John Boyd

I am just an ordinary guy with an extraordinary love of my family and the time we get to spend together. After my first three years of marriage, I started to gain weight and pretty much my children never knew me when I wasn't overweight. To be technical about it, at 265 I was classified as Obese Class 3: Morbid Obesity.

Now to participate fully in family gatherings, I had to be in pretty good shape because everybody has a tendency to be hyperactive and they feel a need to burn all that excess energy. I found that my cut off was some where around 235 pounds. Below that weight, I could at least keep up with my very active granddaughters without making a fool of myself.

Unfortunately for my health, 235 pounds at 5 foot 8 inches tall is still classified as Obese Class 2 and I never started watching my weight until I exceeded that by a wide margin. At that weight, which I found acceptable, I would have to lose another five pounds to be classified as Obese Class 1, which I occasionally did. I achieved Class 1 Obesity for weddings, graduations and some family vacations, but the last time I was simply overweight, below 197, was in 1982.

When Doctors, Friends or Family challenged my weight, I pointed out that I had big bones, was in great physical shape, worked hard for a living and the only real relaxation I had was socializing, eating and drinking with my family. The first serious diet I went on was when I hit 265 pounds and was losing my ability to work and play. Even sleeping became a chore as I developed a serious case of sleep apnea and my wife, Dolores woke me up whenever I stopped breathing, which was about every fifteen minutes.

At the start of that first serious diet, I took a naked picture of myself and posted it on the refrigerator (and online) and scandalized the whole family. While that picture has been lost to posterity, I have to admit it was pretty gross.

The point of this discussion is that “clothes really do make the man.” In all of the Author photos of me sitting down, I was above 245, my starting point for Coffeepot Cooking, but you really don't notice it as gross because I hide behind clothes and a happy disposition. The only Photo that even suggests I might be grossly overweight is the one taken by my granddaughter from her perspective which shows the horizontal belt buckle below the blue shirt. At the time of the picture, I was down to 230 pounds and was starting on my permanent weight loss.

The sketch on the cover shows a drawing of my naked profiles at 245 and 175. While converted to a line drawing with shorts added, it is still informative on two points.

1.It's obvious from the profile on the left, I was more than just a little chubby with big bones; I was obese, apple shaped and begging for the stroke which eventually occurred.

2. While I protest in this book and on my blog that I look best at 175 because of sagging skin around my neck and below my belly button, the truth of the matter is, I still have an obvious potbelly at 175,which would be minimized at my “normal healthy weight” of 165 as recommended by Doctors and health care professionals. Pictures of naked people do not lie.

Realistically, I am not sure if my vanity over wrinkled skin will ever allow me to sustain that low a weight in the name of maximizing longevity but the struggle for a healthy body will still continue for the rest of my life.

John Boyd

St. Croix, Virgin Islands