The Biggest Loser…but in real life!

On the t.v. show “The Biggest Loser,” people lose drastic amounts of weight in dramatic fashion, only to gain it back when they are off the air and the cameras are gone. Dramatic is the right word for it. It is a t.v. show, made to entertain. Those who produce it are interested in ratings, certainly not in the health of the participants. They “help” them lose weight, all right, but in all the wrong ways for all of the wrong reasons. But contestants sign up to be on the show, nonetheless, grasping at the slim hope that they might become slim, in actuality.

It’s easy to understand their desperation. Richard Morris could certainly relate. For him, walking to work was akin to hiking Mount Everest. He would huff and puff and sweat up a storm and it was only a few blocks away from his place in New York City! He was in terrible shape. No surprise. The man weighed over 400 lbs. Dieting? Hed been there, done that….in his own words, “a million and one” times. The only thing they were good for was packing on the pounds (after some initial unsustainable weight loss).

Richard was pre-diabetic and struggling with asthma and high blood pressure. Every day he woke up asking himself, “Is today the day I die?”

This is Richard today. Yes, as you can ascertain, he has undergone a complete transformation! He is in excellent shape, as are his wife and two daughters. He works a job and runs a family farm. And in his spare time, he runs spartan races!

Be inspired by his story in this half-hour episode entitled A life unburdened.

What You’ll Learn

• How Richard gained so much weight in the first place
• The role his family’s poverty played in their food choices when he was growing up
• What diets he tried and why they failed him
• Richard’s a-ha moment that led him to leave dieting behind
• What first steps he took to rid his home of processed foods
• What foods they bought (and where they bought them) as they switched to eating real food
• What happened when he flirted (briefly) with the idea of eating the old way
• How the Weston A. Price Foundation resources played a part in his transformation
• The role of cooking in his life
• How his daughter’s early puberty was reversed through real food
•  How he got into obstacle course racing

Links & Resources

• Weston A. Price Foundation
• A life unburdened (book by Richard Morris)

About Richard Morris

Richard Morris worked in IT, but now lives a life that is drastically different. Richard lives in Virginia, running his farm, running spartan races and running in the human race, in brave and new ways!

If you enjoy the podcast episode, please share it on FB or Twitter. And leave Wise Traditions a review on iTunes which gives important stories like Richard’s a broader platform!

5 lessons I learned from fitness fanatics

I love to exercise but today I just might have overdone it. I’m at the DCAC fitness conference in Northern Virginia this weekend and I feel like I just climbed a mountain. I participated in three INTENSE workout sessions that left me dripping with sweat, and walking out of the rooms with the unintentional swagger of a cowgirl in a sepia-toned Western movie.

And yet, somehow I don’t feel drained, despite the intense activity and the many lectures I sat through. I feel energized. Inspired. Eager to make different choices in my own life and to influence the lives of others. I’ll start by sharing the five lessons that I gleaned from today’s physical and emotional boot camp:

• Let them see you sweat! It’s the opposite of the old moniker “Never let them see you sweat!” It’s okay to be real, to be vulnerable, to work hard, and to let pride fall by the wayside. The best instructors today admitted their mistakes, got just as sweaty as we did (if not more so), and pushed themselves to their own limits. They smiled, because of the joy of dance and movement, but I never got the impression they were trying to pretend what they were doing was easy. They were not apparently self-conscious. Their freedom and fun in the moment encouraged me to dig a little deeper and let go of my concerns about what other people thought of me.
• Seek out connection. Fitness professional Petra Kolber spoke about happiness. She told us that studies show that loneliness is an epidemic and it is more detrimental to our health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day! So, today, I smiled at strangers, struck up conversations, and reveled in being surrounded by gobs and gobs of people.
• You can get around most any obstacle. There was a blind woman at the conference this weekend. She literally was dancing with a cane in her hand. I don’t know her story, but I know this: if you want to do something in life, stop making excuses and get out there and do it. Excuses are just fear talking. Fear can talk but it doesn’t need to stop you in your tracks. Move forward anyway.
• Every body is different. There are guys who look like football players, women who look like grandmothers, and every age and stage in between at this conference. There is something beautiful about the array of beautiful people here. None of us look like the girl with the flat abs and stick straight hair on the DCAC poster, and that’s awesome! Every body is unique and lovely, including our own!
• Celebrate the gift of life we’ve been given. In one of the lectures, nutrition consultant Teri Gentes marveled at the intricate design of our bodies. (The verse “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” comes to mind.) It is something to celebrate and to be grateful for, indeed. Did you move from point A to point B today? Did your feet take you where you wanted to go? Were you able to speak when you wanted to? Pick up a glass of water? Is your heart beating? Be thankful.