Don't be a Statistic!

“When it’s time to change, it’s time to change.” – The Brady Bunch

You ever get the feeling you’re not the same person you were one, five, 10 years ago? I wouldn’t recognize, nor would I probably get along with, the Steve Borr in his 20s or early 30s.

I think about how I was, just a little over seven years ago. My daughter Gabriella was born and I was the happiest man on the planet. I look at the pictures and there’s my wife and there’s my daughter Gabby. But who’s the obese guy who looks a lot like me? Wait a minute, that is me!

As you all can probably attest to, when your children are born, you’re tired and have little or no desire to cook for yourself. Well, at least we didn’t. And, for sure, I didn’t have any time to exercise either. For the first six months, our dinners consisted of eating pizza and Chinese food alternately each day of the week. I was the MSG MONSTER!

This is coming from the same guy that in high school was not the poster child of nutrition. We had a snack bar at Framinham High School. My routine lunch was a Chipwich (two chocolate chip cookies surrounding vanilla ice cream loveliness), sour cream and onion chips and a pink lemonade. After school, I would go to McDonald's with my buddy Kevin and I would get the No. 3 Extra Value Meal (two cheeseburgers, super-sized fries, super-sized drink). Then go home for a dinner made by my mother.

Fantastic, huh?

So, one day, I had a routine appointment at my primary care physician's office.

Doctor: “Steve, you have high blood pressure and weigh 240 pounds.” (I’m only 5 foot 9 inches.)

Steve: “That can’t be. I mowed the lawn last week and ate only one order of spare ribs. I’m in great shape.”

Doctor shakes head disappointedly.

The truth was we didn’t own a scale at the time. But I should have known something was wrong. I was tired all the time, had zero energy, and was just not a pleasant person to be around. I knew something had to change.

I grew up being extremely competitive and loved to play all different kinds of sports. Getting my butt in shape was a new competition for me.

At first, I thought the answer was going to be all about exercise. I shifted and shook on that elliptical machine like nobody’s business. I was going to lose 40 pounds that day, damn it! What actually happened was I lost about 15 pounds and then I plateaued.

My diet had to change. What worked for me was starting on the South Beach Diet. Now, this wasn’t very difficult because I never was much of a sweets eater. My problem was salty foods. Boy, I love(d) nachos and buffalo wings! A sports bar is my second home. This diet was working for me. Bottom line, for the most part, if something had sugar or converted to sugar, I was staying the heck away!

If you ask my wife, I'm kind of annoying the way I eat now. I read the side of the label now. "Sorry hon, this only has two grams of fiber and has enriched flour." Boy, if looks could kill. I'm the guy that eats the salad while everyone else is eating pizza.

So, to make a long story short, here I am seven years later and I don’t even know what I weigh. We own a scale, but I don’t want to live my life according to a scale. I know I feel good. I know my pants fit better. I know I can play with my kids in the backyard and help coach their sports teams. That to me is the greatest reward!

So, I like to think of myself as a success story. I rather hike up Blue Hills in Canton than stay home and watch the Red Sox. I like taking karate at I run at lunch at work. The bottom line is I never wanted to consider myself a statistic: “Another obese man drops dead of a heart attack." I expect more out of myself. And, most importantly, I think the fact the kids see me being active gives them the motivation to be active themselves.

I'm not always going to be there to buy their groceries or cook their meals.  So I hope to teach them to make the right choices, which is not a lunch that consists of Chipwiches, potato chips, etc.

Please don't confuse this blog with preaching. It's just a topic I am passionate about at this stage of my life and something I'm extremely proud of.

Don’t be a statistic – get out there!