!!! The prospects were bleak and I
was convincing myself how fun it would still be to just be present in the same
town as the world's ultimate sporting event. Most of my family and
friends were a bit skeptical about what I was trying to do and were not too
enthusiastic about my prospects of finding a ticket. I was struggling with the
appropriateness of spending lots of money for a ticket especially since I have
only been working part time and finances have been quite tight recently.
And yet, I had experienced a legitimate ticket miracle for Game 7 of the World
Series and though in the scope of real life this was a trivial dilemma, I
found myself again praying and asking others for prayer with help in finding a
ticket. I spent a lot of time the week between the wedding and the Super
Bowl exercising, reading and catching up on some correspondence. It was
a very relaxing time of solitude mixed with some great fellowship and
visitation with Betsy's grandparents, aunt and uncle. By Friday
afternoon, I had decided that I would go down to the stadium early on Sunday
morning the day of the game and try to find a ticket. If I could not
find a reasonably priced seat I would return back and watch the game with the
Fatter family at their home. I was near the end of my daily workout at a
local gym laying on the floor doing abdominal crunches trying to tighten up my
flabby tummy and it's abundant skin when my cell phone rang. I normally
would not
have answered it in the middle of a workout but this time I did and a very
excited voice on the other end said "I have 2 tickets for you to the
Super Bowl!!!" It was Anamaria Repetti the Executive Director
of the Palomar Pomerado Health Foundation. When I asked her to repeat
what shehad just said she stated "I have your tickets to the Super
Bowl." I started to weep with joy out loud on the spot. It
was such a funny scene. I am lying on the middle of the floor of a busy
gym on my cell phone dripping with sweat and sobbing like a baby. In
disbelief, I staggered to my feet announced to the whole gym full of strangers
with tears streaming down my face "no need to worry about me, it's great
news" and floated right out of there on my new little cloud. I was
in shock and so blown away. Two tickets worth $400 dollars each at face
value given to me for free!!!! I could not stop crying. Why I cry
when so happy I do not know, but boy the tears were freely flowing!
As it turns out, a gentleman from Poway named Brent Wilkes who is President of
a Company called ADCS had purchased the tickets at a charity auction and on
Friday afternoon decided he was not going to use them. We have never met
but someone who works for him is married to someone else who works for Palomar
Pomerado who knew I was in New Orleans trying to get to the Super Bowl.
They contacted Anamaria who rocked my world with a single phone call. In
a state of euphoric shock there was now yet
another dilemma. I was only looking for one ticket but had two!!!!
Unfortunately, none of the local family in New Orleans were healthy enough to
be able to attend the big game with me. I urgently called my
brothers thinking somehow, though it was now late on Friday afternoon, one of
them could join me for the weekend festivities. My brother John was
interested but we realized the challenge of finding an affordable plane ticket
this late in the afternoon for the next day. The blessing avalanche
continued as he was able to find what would have been a $1600 round-trip
flight for $75 by using frequent flier miles and only having to pay the
penalty for booking on such a short notice. That night I was so excited,
I literally could not fall asleep. I could not believe it. What I had
considered to be almost a trivial silly need in the broad scope of life, God
had provided for and in a manner way above and beyond what I had even
considered.
The next day, weary with joy from euphoric insomnia, I spent fishing with Mr.
and Mrs. Samaras who live in the area and own a camp out on the bayous where
they spend most of their weekends. Their son Mike is a good buddy here
in San Diego and my dad and I had spent time shrimping and fishing with them
back in June. I remember the struggle I had being around so much tasty
seafood but not even having a taste of it. New Orleans in general was
one of the toughest cities to visit while being on a liquid protein diet.
What fun it was to return for an encore fishing experience but this time be
able to eat some of the catch. We had a wonderful day of fishing though
it was very cold and my muscles were all sore from so much shivering.
We caught 11 large red fish that we grilled as soon as we got back to camp.
YUMMY! Talk about fresh fish! It was swimming in my mouth and tasted oh
so very good. I went back to the French Quarter with a bag full of
fillets and met my brother John who had just arrived by shuttle from the
airport. What a great time we had as brothers catching up, walking
around the whole city, drinking coffee and gitty with anticipation and
excitement with what the next day would bring.
Having stayed up quite late on Saturday night, and not having slept at all on
Friday night, I anticipated having a relaxed Sunday morning before heading out
for the game. Originally, I had planned to go out looking for a ticket
during this time but instead now anticipated a relaxed morning of scripture
reading and brotherly fellowship with John. While still in deep sleep,
our day instead started quite abruptly with frantic pounding on our apartment
door. Dr. Fatter, Betsy's 88 year old grandfather was unconscious and
unresponsive at his bedside! Half naked, I rushed to his room only
to find him with no palpable pulse and taking very irregular shallow breaths.
To make a complicated medical situation short, he was having a medical crisis
in which I was able to intervene and provide life supportive measures.
Memories of my experience at Wrigley Field in Chicago were circulating in my
head and ironically, three days before Dr. Fatter had gifted me with a Chicago
Cub Jersey he has had for many years. God again appointed for me to be
in the right place at the right time and after seeing him off in the
ambulance, I realized how different things may have turned out had I been out
looking for a ticket during that time as I had originally planned on doing.
The significance of the ticket miracle now meant more than just free entrance
to a game. The tickets all of a sudden had much deeper significance than
that for myself and to the entire Fatter family. I praise God for his
provision and for providing us with what we need, when we need it and
how we need it. I am just amazed. Thankfully Dr. Fatter is doing
fine and is now back home in the bosom of his family. Your prayers for
his continued health are sincerely appreciated.
The game of course was one for the ages. The atmosphere was electric and
despite the heightened security there was a real atmosphere of patriotic
celebration in the air. Earlier in the season, I had been to Foxboro
Stadium, the home of the New England Patriots and seen them play the San Diego
Chargers. It was a last minute decision I made while driving back from
Maine on my way to Boston to visit my sister-in-law Eleni's family there.
Always pulling for the underdog, and having had a playful time bantering with
the Patriot fans as what felt like the only Charger fan in the Stadium that
day, had endeared me to the team and their fans. That game against the
Chargers was Brady's first as a starter and he led a last minute comeback
against them as well. Their fans are a boisterous and passionate group
that were very hungry for a championship. They came to the Super Bowl as
major underdogs to the heavily favored offensive machine known as the St.
Louis Rams. And what a game it was. A classic. Perhaps
the best in history. There were many celebrity spottings, incredible
pregame and half time shows and all it taken in by hearts bursting with praise
and appreciation for such an incredible way of getting to enjoy it all.
In one year I have had the privilege of attending the World Series and the
Super Bowl both of which were of the highest competitive quality with
legitimate ticket miracles on each occasion. A great time was had by all
(except the Ram fans) and my brother and I returned back to the Fatter house
with happy and content hearts.
The next day while working out and thinking I had seen it all and with a heart
still abuzz with euphoria, I am lumbering along on the treadmill at the local
YMCA when who else but basketball legend Magic Johnson would start exercising
right next to me. Already out of breath, I stepped it up a notch as
being in the presence of such athletic greatness motivated me to push a little
harder. My brother John came in just shaking his head in disbelief at
all the things we were seeing and experiencing. Later that evening as we were
having dinner at the legendary Champion's Palace Restaurant, a few tables over
we spotted Supreme Court Justice Ginsberg enjoying dinner with some friends.
As an attorney my brother John was quite impressed. I've been playfully
telling folks I worked out with Magic Johnson and had dinner with Supreme
Court Justice Ginsberg all in the same day!!! We are now back home
and I just can't wipe this silly grin off my face!
As far as the diet goes, the progress continues. As of this morning I
weigh 224 pounds bringing my total weight loss to 243 pounds since April 1st
with 14 pounds to go before reaching my final goal of 210. I continue to
praise God each and every day for the health I have been granted despite such
drastic weight loss in such a short period of time. My recent personal medical
evaluations have been fine and other than some arthritis in both of my knees
as a result of old sports injuries and my morbid obesity, everything else is
well. I continue to exercise vigorously while trying to add muscle mass
and tighten up what is an impressive amount of extra skin hanging from my new
body. If you need some extra skin, come on by! I have plenty.
It has been said that hope is believing in spite of the evidence, then
watching the evidence change. My personal faith in God and His Son Jesus
Christ is what makes my hope possible. Hope has been the single most
important personal ingredient in changing my physical condition and lifestyle.
From a ticket to a game, to a healthy and uneventful weight loss journey,
ultimately, these are all generous gifts from God for which I am so very
thankful. As one humble beggar telling other beggars where to find
bread, I am eager to share my joy and experience with others. I am
seeking to honor God in the way I care for the body he has given me in which
to live. I Corinthians 6:19 & 20 states: "Do you not know
that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have
received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a
price. Therefore, HONOR GOD WITH YOUR BODY."
I am also mindful of the vital role that the prayer of family and friends like
yourself has played in this adventure. For that I remain genuinely
grateful. May God bless each of you as you have so richly blessed me.
Striving to honor God with my body,
dr. Nick
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Taking a Swing at Weight Loss! 