Parasailing in Bahamas (September, 1999)

Playing with children in Botswana
(July, 1999)

Whitewater rafting, Zambezi River
(second on far side) July, 1999

The Decision To Change

"We can do anything we want if we
 stick to it long enough."

- Helen Keller

In November of 1994, I made a decision to change my life. No matter what it took, no matter how long it would take.

As I looked at myself, I realized that what I was doing was only making matters worse. I was miserable and doing nothing to try to become happier, other than the short-lived and immediate gratification of food. I would always say that I wanted to lose weight but never do anything about it.

Finally, I looked at myself and said, "Where do you want to be in five years?" I knew I did not want to be where I was. I decided that I would be no worse off if I made some changes than if I did nothing. If I did nothing, I would only stay the same or get worse. If I made some changes and lost a few pounds in a month, that would mean I’d have lost twenty to thirty pounds in a year. And if I kept it up over several years’ time, I could lose hundreds of pounds. Which is what I did.

I started with making small changes in the food I ate, switching to low fat choices. I cut as much fat out of my diet as I could, and drank lots of water. I ate a lot of poultry, fruit, and vegetables. I lost the first fifty pounds within a few months.

Within a year, I began to incorporate exercise into my lifestyle, inspired by the success of Oprah Winfrey and the book she wrote with her trainer, Bob Greene, "Make the Connection."

I would get up five days a week, before I went to work, to walk up and down my 350-foot driveway. I started with just ten minutes a day, but that ten minutes was enough to leave me red-faced and winded. I took a shower after I walked, but I found that I was still sweating a half-hour after the shower.

I gradually built up my cardiovascular fitness and endurance. My time to rise in the morning got earlier and earlier, until it reached the time where I now rise, at 3:45 a.m. An hour of walking in the morning now barely causes me to break a sweat, so I’ve moved on to more strenuous aerobic activity, like jogging and stair climbing. I also incorporated strength training into my weekly routine, and I lift weights several times a week.

In less than five years, my weight dropped by 200 pounds.

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