Done Being the Fat Guy

August 23, 2012

Cindy Young

"I will be the fit and healthy husband and father that I know I can be, that I am becoming day by day."





 

Nick Anderson is done being the fat guy.

He is done saying goodbye to loved ones. He is done with being unhealthy. He wants to be fit. “Just weeks ago, I lost my grandfather, and three years ago it was my father-in-law … no more, it ends now,” Anderson says. “I will not have another person die in my family that will see me fat. I deserve this. I deserve to be a better husband, father and friend.”

Painful Motivation


Anderson learned about CrossFit more than a year ago. He went to church with one of the owners of Practice CrossFit. He tried to get Anderson in the doors for a long time. “I was so scared. What would I do? How would I do it? All the things your mind convinces you to believe so that you will have excuses not to try,” Anderson recalls. “I let everything be the excuse. First it was work, then it was my family, and then I told myself it was money. CrossFit was just too expensive for a man with a wife and two kids.”

Somewhere among all the excuses, Anderson got sucker punched with the truth while reading a blog by Josh Bunch. The wake-up call article is an emotional piece in which Bunch describes his father losing his battle with food and addiction. Anderson was met with a raw dose of what lay ahead for him and his family if he didn’t change. “I read Josh’s blog and completely lost it,” he says. “That was the future of my children if I did not do something. That post was a pivotal point in my life.”

Anderson decided to save his life. “How stupid of me. How do you value life? How do I value the ability to be with family longer, play with my children during these short years before they grow up? I told myself I would not be ‘that dad’ who could not play with his children, who the other kids would say is fat, who valued nothing,” Anderson says.

Six months ago, Anderson walked into Practice CrossFit topping the scale at 390 pounds. “I was ashamed to admit that I had let my weight get to 390 pounds, but that is reality,” he says.

So far, Anderson has almost lost 70 pounds. “I feel like I am getting my life back. I feel great,” he says. “I am not tired all the time. I can move. All I can think about is not having a ‘M’ [for modified] by my name on all the WODs, and being able to take my shirt off when I work out.”

A Family Affair


Anderson’s wife Robyn recently joined him at Practice CrossFit. “She goes in the morning and I go at night,” he says. “We just make it a part of our day no exceptions.”

Robyn says she sees the differences in her husband since starting CrossFit. “At the beginning of the year, we had tension. I was upset that here I am busting my butt to lose weight and he wasn't doing anything,” she says. “In years past, he would go to the YMCA for a couple weeks and then quit. After starting [CrossFit], I saw a change. He was passionate about this. I could tell by the way he talked about being there, the people and even the workouts. He was even more excited when seeing the results on the scale. I love the positive way this has affected us. We are all around happy, and for the first time in years I can truly hug my husband. I can wrap my arms around him and just hold him. 

"We are very thankful to CrossFit and the family we have at our box.”

Anderson still has a long journey in front of him. He traveled far from the path of health. It’s no longer an option for him. “I will be the fit and healthy husband and father that I know I can be, that I am becoming day by day,” he says. “But I also want to tell my story so that, hopefully, it will change the life of someone that thinks they cannot be saved. It doesn’t matter if you think, ‘I am too big to CrossFit.’ The reality is, you are too big not to CrossFit and change your life.”