For those of you know knew me well over the last three years, you may know the big story before my move to Alaska was the weight loss program I was on. I had lost over 200lbs, and for the months before the move I was in a fight to maintain that loss. Most who know me directly these days may not be aware of that, because they are likely seeing the opposite.
Truth is, I have put on alot of weight since coming to Alaska. While it’s not the full return to where I was before the big weight loss, its enough. Those of you who knew me before the move will notice, you would be blind not to, and likely you wouldn’t have known if I didn’t tell you here. 40 years of weight problems means I know how to avoid the issue, especially with those who don’t see me every day. There are fewer pictures taken with me in it, fewer photos used from recent history, finding those right places to stand so not to be seen – I’m an expert on those things.
There are alot of reasons I can point to. One is a job in Alaska that is way way more sitting at a desk. Harder to find fresh food in stores makes cooking at home either more unhealthy or less likely to happen. The great beer here, the great restaurants, and the bad habits I find myself doing with letting those into my diet. The dog keeping me from tricks to make workouts a routine, and workouts with the dog becoming ineffective. There are as many reasons as there are excuses. In all honesty, though, my weight problems are more than the standard “you eat too much, you don’t exercise enough” though that is the direct cause. The fact that I feel that I have to “confess” to gaining weight should be proof of that. The fact that I needed a hospital based program to actually be successful is proof of it too.
Don’t consider this a sign of me giving up though. I need to make changes, and that means the simple things. Change what I can change, seek help for the things I can’t. This is actually the first step … the first step is always admitting you have a problem, and while I have admitted it to myself its time I become accountable to y’all as well.
So put up with the fact you won’t see many pictures of me, at least not without a fight, unless I can start winning this battle again. Put up with the complaints, the confessions, the other junk … because that’s just what happens. 40 years of weight problems, I know that this is what happens.
The Bear Feed 
Hey Mitch. You are right, I didn’t know about the weight loss. Ever since we were kids growing up on Prairie Street, I kind of struggled with it too…..I managed to get it off and keep it off in grade school and kept it off until after college (after basketball was no longer as much of a focus and sitting at a desk became the replacement).
Now, I struggle with it again. I can feel some of your pain, but keep your chin up…..you did it once and you will do it again. Moving to basically another world calls for changes and adjustments, so keep at it my friend, keep at it.
Take care….Jeff
Mitch, just a note to say I know the Mitch that once he made up his mind worked very hard to overcome the first time. I sat beside you day by day and watched the phenomenal changes you made in your life and the lives of so many other people when they saw and heard of your accomplishment. People still use you as their example because of the fortitude and will you exemplified to reach such an astounding goal. You are one of the most “hard headed” people I know, and I know you can and will get to where you want to be again! Finding it hard to find the fresh vegetables??? Grow your own! You can put a lot of plants in a raised bed garden and they take up very little room. Go back to the rule book and the Mitch mindset you used the first time and you will again overcome!
Mitch, I know that deep down, you will find the strength to get back onto a regiment that works for you given where you are living and you will soon see the weight come back off. We are here for your support, use us.. *hugs*
Wow Mitch! Takes some guts in and of itself to share this! Go easy on yourself… easier said than done, I know, but I also know firsthand how stressful a move can be. Add a new puppy on top of that, and you get a free ticket to the funny farm, lol.
Sometimes we think we are the only ones feeling overwhelmed by all the changes we are going through, so let me just share I get this completely! Maybe not the 40 years of struggling with weight, although I have had my own struggles with that and weighed almost 200 pounds at one point in my adult life! But I do get falling into the trap of coping with stressful, emotional times with less than healthy options. Enter picking up smoking at age 38 stage left.
The Mitch I was fortunate to get to know for a short time before you moved from Kansas has so much more going for him than what he weighs. Not said to minimize what you are feeling right now, but to communicate that what I have always seen in you, is a caring, genuine person and friend with qualities of character that surpasses what our society portrays as valuable or “beautiful”. I am proud to know you, just the way you are. And when you are ready, if it is something you decide to do for YOU, you will get back into a routine that works for you to meet new goals you set for yourself. Just know there are people out there, myself being one of them, who love you for you.
And when I am collecting eyeballs by the end of summer when I try to stop smoking… you are welcome to raise a glass and have a laugh at my expense and consider yourself blessed that you don’t have THAT demon to contend with. 🙂
Hang in there! * H u G s *