Sadly, even after being at my healthy weight for over three years and having run four full and one half marathons, and having my story reported online for the world to see, I still frequently hear gossip and rumors behind my back from people I know and don’t know about how “the fat guy must have had gastric bypass surgery.” To these people, all I can say is, I don’t take your insensitive and ignorant comments to heart, as I had for years as an overweight person and as a recovering over-eater and codependent whose life and self-image depended entirely on feedback from others.
If you don’t want to believe I could have done what I did, then don’t. If you preferred having me as the fat guy you could make fun of, and now, instead of calling me fat, you choose to question what I did, that is your business. Anyone who needs someone else to gossip about or put down for whatever reason really needs to take an in-depth look at him or herself!
To those who know me and those who don’t, it all starts by looking within! Perhaps if you read and take into your heart my story and look inside yourself, you could see that within each of us is a God-given capacity and power to do seemingly miraculous things, and like me, you will go and create your own miracles and dream life and no longer feel the need to focus on putting down or gossiping about others.
This goes for people who have weight problems and those who don’t! Anyone could benefit from my story, even the insensitive people who for years made fun of me as an overweight person and those who today prefer to gossip and make untrue, disparaging remarks about me, rather than acknowledge that someone may have actually done something amazing and positive! I like the expression, “people who live in glass houses…” It all starts by looking within! If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything, and if you have something nasty to say, maybe you should look at why you feel so compelled.
I never thought such a transformation could be possible, but I am living proof that each of us can do amazing things if we focus on improving ourselves. Fortunately, whether the rest of the world believes me or not, I am grateful to have been given a second chance and to have claimed the life that was meant for me! Regardless of what anyone thinks, I am at peace with myself and HAPPY at long last! I am glad I found the solution within me! That is where I keep my focus—on the internal, not the external, and on the positive, not the negative! If we all could start by looking within ourselves and by focusing on the positive, the world would be a much kinder, gentler place.
