Yes, those of you who have read my book and paid attention, this is basically a chapter of “Price Hill Boy”. I’m not being lazy, necessarily. I just thought that this week I would share with the “P.W.” crowd a little background on why I have taken the time, over the last 6 3/4 years, to share my thoughts on wellness, fitness, longevity, etc. I love that I just called the regular readership of this blog a “crowd”. Small gathering might be more appropriate, but moving on….

Why do I care?

Because I’ve looked at life from both sides. And for me, being healthy is worth the occasional discomfort of getting there and staying there. Maybe it’s not for you. But I think sharing my story can help folks who want to try something different but don’t know how, or don’t think they are capable of it. Trust me people. I’m not special. Simply put, If I can do it, you can do it. I sincerely believe that. So, without a bunch more blather on my part, here’s my “fat to fit” story.

I was fat.
Significantly fat. For a while.
I wasn’t fat as a small child. But right around 13, right around puberty, I turned to food.
I’ve said before, and truly believe, that had there been such a thing as a “spectrum” when I was young, I would have been on it. I was painfully socially awkward. I was, and still am, uncomfortable in social situations. I played some team sports, which helped. Team sports worked for the same reason theater works now. It’s a group of people working towards a goal. I don’t have to engage in small talk. I don’t have to be clever or charming. we are there to accomplish something and the collaborative work makes interaction easy.
Afterparties and nights out are another thing…

…but I digress…
At 13-ish, what took the place of social interaction in my life was food. For me, food was and always has been fun. I enjoy the act of eating, of tasting good food. I don’t understand people who say that they forget meals. I have no idea how you do that. When I’m eating lunch, I am planning dinner. And much like fitness is now a hard-wired habit in my life, eating was the same back then. I ate unhealthy amounts of unhealthy foods because I enjoyed the experience. And I didn’t have other interactions . This is not a “poor me” piece. It’s a recounting of what happened, of how I got where I got.
I was addicted to chips & dip. It got to the point where my family would prepare additional chips and dip, knowing that I would camp out in front of it and chow down. And the heavier I got, the less active I got. And the less active I got, the heavier I got.
You see the cycle.
So I was heavy, and socially awkward. From 13 through my early 20s. Those formative, high school, 1st date, prom years. One of my favorite throw-away lines is that I was a fat kid who sang in the glee club at a Catholic jock school in the late 70’s. A certain amount of bullying was almost to be expected. But again I go back to…this is not a “poor me” scenario..I had friends. I think I was more of a “mascot” than anything else. But they were friends with me when there was no reason to be, and I appreciate that.
Then, in my early – mid 20s, something changed.
Don’t ask me what or why. There was no “burning bush” moment. No climactic moment when I started chiseling at the wall of the prison cell and a chunk came out..To the best of my recollection, I just decided to run around the block one day. Not even a mile, just around the block. And doing it once became doing it on a regular basis. Then just running became going to the Cincinnati YMCA and working out. And then the diet started.
And folks, I did the diet totally wrong. I did it the way you are not supposed to do it. 1200 calories a day. Working out and sauna-ing until I would black out..The powers that be will tell you that this kind of extreme diet/work out routine will lose the weight, but then it will all come back plus more, eventually. Only it didn’t. For some reason, I was the exception to that rule. And I do believe what they say is true in 99% of cases. Just not mine.
That’s what took me from 265 lbs to 220, then to 195, then down to 180-ish, by the time I was around 30. And that’s where it’s stayed since then, more or less. Occasionally I let things go a bit, and then I have to have a quick “come to Jesus” moment and get back on the program for a minute. Or a show comes up where I have to take my shirt off. Basically, I’ve been lucky enough, and made good enough choices to maintain my weight. And no, I don’t think wellness is a number on a scale but for me it’s a fairly good road sign.
Then after I got to L.A., I started taking group fitness classes. Then I got asked to get certified and start teaching , which I did. I spent 20 years teaching for 24 Hour Fitness, L.A. Fitness, among others. I even taught at Linda Evans Fitness, which was an all women’s gym, which amused me no end. And subsequently, running became a part of my life, but that’s a different blog.
I still love food. I just have a different, and I think better, relationship with it. I hate the word “moderation”, but it probably describes it as well as anything. But I don’t think of it as being moderate. I think that as you reduce your food intake, what you think of as a good portion of food changes. My year in Japan changed my concept of portion size completely. Japanese food is incredibly varied and delicious, but they eat when they eat. They eat a much smaller portion than Americans, at least on average, then they get on with their day. When I got back after a year in Japan, I was amazed at the size of American portions.
So, all this to say that I’ve looked at life through both sides now, to quote Joni Mitchell. And I value the whole experience. I think being fat in a thin world teaches you about people. About prejudice, based on appearance. I have tried to keep those lessons with me. I think I actually have an issue with very attractive people. I think they tend to get away with way more than others, and when I meet them I start out with a fair bit of cynicism. And spending most of my life in performing arts, I have been around a lot of incredibly attractive people. I once had to room for a short time, on a cruise ship, with a man who was so incredibly handsome that women would stop me, ask if I was “Marshall’s roommate” , and then ask if I could introduce them to him. I was straight, and single. Marshall was gay. It didn’t matter.
And one last thing I want to make perfectly clear..
Fitness is a choice.
I don’t think that there is anything inherently better, or more noble, about being fit. You choose how you live your life, and you make choices based on what you want. There are people who are way more fit than I. There are people who don’t have any interest in fitness whatsoever. I had a friend named Geno. He was an actor I worked with a lot. Geno would delight in bringing whatever “meatball hoagie with extra cheese and mayo on the side” he was having for dinner, along with the beer he was washing it down with, eat it in front of me and then tell me he was going outside for an after dinner cigarette. I would tell him “I’m happy to give you a light if you need it”. I am a great believer in self-determination. What I don’t respect is living that life and then getting all regretful and repentant when the cancer, diabetes, etc happens. Yup Brynner did that. And John Matuzak. I don’t want to hear it, I want to go like Oliver Reed. He lived his whole life drinking, smoking, eating and, well, procreating with whatever and whomever he liked. He died while filming “Gladiator”, in a bar, reportedly after getting in a drinking contest with some military types and downing a crazy amount of beer & booze. Again, self determination and no regrets…
…sorry, 2nd digression…
So, to wrap this up, I think that after being heavy throughout those years, as I was growing up, I will always think of myself that way on some level. Intellectually I know that I am fit, and if anything on the thin side. But somewhere inside I will always carry around that kid who was nicknamed “whale”. And that’s a good thing.

Talk Later,

Bob