700lb Guy Asks For Help

Have you seen the video floating around of Robert Gibbs?  He's a 23 year old guy who weighs close to 700lbs.  He took to YouTube in a plea for someone - ANYONE - to help him lose the weight.

Watching this makes me sad and makes me want to help somehow.  Although I never tipped the scales  at his weight, around 10 years ago I dropped from 260lbs to 199lbs by cutting carbs and working out at least four times a week. It took discipline to hit the gym every day and to eat some of the same low-carb stuff day after day.  But I did it.

My motivation?  My boss was a slim and fit guy who women fawned over.  Seriously.  I wanted to have at least SOME of that attention from the women in the office!

I have to admit this video also brings out the judgmental side of me.

None of us are born fat.  Yes, some of us are bigger people, some smaller and some average.  I understand that.  But ultimately it's our parents or ourselves who decide what food goes in our mouths.  What I don't understand is how someone hits 400 pounds and doesn't think "hey maybe I should do something about this, maybe I should eat differently, maybe I should stop sitting on the sofa and go exercise."

When I moved to GR in August, I was a pretty solid 230lbs and 10-12% body fat.  In addition to being being a "gym rat," I spent two weeks working on our house non-stop and looked decent.  After 9 months of sitting in this office chair or in the air studio and working out almost never, I've put on weight and lost most of the strength I had...and it pisses me off. But I realize that and will take steps to change it.

This has turned into a "why doesn't he just do something about it" style rant and it wasn't intended to be that way.  I hope he gets help and lives to see his nieces and nephews.  But I also hope he realizes that change starts inside and, just like any other disease, nothing will change until you decide that it needs to.