The Kilo Boys

Our journey began with a heavy step.

Going it alone is never easy. I’ve always worked better when working with a team, whether it was playing sports with helpful teammates, working alongside responsible co-workers, playing video games with experienced players, euchre with a knowledgeable partner, you name it.

So it’s no surprise that I’ve struggled in the weight loss department when I’ve attempted to do it on my own.

Going back, my most recent run of success was when I teamed up with my siblings and siblings-in-law on a group chat where we checked in with one another and helped hold ourselves accountable. We’d share pictures of meals we cooked, healthy recipes, success stories as we collectively lost weight.

All in all, I lost about 90 pounds that year and was feeling pretty great about myself.

Over time, however, a few pregnancies occurred, a couple children were added to the family and the added responsibly of child-raising and life in general got in the way and I was back on my own.

Given my cyclical struggles with my weight over the past 20 years, it should come as no surprise that I gained those 90 pounds back over time.

My attempts to get healthy in the last couple years have instead been more on my own. I’ve been able to lose 50 pounds here and there, but I frustratingly gain it all back.

I felt alone, and even when working with my siblings and their spouses, they weren’t in the same situation as I was, given I was so much heavier than them.

Enter my friend Rick.

I met Rick because he’s the brother-in-law of one of my best friends. We bonded pretty quickly over our love of sports, our senses of humor and our size. We were both about 6-feet-4 and more than double what we weighed in high school.

It wasn’t until recently, however, that I understood just how much Rick was like me. What started as a heated debate over politics post-election eventually transitioned to a discussion about health. I hadn’t seen Rick in a couple years, but just like me, his weight had gotten completely out of control.

He’d made some life changes and had been losing weight, but wanted some additional motivation. I ended up going over to his house, where we spent a few hours opening up about some of the worst issues we have about our weight, about how we have to take it into consideration when thinking about what activities to attend, what we’ll be able to do, etc. We talked about the things we hated most about being so unhealthy.

Then we came up with a game plan for what to do about it.

Normally, neither of us would be caught dead stepping on a scale in front of another person, but given our understanding of each other, we did it at his house. He was a bit bigger than I, but combined, we were 992 pounds. It was mindboggling.

I jokingly referred to us as “The Kilo Boys,” because we were so close to 1,000 pounds combined.

Rick loved it immediately. He thought it was something we could use as our identity as we worked together to get healthier. Perhaps we could inspire others to join us on our journey.

The first step, in my opinion, was to share our “whys,” the most important reasons we wanted to lose weight. What were our biggest motivating factors?

Family was No. 1 for both of us. Rick wanted to be there for his family as they grow up. He wants to be more involved in their lives.

“I don’t want them to see me as the dad who can’t do stuff,” he said.

I had the same motivation, but for my five nieces and nephews. I want to be able to keep up with them when we’re playing together instead of getting exhausted. I want to help mold them into amazing young adults and there are some opportunities that I’m already missing out on because of my weight.

For Rick, his motivation also was about what he didn’t want. He didn’t want to feel like crap constantly. He no longer wanted to be tired all the time, hurting all the time, feeling miserable all the time. Getting healthier would go a long way in helping that.

My other “why” was staring me in the face. Rick already had it. Maybe it was too late for me to have my own family someday, maybe not, but I’m tired of doing it alone and I’ve let my weight get in the way of that. It would at least be nice to have a supportive partner and I’d feel a lot more confident and be much more desirable if I was finally able to get rid of all this excess baggage around my stomach.

The next step was our “non-negotiables” as I called them. Rick and I each set up some specific rules for our diet and health that we had to follow with absolutely no excuses, with the first rules being the most important. For Rick, he wanted to track all the calories he ate and also ensure he wasn’t drinking the calories he consumed.

For me, my No. 1 rule was to stop taking shortcuts with my diet. The occasional restaurant was OK as long as I ordered something somewhat healthy, but no more fast food on the way to or from work. No more gas station junk food. No more ice cream. No more pizza. It was time to turn a new leaf with my diet decisions. I was going to cook almost all of my meals moving forward.

The early results have been excellent. We’re only one week into the system, but Rick and I have been checking in on each other every day helping hold ourselves accountable. We’re sharing what we’re having to eat, sharing our little “wins” along the way when we avoid making poor health decisions.

We both now have memberships at the Tiffin YMCA and we worked out three times this past week. It took three full days to recover from the first rigorous workout and won’t be winning any bodybuilding competitions anytime soon, but it’s a great start. We followed our rules with our diets and the truth spoke volumes on the scale.

Just one week in, Rick had lost 10 pounds and I had lost 11.5 pounds. We’re now 21.5 pounds further away from actually being “The Kilo Boys.” On top of helping hold each other accountable, we’re also being competitive with each other about who can lose more weight each week.

We have a long ways to go and I don’t expect this road to getting healthy to be a quick, smooth or easy one, but for the first time in a long time, I’m optimistic again. Rick is too.

Here’s hoping it stays that way.