A year and a half ago I weighed 240 pounds(i am 6' 1"). I didn't really think much about it and never saw myself as a fat ass. My knees and hips hurt all the time, but so did my shoulders and neck. Nothing surprising as I have lived a very action packed life and have worked and played hard over the years and have broken quite a few bones(16, to be exact), pulled more muscles than I can recall and blown out a few joints along the way. When I was racing motocross I weighed about 210 and was in very good shape, then in 2000, I was badly injured and spent over a year and two surgeries getting up to speed again. When I felt well enough, I tried riding again, but it was just too painful. I did get back in the gym for awhile, but without the motivation of racing, I just didn't feel like going anymore. I became more lethargic more often. I bought a harley and sold the YZ, but kept eating like I was still racing and working out, and it started to show. I didn't realize it at the time, but it is easy enough now to see what was happening then.

I was forty when I was injured and at 42, my doctor told me my cholesterol was high and had me do a full panel. My cholosterol was around 230 and my triglycerides were about 500(they're supposed to be about 190)so he put me on medication to combat the problems. I continued to eat very poorly and not exercise, justifying my health problems all the while with lame excuses like bad genes and such. Like George Costanza said, "It's not a lie if you believe it".

Then my feet started to hurt. I bought new boots for work. It did not help. I wore thicker socks, and it got worse as did my blood panel numbers. Then it happened..I saw a photo of myself at a ride I was on. It was pretty disgusting, my gut. I didn't realize it was so big. I don't drink so I couldn't blame it on a beer belly, it was simply the way I ate. Four meals a day plus snacks and sodas. If I ate tacos, I ate four or five of them. I would eat everything on my plate even if I was full. It was just a habit. I ate foods high in fats and carbs and sugars.

I was a mess and something had to change, and that something was my eating habits. I stopped the "fourth meal" which generally was eaten after dinner. I started cutting back my portions, two tacos instead of five..I stopped eating when I BEGAN to feel full. I cut back on sodas, but I was still eating ALL of the same things..Just not as much. I went from 240 to 225 in about a year, but that gut never seemed to get any smaller. My company pays for gym memberships and still I wouldn't go. I just didn't have time, or so I told myself.

I have had a bad left shoulder for years, and once in awhile, I would have to get a steriod injection to calm it down. Last summer it started hurting again, and in September, I got another shot. I did nothing. I still had trouble sleeping and working with the pain. I was taking vicodin regularly and it was losing it's effectiveness. Then my elbow started hurting, then my wrist and top of my hand. It got to the point that I could not sleep or even lie on my left side. I went back to my orthopedist(things are bad when you have your own orthopedist)and told him what was happening. He told me to look this way and that and, WOW! THAT HURT! I was informed that it was my neck, and not my arm that was the problem. A few specialists, MRIs, CTscans and a nerve conductance test later and I was scheduled for surgery to have three discs fused in my lower neck. At the hospital, I was poked, prodded and bled in pre-op testing. I went in for surgery the next day and was informed by the anasthesiologist that I was diabetic. I argued, but numbers don't lie. My blood sugar was 300(its not supposed to be over 120). I went to the doctor and got everything tested again after the surgery. I WAS diabetic(type II)and my cholesterol was now 276 and my triglycerides were over 2000! I weighed 225, my blood pressure was 180/110 and my pulse was 105 at rest. This was in late February 2006.

I was put on more powerful meds and told to get my shit together by my doctor, a friend who is a doctor and by my wife. I stalled, I procrastinated, I refused to not drink my beloved ginger ale. Then it hit me. I can't die just yet and I don't want to be sick and I dont want to have to take these meds forever. The side effects of some of them are life altering. So I did it. Sugar was virtually eliminated from my life, my beloved carbs were cut by two thirds, I watch my fat and type of fat intakes, my portions became even smaller and the weight started coming off quickly. I got back in the gym and remembered how much I enjoy working out. It's the IDEA of working out that is the hurdle!

Today I work out five times a week unless something comes up, which rarely happens, I weigh 205, my blood pressure is 120/70 and I have been off that med for over two months, my at rest pulse is 80, my cholesterol is 170, triglycerides are 240 and my blood sugar rarely exceeds 100. I feel great, but do sometimes overdo it at the gym, but that's OK, the soreness and fatigue will pass with a day or two of taking it easy. My gut is gone, my joints and feet feel much better(I still hurt most of the time, but it's tolerable)and I rarely use pain meds anymore.

I should be an inspiration for anyone wanting to make such changes, because I am NOT a big motivation guy. I like to watch TV and read and just be lazy. Staying busy and motivated around the house is not like doing the same for racing! It's difficult, but if I can do it anyone can. I know that sounds cliche, but it is true. Please don't wait until you are diagnosed with something as serious as diabetes to make the change. Think about your life and the people in it. I want to see my kids all grow up. I want to hold my grandkids and I don't want my parents to have to put me in the ground before them. I am not afraid to die, but I am in no hurry just the same.

Pretend you have diabetes and hyper elevated lipids. Modify your diet accordingly. It's not magic. It's not a fad diet or Weight Watchers or something you will not be doing in two months. I still eat, with the exception of sugars, most of the things I have always eaten, I just monitor it all very closely. I even sneak in a Dryers ice cream dit or some home made vanilla or a garish desert after a fancy dinner out once in awhile. You don't have to be drastic, just be logical and methodical and please, don't wait to get sick. I may like to argue with some of you, but I don't want to see any of you sick or dead.