The “Stallone Effect:” A Rocky Road to Weight Loss

I can imagine in this modern day, it is not easy to be the fat kid in class.

sylvester-stallone — Stallone with my favorite exercise equipment: the heavy bag

I remember it well, as I was that kid. It was years ago, in elementary and middle school, but I was once the fat guy. Chunky. Overweight, whatever you prefer to call it.

I empathize with today’s modern kid because even if you want to lose weight, there is temptation everywhere. Fatty foods, high carbs, sweets, sugar in everything…it seems worse now than when I was young.

It’s challenging to be overweight when you grow up Italian American as well. Although I’ve mentioned before that my grandmother cooked me a lot of great meals that were heavy on the vegetables, I also ate a lot of things that could potentially put on some weight.

I’m talking meats, rich sauces, sweets and pastries galore.

As much as I loved my veggies, meatballs and manicotti were likely to be on any menu as well.

If there was a cannoli in the room, chances are I would eat it.

Things were also made a little more difficult attending middle school at a military academy. With the extra weight, I obviously did not look the part of a polished cadet. Among the sharp creases, perfect shoes, and shiny belt buckles, you stand out from the crowd when your stomach flops over that belt buckle.

I have to admit, when I finally decided to make some changes to take weight off, it wasn’t for any health reasons. I was too young to think that way. I just wanted to get those rotten kids in school off of my back.

Although I wanted to make some strides in taking off some weight, I wasn’t exactly sure what to do. I had little knowledge about health and fitness, and even less inspiration and motivation.

Then my inspiration hit me, square in the face, while sitting in a movie theater.

Rocky.

For anyone unfamiliar with this mid 70’s classic, Rocky is the not so improbable story of a boxer with slightly less than average fighting talent, living in near poverty, who is randomly chosen in a 4th of July marketing ploy to fight the world heavyweight champion.

In the movie, the fight scenes are dramatic, the acting crisp, and the training montages, where Rocky prepares for his big night, are inspirational. For me, very inspirational.

Can you picture the face of a young kid, watching Star Wars for the first time, or some great animation, staring at a movie screen with eyes wide, his mouth agape? That was me while I was watching Rocky, as he trained by climbing the summit of the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, or pounding a side of beef posing as a heavy bag in a desolate freezer.

He transformed himself from a washed up, out of shape fighter, to a lean physical specimen that was a whisper from calling himself champion. I had my answers.

After seeing the movie, I ran circles around my neighborhood. Running became a top priority in my life. I learned to use a heavy bag, worked around my awkward attempts at jumping rope, and although I never aspired to do the one handed push-up that Rocky did in the movie, I became pretty good at the two handed version.

Rocky was Sylvester Stallone’s baby. He wrote the script and played the lead in what was to be the breakthrough moment of his life. And I can’t thank him enough for it. It also wound up being a breakthrough moment in my life.

Fueled by the motivation I had gotten from the movie, I worked for months to shed pounds and get fit, and it was a success. I don’t know exactly how much weight I came off, as I lost track after the first 20-25 pounds.

By the time I was 15-16 years old, I was in pretty good shape. And I stayed that way. When I met my wife years later (I was 30), I was 6’1″ and 170 pounds, with a 32 inch waist.

I’m not in that kind of shape now, I confess I am a little heavier. But as far as I can see, Stallone still looks fantastic physically, now in his 70s!! Knowing that, maybe it’s time for me to recommit to the roadwork, the heavy bag, and the sit ups.

Yo Rocky…how ’bout a rematch?

Here’s To The Losers

The Yankees were knocked out of the baseball playoffs late in October, and being a Yankee fan, I was not at all happy about it.

My wife was also a little disappointed. My brother in law, who was watching the game with us, was a little too giddy about it, being the Mets fan that he is. I don’t think my daughter cared at all (seeing as she rarely looked up from her ITouch as she sat on the couch).

But I was kind of shocked at my 10 year old son’s reaction. He was really pissed. Very upset by the fact his baseball team was not going to the World Series.

Although I’m happy that there is a rooting interest here that I had a hand in cultivating, I don’t want either one of my kids to put too much emphasis on wins or losses, and to keep both in the context where they belong.

I’m hoping that someday both my kids realize that yeah, winning is fun, there’s nothing like it, but sometimes you learn your greatest lessons in life by those times that you just fell short.

Winners can win in a methodical, plodding fashion, day in and day out, that may not be interesting at all.

Losers, on the other hand, can fail in a spectacular manner. And some losses teach you right away what not to do next time, to make your chances of future wins a little better.

I gained much satisfaction watching the Yankees win the World Series last year. But towards the end of the last game, it was a foregone conclusion. It became a matter of just waiting for it to happen.

This year, in the waning moments of the final playoff game, the Yankees practically had no shot. But they battled till the very end, giving great effort in what was probably a no-hope situation.

The latter did not give the desired outcome (a Yankee win), but I found the game just as compelling as when they won the Series.

For those of us that aren’t large profile, highly overpaid athletes, wins and losses are part of everyday life. The trick is to not get too high when you win, and not crash too hard when you lose.

And when you do lose, whether it be a sale, momentum, a game…take it in another direction, learn what can be done to get a better result.

Most of us, when it’s all said and done, will win at the game of life. The losses are only temporary setbacks, to be overcome.

Celebrate the winners. But remember, it’s always how you play the game that counts.

Here’s to the losers.

Work Purpose – Passion or Paycheck?

God only knows, God makes his plan
The information’s unavailable to the mortal man
We’re workin’ our jobs, collect our pay
Believe we’re gliding down the highway, when in fact we’re slip sliding away

Crazy lyrics, aren’t they? When you’re working a job, and are part of the masses doing a 9 to 5 gig, the above can be a little…well, unsettling.

“Slip Sliding Away” is a Paul Simon song that was blaring from the speakers of the almost vintage Cadillac that I drive on the way to work the other day. The irony of the above lyric hit me like the cliched ton of bricks:

Is my life actually slip sliding away while I go to my cubicle each day and perform the duties of an employee?

And is that a reason to dislike, even hate, the circumstance?

I thought about it for awhile, and concluded that I’m stuck somewhere in the middle. Worker bee limbo. I neither dislike nor love the current situation as it pertains to work.

Not everyone hates their job. For some, the only emotion is indifference.

Maybe it’s a by-product of a lousy economy, but there just seems to be an avalanche of individuals these days that will no longer work for the man. They are running micro-businesses, working independently, and writing blog posts all about it. I must admit, at times I am jealous. They all seem to have it going in the right direction.

What’s an old school kinda guy to do? Well, this theory seems to work—

It’s perfectly fine to try and find some meaning within your day job, collect that check, and have a great passion outside of work.

Find something else to do, besides your job, that will stoke your fire. It doesn’t have to be related to work. Who wrote that rule anyway??

My grandmother worked day and night in her restaurant without necessarily “loving” everything that she did. My grandfather worked a shift in factories, and then went to the restaurant to help out after his day was done at the job. I doubt he was “passionate” about most aspects of his work. He would probably say he did it for the food, the clothing, and the roof.

My job fulfills income criteria as well. That’s all I really require of it.

The idea of a “dream job” can be a fallacy for many of us. I don’t have that one singular, all consuming passion for something that I could make my living at. I do, however, love aspects of my work in sales. I love the competition and the consistent striving to be better than I was yesterday.

My passion is reserved for my God, my family, my friends, ocean front vacations, and my baseball team. My work can just be my work.

Excuse me while I work my job, collect my pay, and yes, glide down that highway.

On Posting More And Shrinking My TV Time

A New Year’s resolution that I wanted to make for 2010 was to make an attempt to step it up with my posting frequency here: to add fresh content that others would find readable and entertaining, and do it more than once or twice a month. Really…I had the best of intentions to do so.

But we all know about the stickiness of resolutions. They normally don’t take. They mostly crash and burn by the middle of February. So, right now, more frequent posting can fall under the category of “something I’d like to do”.

The issue involved that prevents me from posting more often is I have a life. With lots of stuff going on.

And my perception is that doesn’t leave a lot of time for blogging.

Sure, I could put up some cute photos, or a You Tube clip with a couple of sentences underneath and call that a “post”, but I’ll assume enough people are doing that already. I’d rather write something with a little bit of depth. And perhaps the potential to make someone think.

I just don’t do it often enough for my taste.

But, back to the life. I have a job, one that requires several hours of focused attention. That’s how I make my money. A little old fashioned, I know, but it is what it is.

I have a family. A wife and two children who I like to devote most of my free time to. I’m aware that time itself is fleeting, and before it has a chance to run out, I’d like to spend as much of it with them as possible.

These two facets of my life are the most important—with family always coming first.

Lately, I’ve been thinking of ways to post more frequently, even though things have been busy. Trying to find the activities in my day that I could curb in the interest of getting better at, and doing more of, this writing thing.

Watching television is one of these activities.

To help me on the road to more frequent writing, I have a goal that many readers might think seems far fetched: with the exception of live Yankee baseball telecasts, to shut myself off from watching television.

And then use my previously spent “TV time” to live my life instead.

As a guy that likes to watch mostly sports on TV anyway, this sounds like a pretty simple proposition. However, it’s not that easy. There are some quality shows on television (albeit most are not), and like most other people, I sometimes find myself, after a day at the office, kicking my feet up in the recliner, ready to watch. Vegging out. Being lazy.

I’d rather not do that anymore.

I’ve been watching baseball games since I was a kid. I love them. This I cannot cut. Everything else: very negotiable. It’s negotiable because the one resource in our lives that we cannot renew is time. Time runs out every day, and before that time is gone, I would rather not waste it on an activity that does nothing to move my life forward. Going forward is the much better option.

Have you ever thought of what happens with less watching, more doing?

I can do the following:

talk and make plans with my wife
help my daughter with homework
play catch with my son
phone someone I haven’t spoken to in a while
take a walk or run with my dog
read something
cook something really good and tasty
make some sauce
and I can write. Post something worthwhile here. Offer something to the world, instead of playing with the TV remote.

This is just a partial list of worthwhile ways to spend a life, rather than being a spectator to the network and cable offerings.

But looking at it quickly, I think, what a great list. And how I should get started right now.

Never Say Die

“Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel.” – Napoleon Hill

If you were playing in a baseball game, and your team was losing 11-0, would the thought of giving up cross your mind?

What if before this game, you lost all the other games you played, in a similarly lopsided fashion. Would that make you want to quit even more?

What if you were ten or eleven years old, and entrenched in this cycle of losing. Wouldn’t you really want to quit?

I’m an assistant coach with this team I describe. If these kids did not want to give up, well, I sure did. It’s actually quite easy to recall all the negative dialogue running through my head during that game:

Man, these kids can’t play at all.

Will anybody swing the bat tonight?

Why are we doing this?

Just play out the string. Just let them play, and in a month, it will be all over.

Nice thoughts for a coach to be having, huh? I was one of the guys supposed be building these kids up, instilling some confidence, letting them know that whatever the challenge, they could overcome. Instead, I’m pacing on the field, looking at the scoreboard, having my own private pity party. But something happened on the way to another beatdown on the baseball diamond.

These kids taught me a lesson. They took me to school.

“When life knocks you down, you have two choices -stay down or get up.”

To give you a synopsis of what turned out to be (even on a Little League level) an epic game, that eleven run lead eventually shrank down to size. With a couple of nice hits, some timely pitching, and our batters being selective in the box when the other team’s pitching went cold, the outcome of the game was anything but decided.

When it was decided, it was a dramatic finish with a play at the plate in our team’s last at bat with two outs.

In that last at bat, with the two outs, our team was still three runs behind. I still thought, even with this very emphatic show of persistence, there was no way they could come all the way back.

Final score 12-11. We win.

I don’t know what caused this monumental spark, a fire lit underneath these kids. But it was sudden. Players that seemed disinterested, even half asleep, began to play in fast forward. And once they got it going, everything snowballed. Still on the short end of the score, you knew which team had the all important momentum.

I think the reaction of most adults faced with such a steep uphill climb would be to pack it up and get ready for another day. But they didn’t. This team displayed a boatload of heart and character.

I was happy for the kids that they got the win. I was proud of the way they kept grinding it out, giving their maximum effort with every at bat, and doing their best in the field.

But, more than that, I was grateful for their gentle reminder that for most situations in life, persistence is everything. It is a reminder that I need more often than not, when you feel like giving it up, it makes more sense to just keep going.

Thanks to a Little League team that didn’t quit, I re-learned once of the most basic old school lessons. Persist. Always be moving forward.

Never. Say. Die.