I was always the fat kid. I can remember the fear of gym class, not being able to keep up, being told I was lazy by a certain gym teacher, being made fun of by my classmates. This treatment actually led to my behavior as a bully in later school years, it gave me an eat or be eaten mindset. “They won’t make fun of me if they fear me.”…or something like that. That however, is a topic for another time.
The weight struggle continued into my adult life. Gaining and losing 50, 60, 70 lbs regularly. Most recently, I had gained more weight than ever, slamming 365 lbs on my 6’4” frame. The deeper into my 30s I got and the more weight I gained, the more I started to understand this could have serious and lasting consequences. I want to be able to see my kids grow up and have kids and watch those kids grow. I recently lost my father to a combination of genetics, circumstance and a refusal to change lifestyle choices. That will NOT be me.
In May of 2018 I started another pendulum swing back in the right direction. I joined a gym, started tracking my calories and slowly but surely the weight started to come back off. By September 2018 I was down about 50 lbs and getting bored with the gym routine. That’s when my small group leader and friend @JoePa was invited to something called F3 by @OG. He, in turn, invited me and I agreed. So there I am, 315 lbs, 34 years old, being beat up on by the likes of @OG and @HBC with their seemingly other-worldly fitness levels, and it all comes flooding back. The fat kid on the playground fears. I could not keep up. I felt sick (no merlot was splashed, however, I was not so lucky at my first attempt at a stroller strides class with my wife and a dozen other postpartum soccer moms jacked up on too many starbucks lattes, kids in-tow. They beat me until I lost my breakfast underneath the Ravenel Bridge on a sunny Saturday morning…always the fat kid).
I knew what these guys were thinking. “No way he comes back.” “He’s just slowing us down”. “Look how jiggly he is!”. That’s when I noticed one of the more intense pax-ers circling back on a mosey to me. I assumed he was coming to let me off the hook, to tell me this might not be the best fit for me. But no, it was @HBC, just circling back to pick up the 6 and do what he does best, show genuine kindness and love towards his fellow brothers. He wanted to know me, I don’t remember exactly what we said, I was trying my hardest to spurt out 1-word answers in between breaths without splashing said merlot. But what I do remember was that this man was not thinking any of the nasty things I assumed. He genuinely cared about me and who I am. And he wasn’t the only one. They were all friendly, they all showed interest in who I am. I left that first work-out hurting and determined to get better and to make these guys my friends.
As I write this, I am now down 100 lbs total from last May. Thanks in-part to a new found love for running instilled by F3, to a vegan-diet (eat plants homies, it does a body good), the support of my beautiful wife, the support of my F3 brothers, and the strength given to me through Jesus Christ (as is true with all good things in my life). I completed a half-marathon back in February, where 2 of my F3 brothers @JoePa and @Falcon turned up to run alongside me, and I am training for a full-marathon in December. I still have a long way to go, but this time it is different, this time the pendulum will not swing back to fat-kid land, this time I am no longer a sad-clown trying to do it on my own. This time, I have a tribe of PAXers alongside me, pushing me to be better and fueling my resolve to be the best man, husband, father and Christ follower I can possibly be.
See you boys in the gloom!
Ian Anderson (MichaelBolton WA)