The First Tragedy in a Lifetime of Weightloss
I am approaching 70 years of age very quickly and I have been dieting since I was thirteen years old.
To look at me now you would not think that I have been a professional boxer or a marathon runner.
My younger brother and I were often mistaken for twins when we were ten years old. He grew up to be tall and lanky at 6 feet. I grew partly up to be short and chunky at 5 feet 5 inches.
Now younger brother is very thin and I am not. It has been said that my brother looks as though there was a famine in the land … and I look as if I caused the famine.
I was not obese when I was thirteen years old but I was an accomplished boxer. I trained hard 7 days a week 52 weeks a year. I was fit and thin but…I was a growing boy and was always trying to “make weight” for a lower division. Not my choice but the decision of my elders who in those days did not know the damage they were doing.
I had won the schoolboys championship and the intermediate championship and could not get opponents in my weight division or age group. The opponents I did get were adults. I was a young boy of thirteen and I was fighting men whose wives and children were in the audience. I felt great about this but it was not doing me any good.
At that time you had to be 18 years old to fight professionally. So at thirteen we lied about my age and I turned professional. Within two years I became rated as the third in Australia in the flyweight division (under 98 lbs.)
When the Australian Champion retired there was to be a fight-off between the top three contenders. I was supposed to be a certainty. However, I was still a growing boy and I was going to have difficulty making the weight. I weighed 4 lbs. over the limit with a week until the weigh-in. It did not matter if I won or not if I weighed more than 98 lbs I was out of the championship.
I was then given to help me to lose weight the most dangerous instructions that could be given to a fifteen old boy.
I was to “dry out”. In effect, I was to cease drinking fluids for the whole week. No water, no tea, no softdrink. I was to chew gum which would produce saliva which I was to spit out continuously. (Yuck!).
And I had a turkish bath each night. Fluids were my enemy and when I got really thirsty I was allowed to suck the juice from an orange with a hole punctured in it…and boy was I thirsty!
While this was going on I trained hard and ate little.
The weigh-in was 2 hours before the fight and I stripped naked to be weighed. I could not risk leaving my underpants on! Although the official was sympathetic no matter how he jiggled the beam he could get less than 98.5 lbs! I was given an hour to lose 8 ounces.
In normal time that would have been easy! But I had nothing to give. My bladder was empty; my bowels were empty; my body was mostly muscle and bone.
I was given an old army coat and told to run round the block ten times in an attempt to raise a sweat and then immediately put under a hot shower to keep it going..as if.
Then one of the older trainers (even people I did not know seemed to help me) spent the time remaining trying to massage some of the fat of me. The only place I seemed to have any fat was on my backside.
It seems funny now but I can still remember the embarrassment of lying in the nuddie with all sorts of people watching Johnnie Shields slap my backside for twenty minutes.
Did I make the weight? I sure did! 97 lbs. 14 ounces.
I’d give anything to say that it was all worthwhile and I won the fight and went on to become Australian Flyweight Champion. I did not!
Up until then I had never been knocked down in all my fights. A reputation I had been proud of. In Australia in those days the referee never stopped a fight just because a boxer was hurt. The only way to stop a fight before the time limit was for the corner to throw in the towel. My trainer threw in the towel towards the end of the eighth round. I had not been knocked out but I had been knocked down eight times, five of them in the eighth round, and I kept on getting up.
And here comes the tragedy. Although I felt like a mongrel dog who had let everybody down, my trainer was supportive. I was a good boxer there would be other opportunities he told me. I’d done my best and worked hard for a long time. “Take a week’s holiday”, he said,” don’t come near the gym for a week. Have a milkshake or two. Relax and enjoy yourself”. And I did!
When I arrived at the gym a week later everyone mentioned how well I looked and I felt good too. I jumped on the scales and to my horror I weighed 115 lbs. a gain of 17 lbs. Everybody I tell this too says it cannot be true. But it is true. Despite my loss I was still rated in the bantam weight division but I would have to lose 10 lbs to make the weight. Even to make the feather weight division I would have to lose 2lbs.
I soldiered on for a time but my heart wasn’t in it and other interests took the place of boxing.
But I am certain that the early insane attempt at weightloss set me up for a life time of diet tragedies.
Ask me sometime.
About the author
Kelvyn Peters is known for his small business consulting. He is a master at rejuvenating ailing businesses.
But he is a jack-of-all-trades having been a boxer, house painter, packer, cane cutter and town mayor.
Whatever interests him really interests him and he becomes very knowledgable about the subject.
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Conquer Those Carbohydrate Cravings
Are you a hopeless carbohydrate addict? Let’s conquer these cravings once and for all?..
I drove over to my parents home the a few weeks ago for dinner. I arrived early, and asked my mother if I could help her finish preparing dinner. The smell of mom’s pot roast in the oven really got my mouth watering and I couldn’t wait for dinner.
She sent me to the pantry to retrieve some honey, I opened the pantry and was amazed at what I saw. Of course their was the standard pantry fare, but many other items were lurking in that pantry. Here were a few: crackers, cookies, potato chips, tortilla chips, oatmeal cr?me pies, white bread, sun chips, frosted corn flake cereal, pop tarts, and popcorn. No kidding, these were all in her pantry.
I asked my mother if she ate these items often. She said, "Yes, I’m hungry all the time so I just snack on the stuff all day". She said she eats three meals a day, but gets hungry so she snacks on crackers, chips, etc., then an hour or so later she is hungry again, so she eats more snacks.
The carbohydrate frenzy- trigger foods
Eating the fore mentioned types of carbohydrates all day will make anyone hungry and crave food every hour or so. You see, eating these types of snacks causes our blood sugar to spike and fall very rapidly, triggering our body to crave more food all day long. It’s a viscous cycle with no end. This type of cycle not only sets up our body for weight gain but the possibility of diabetes and a whole host health problems.
How to conquer these carb cravings once and for all
By reading this article I know you are motivated enough to stop these cravings for good. Here are some free tips to get you on your way to healthy eating and craving free!
1. Eat three balanced (protein, carbohydrate, fat) meals a day plus two healthy snacks. This stabilizes blood sugar, reduces cravings, turbo charges your metabolism (your body will naturally burn more calories), and helps you with weight loss.
2. Spend some time in your pantry and even your refrigerator. Pitch all the cookies, crackers, white bread, chips, store bought fruit juices, etc.. These foods have no nutritional value, only empty calories that will no doubt cause you to gain crave more foods and gain weight faster.
3. Eat healthy snacks such as protein shakes, nuts, fruit, veggies with dip, etc. At each snack eat a small portion of protein, carbohydrate and fat. These healthy foods have a positive impact on your body. They give your body vital nutrients, and most importantly, stop the cravings. You’ll feel better, and won’t be as tired during the day.
4. Drink plenty of water.
5. Limit your amount of caffeine. I know, I sure love drinking a cup of coffee first thing in the morning. If you are a caffeine addict, meaning you drink three cups or more of caffeine a day, try to cut it back to one or two. As far as cravings go, caffeine sure gives our bodies a jolt and can make us feel good and even more alert, but after that initial jolt and you "come back down" your body will either crave more caffeine or carbohydrates.
6. The ultimate goal is to eat healthy foods, which in turn give our bodies proper nutrition, which in turn makes us feel better. But this can take time. If you are used to eating junk food, and always craving food, don’t worry. Start out slow if you have to. Your body will take time to adjust to a new way of eating. You may even feel lousy for a few days or even a week, while your body adjusts to the healthy foods. But in the end, you will feel great!
? Jeff Lugeanbeal – All rights reserved
About The Author
Jeff Lugeanbeal- Sought after Health and fitness professional, motivational and nutritional coach, is a recognized authority On the subject of weight loss. His Web site, www.worldwideweightloss.com provides a wealth of informative articles and resources on everything you’d ever need to know about permanent, natural fat loss and will help you achieve the body you’ve always wanted.
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