Posted on 01/01/2006 8:12:14 AM PST by Ninian Dryhope
Until Jim Bishop shows off his "before" pictures, his story is almost impossible to believe. Before was the summer of 2003: 31 years old, 600 pounds, a constant diet of junk, smoking, drinking, barely able to move.
"I was heading for death," Bishop says. "I became a recluse. I didn't want to see anybody, and I didn't want anybody to see me."
Now he's stabilized at 220, and he got there the old-fashioned way — no surgery, no drugs, no shortcuts.
Bishop, a data-security consultant who lives in Garland, says he was in a "contemplative state" for about a year before he finally acted.
"I was having difficulty taking care of myself, things like just getting in and out of the shower," he says. "One day I literally couldn't get my pants off because my calves were too swollen.
"I said, 'This is it.' I couldn't live another day like that."
He could hardly walk. So he got down on the floor, put his feet on the couch and did 20 crunches. The next day he did 25 and the day after that, 30.
"I did all that I could do, and I decided that maybe tomorrow I could do a little more," he says.
Feeling better Meanwhile, he swore off fast food, fried food, cigarettes and alcohol.
"I didn't make a rule about counting calories," Bishop says.
"I just ate a lot of vegetables and balanced meals. I never went hungry, but I had to teach myself to eat three meals a day, not one big meal that never ended."
He felt better immediately, he says, "and that inspired me. I didn't set out to lose 400 pounds in two years. My initial goal was just to back away from the edge."
He bought an exercise bike for the garage, where he pushed himself to do more calisthenics. After nine months, he started walking, then running.
All along the way were little milestones: friends and family noticing a change, a conversation on the stairs without becoming breathless, fitting into a button-down shirt.
"The healthier I got, the more I could work out," Bishop says. "The more I could work out, the healthier I got."
After six months he was down to about 430.
"I had set short-term goals," he says. "But then I started thinking, that was Phase One. I'm not just backing away from the edge anymore. Let's see what my body can do."
'A gym rat' He joined a Bally's health club. He took a course at the Cooper Institute to become a certified fitness specialist.
He trolled the Internet for different workout regimens that turned fat into muscle.
"I became a gym rat," he says. "When I'm sick or I tweak an ankle and I don't work out, it drives me nuts."
At 350, the needle on the beam scale (where you slide the weights across the top) didn't automatically plop to the bottom anymore.
By the start of 2005 he was at less than 300. By late summer he hit his current weight of 220, give or take a few pounds.
Along the way he's become an eloquent advocate for getting healthy and fit, speaking at area churches and encouraging fellow gym rats.
His immediate plans include a New Year's Eve wedding to Robin Dove, who stuck with him, literally, through thick and thin.
Dove, who has known Bishop for eight years, says she was concerned about the health dangers of obesity but didn't pressure him to lose weight.
"I had to let him find his own way," Dove says. "If I would have told him, I'd have been just another person nagging him. The entire time, I knew what he could be, and that's what kept me with him."
Although he's finishing a master's degree in business at the University of Dallas, Bishop thinks his future may lie in using his transformation to help others.
"People come up to me and say I've inspired them," he says. "That's humbling, but it's not about me.
"I take a spiritual view of the process. What I was doing wasn't living, it was dying. I really think God had better plans for me."
But he also knows that any encouragement from an outsider can only do so much.
"You have to flip the switch," Bishop says. "It has to be from within, and it has to be real. But you can do it."
Tell Jim and his bride congrats and a big "thank you!" for the inspiration! (Got to make this guy a FReeper!) :o)
That part is very true. A little can mean a LOT, and that goes in both directions! I also think that a severe drop like that is a one or two-time thing. You can't trick your body into dumping weight like that too many times.
My point was that this guy's story isn't as far-fetched as one would think.
Tell your friend Congratulations and I hope he and his bride live happily ever after.
I would also suggest an invitation to Free Republic to him but I know I have gained 10# since becoming addicted here. :o)
That's 2660 in dog lbs.
A person can lose a tenth of a pound a day and that comes out to 35 pounds in a year, and I think that's about what I've done. It took years to gain it. Diets, especially rapid ones don't last. A sustainable exercise program can be continued indefinitely. I look forward to the coming year. I think it's important that the exercise be aerobic. Squats and pushups do that.
The wedding was fantastic. I've got a couple pictures, but I don't know if it's my place to post them. I'm guessing he will put them on his page when he gets the time, and they'll be better than the ones I got anyway. He has a picture of himself in the tux he wore as best man at his best man's wedding about eight years ago. I can't wait to see that shot juxtaposed with one from yesterday.
I think that changing your eating habits is actually more important. Once you cut out or minimize the simple carbs and the fried food it becomes much easier to keep the weight off.
Thank you. I think he'd be glad to join, and I know he could answer questions about his weight loss better than I can. There's a lot going on in his life right now besides his wedding, but I'll talk to him about it when I get a chance.
Young skin is more elastic and bounces back better than uh more "mature" skin. But he was using up a lot of skin to contain this much weight.
Oh man....first belly laugh of 2006!
Thanks.
In Army basic training, we had guys who lost 40 pounds in less than two months. Under the right regimen, a body can lose weight very quickly, sometimes without even trying to (I came out of basic training super-super-lean, and I wasn't watching my diet). I am acquainted with a guy who occasionally spends a month down in Antarctica as part of his job. He loses the better part of a pound every day while there, despite a high calorie diet intended to prevent that weight loss. He calls it the Antarctic diet plan...
Really obese people need to eat a lot of calories to maintain their weight, more than a person of a more normal weight.
What a great post for today. So many people will say they are going to lose weight, get in shape....for real this year....then 5 days later they are sitting on the couch eating crap again. This mans story is inspiring because it is such a simple solution....all it took was will power & determination.
Here is my question.....I have an obese family member....should I email her this story?
I would say it depends on how you approach the subject in your e-mail. I just sent the article link to a family member that needs the encouragement to act and follow through.
Has your relative mentioned wanting to lose weight? Unfortunately fat folks tend to be way too defensive, speaking from personal experience here. Perhas you could send it to several people as a check this out kind of email. It may not seem quite so targeted.
Heh. That is one way to do it, if nutritionally questionable. :-)
I actually have done something similar. When I want to lose weight quickly, I only eat one meal a day. However, I front load the meal with healthy vegetable-based things that I love to eat, followed by anything and everything that might appeal to me i.e. I do not limit myself to "healthy" food by any means.
Eating only one meal a day tends to shrink the stomach a bit, so there is a limit to how much one can eat for dinner. By cutting into that capacity with fresh vegetables of a type I like, I not only ensure that I get all my vitamins, fiber, etc, no matter what I eat next I cannot eat that much of it which allows me to eat what I want. It is really difficult to take in that many calories when eating this way without getting stuffed first.
I can lose a few pounds a week like this, and I don't feel like I am missing out on anything while doing it. Fortunately for me, I've never needed to lose much weight, primarily because I have managed it with diet.
Perhas = perhaps
She has claimed for years that she wants to...I offerred to pay for a personal trainer for her, but she never took me up on it. We tried bribery and several other tactics. When she wanted to get pregnant, the whole family thought THIS will be the motivating factor she needs as she could not get pregnant due to the weight. Well, she managed to find a doctor who convinced her the weight gain was due to an underactive thyroid and thus she had a "medical excuse". She is a wonderful person & I lover her....but after 10 years of trying to encourage her...I gave up. She had several miscarriages & then decided to adopt 2 children a few years ago. She is very happy, but is still very overweight. I would guess she is 5'2" and 220 as she admits to 180. Here is the kicker....she just found out she is almost 4 months pregnant. No one can believe it.
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