What's the Mediterranean Diet?

This is a little different post than I usually write. I want to thanks the hundreds of people who bought a copy of one of my ebooks. I’m not a professional writer, I just like to write and a friend of mine once told me if I’m going to write I have to write about a subject I love. A subject I can write about every day. A subject that I have personally experienced.

I picked weight loss because I have A lifetime of experience. I started wrestling in school when I was 12 years old. I was in 8th grade when the high school coach came to my school and talked to us about joining the wrestling team. I was a big kid, better suited for football, but I want to do both football and wrestling. The coach would come to my school after classes and taught us how to wrestle. We learned the rules and some of the moves and the strategy. By the time I was a Sophomore I was put on the Varsity team.

My best year was my Junior year when I when to State. That’s what we all competed for, just a chance to go to the State competition.

If you know anything about wrestling, it’s a constant battle to make weight. I wrestled 180 weight class for 3 years. During football season in the fall, I weighed 190. Wrestling started one week after football and the first match was one week after that. So I had two weeks to lose 10 pounds. It’s not that hard when you’re in high school. Your age helps, I started training for wrestling season the Monday after my last football game. We had to run 5 miles every day before we started practice. After 3 minutes on the mat, I was a mass of sweat. I could lose two pounds a day in practice, but I would go home and drink gallons of juice, milk, and water before dinner and put back whatever I lost. The weekends were the hardest to control my weight, but I learned how and I never missed a match.

My senior year was very important If I was going to get a scholarship. I got hurt in football and spent 2 months on crutches. After the doctor said I could play sports again, I weighed about 190 and the coach said I could come back but the only weight class open was 165. I only had 3 weeks before my first match. I made weight for my first match but I was so weak I could barely survive the 6 minutes. I lost that match and several after that and lost a chance for the scholarship I wanted. I tried to wrestle in College but the injury was in my hip and lower back. I had trouble running and I spent most of that season on crutches. That was the end of sports for me.

At least, that’s what I thought at the time. After I finished school, my wife and I got married and I started driving for Coca-Cola. The job was hard work, I had a bottle route delivering to bars, restaurants, and factories. I would unload the truck by hand alone making about 20 stops a day. 12 hours a day was the norm.

I lost 20 pounds my first couple of years with Coke. I started at 185 and soon dropped to 165. After about 5 years with Coke, I was tired of the long commute and I changed jobs. I worked in heavy construction for about 5 years until we moved out of state.

The construction job was just as hard so I easily maintained my weight until we bought a restaurant. The work was just as hard with even longer hours but the access to food was almost constant. Over the next 3 or 4 years, I gained 60 pounds. The moment when reality set in was when I had to buy size 38 jeans, after being a 32 for almost 20 years.

That’s when I knew I had to lose weight. I was in my late 30’s and didn’t have a regular doctor so no one was pushing me to lose weight. I just feel bad, not physically, but emotionally. I was depressed by the fact that I had let myself get in this kind of shape after being in near-perfect condition since I started to wrestle.

Losing weight was a long process that took several years because no matter how much I lost, I always put it back on. I tried almost everything and finally, years later I had made it back to the 170s. I stayed there for several years. I became content with myself or maybe I just got tired of dieting.

Look for my podcast by searching “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight” on the podcast app that you use. You’ll see a piece of my book cover.

If you really want to lose your body fat look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, bn.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com and other online bookstores. Just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.