Blogger, D.L. Zarkowsky, writes about his weight loss success story and his journey to lose 85 pounds.
What age did you break up with your bathtub? Age five, when you turned double digits? Maybe, just maybe, you still enjoy baths: the calming effect of bath salts relaxing your muscles.
Although I grew apart from my bathtub shortly after puberty, I tried to reconnect. The jacuzzi tub in my new Chicago condo beckoned.
After one try, the separation was reaffirmed.
Why?
I could barely fit.
Two hundred and sixty pounds on my five foot seven inch frame. The toxic cocktail of genetics, excess weight, and poor body treatment soon boiled over: fitting into the tub would the least of my problems.
On the Ides of March 2010, thirty-nine years of age, I had a heart attack.
A Dramatic Transformation and Weight Loss Success
Fast forward to December 2014, the end of my one year journey of losing eighty-five pounds.
How did I do it?
How have I kept it off?
What was the tipping point?
Don’t worry, I will share the entire journey, all of my secrets in forthcoming blog posts.
The first step, before nutrition and portion control, well before an exercise regimen is finding your ULTIMATE CONCERN (to borrow a concept from theologian Paul Tillich): “…ultimate concern as an act of the total personality. It is the most centered act of the human mind…it participates in the dynamics of personal life.”
Your ultimate concern consumes you, infuses every moment with focused intent. You form a ‘unio mystica’ (mystical union/become one) with your ultimate concern, fused with your being.
Do you think my heart attack was my ultimate concern?
No.
Maybe the greatest part of my life, my two children, propelled me towards body transformation
No.
Maybe doing cardiac rehab with geriatric patients motivated me?
No.
In the next installment, I share my ultimate concern and the first chapters of my weight loss success story, the one year journey to lose 85 pounds.
D.L. Zarkowsky is a writer, amateur philosopher, and fitness enthusiast based in Rochester, NY. Born, bred, and raised in the country’s primiere baseball town of St. Louis, MO, his passion for deep thought was ignited at The University of Chicago. He has lost 85 pounds and maintained the weight loss for more than two years.
