My Road to Freedom From Fat
Ben here! Life has a funny way of coming full circle, and I’m a living testament of that. I grew up in Olathe, Kansas (just a skip and a jump from Kansas City and the University of Kansas). My family was very health conscious, an irony that would become apparent later in life. We would go to the farmers markets on the weekends and rarely ate out, so I would say I had a foundation of smart eating habits instilled in me. And then I went to college… I decided to stay close to home and went to the University of Kansas, and that’s where my relationship with fast food, junk food, and beer took a turn for the worst.
Staying in the dorms I had access to the all-you-can-eat cafeteria. The freshman 15 quickly became the freshman 30 as I threw all good habits out the window and instead replaced them with binge drinking, binge eating, and no sleep. When I left college I had reached 250lbs and was in a rut. I graduated with a business degree in 2000 and immediately landed a job in Chicago as an accountant. While I found a stability in my schedule, I dug an even bigger hole with my habits. Working 9-5, I would feel so tired at the end of the day (after commuting to outside of the city) and had no motivation for exercise or meal planning. A lifestyle of World of Warcraft and fast food resulted in me ballooning to over 320 lbs at my “peak”.
It wasn’t until I found Rachel that things changed. It was in 2013 and I had accepted my life as a sedentary soul when one day my friend Chris invited me out with some friends. It was there I met Rachel, a girl who loved video games, football, and home cooking. We hit it off and started dating soon after. Within a few months I had tapped into a part of myself I hadn’t experienced since high school. We started cooking together, biking, and new habits started to form. My awakening occurred on a blustery night in November when we were cooking together. Something just hit me and I realized that I needed to get my act together, not just for me, but for us. The next day I purchased a gym membership, decided on a diet plan, and began my quest for health.
Two years later and I’m a whole new man. I’m now married to Rachel and we’re expecting our first kid this spring. Five years ago if you had told me I’d be active, married, and healthy I would not have believed you. I can hardly believe it myself. Now it is my mission to pass on my inspiration and knowledge to help those fighting the battle against fat so that they may find their Freedom, just as I found mine.
