Weight Loss Information

The First Tragedy in a Lifetime of Weightloss


I am approaching 70 years of age very quickly and I have been dieting since I was thirteen years old.

To look at me now you would not think that I have been a professional boxer or a marathon runner.

My younger brother and I were often mistaken for twins when we were ten years old. He grew up to be tall and lanky at 6 feet. I grew partly up to be short and chunky at 5 feet 5 inches.

Now younger brother is very thin and I am not. It has been said that my brother looks as though there was a famine in the land ... and I look as if I caused the famine.

I was not obese when I was thirteen years old but I was an accomplished boxer. I trained hard 7 days a week 52 weeks a year. I was fit and thin but...I was a growing boy and was always trying to "make weight" for a lower division. Not my choice but the decision of my elders who in those days did not know the damage they were doing.

I had won the schoolboys championship and the intermediate championship and could not get opponents in my weight division or age group. The opponents I did get were adults. I was a young boy of thirteen and I was fighting men whose wives and children were in the audience. I felt great about this but it was not doing me any good.

At that time you had to be 18 years old to fight professionally. So at thirteen we lied about my age and I turned professional. Within two years I became rated as the third in Australia in the flyweight division (under 98 lbs.)

When the Australian Champion retired there was to be a fight-off between the top three contenders. I was supposed to be a certainty. However, I was still a growing boy and I was going to have difficulty making the weight. I weighed 4 lbs. over the limit with a week until the weigh-in. It did not matter if I won or not if I weighed more than 98 lbs I was out of the championship.

I was then given to help me to lose weight the most dangerous instructions that could be given to a fifteen old boy.

I was to "dry out". In effect, I was to cease drinking fluids for the whole week. No water, no tea, no softdrink. I was to chew gum which would produce saliva which I was to spit out continuously. (Yuck!).

And I had a turkish bath each night. Fluids were my enemy and when I got really thirsty I was allowed to suck the juice from an orange with a hole punctured in it...and boy was I thirsty!

While this was going on I trained hard and ate little.

The weigh-in was 2 hours before the fight and I stripped naked to be weighed. I could not risk leaving my underpants on! Although the official was sympathetic no matter how he jiggled the beam he could get less than 98.5 lbs! I was given an hour to lose 8 ounces.

In normal time that would have been easy! But I had nothing to give. My bladder was empty; my bowels were empty; my body was mostly muscle and bone.

I was given an old army coat and told to run round the block ten times in an attempt to raise a sweat and then immediately put under a hot shower to keep it going..as if.

Then one of the older trainers (even people I did not know seemed to help me) spent the time remaining trying to massage some of the fat of me. The only place I seemed to have any fat was on my backside.

It seems funny now but I can still remember the embarrassment of lying in the nuddie with all sorts of people watching Johnnie Shields slap my backside for twenty minutes.

Did I make the weight? I sure did! 97 lbs. 14 ounces.

I'd give anything to say that it was all worthwhile and I won the fight and went on to become Australian Flyweight Champion. I did not!

Up until then I had never been knocked down in all my fights. A reputation I had been proud of. In Australia in those days the referee never stopped a fight just because a boxer was hurt. The only way to stop a fight before the time limit was for the corner to throw in the towel. My trainer threw in the towel towards the end of the eighth round. I had not been knocked out but I had been knocked down eight times, five of them in the eighth round, and I kept on getting up.

And here comes the tragedy. Although I felt like a mongrel dog who had let everybody down, my trainer was supportive. I was a good boxer there would be other opportunities he told me. I'd done my best and worked hard for a long time. "Take a week's holiday", he said," don't come near the gym for a week. Have a milkshake or two. Relax and enjoy yourself". And I did!

When I arrived at the gym a week later everyone mentioned how well I looked and I felt good too. I jumped on the scales and to my horror I weighed 115 lbs. a gain of 17 lbs. Everybody I tell this too says it cannot be true. But it is true. Despite my loss I was still rated in the bantam weight division but I would have to lose 10 lbs to make the weight. Even to make the feather weight division I would have to lose 2lbs.

I soldiered on for a time but my heart wasn't in it and other interests took the place of boxing.

But I am certain that the early insane attempt at weightloss set me up for a life time of diet tragedies.

Ask me sometime.

About the author

Kelvyn Peters is known for his small business consulting. He is a master at rejuvenating ailing businesses.

But he is a jack-of-all-trades having been a boxer, house painter, packer, cane cutter and town mayor.

Whatever interests him really interests him and he becomes very knowledgable about the subject.


MORE RESOURCES:

CBC.ca

Going Online May Help Overcome Hurdles to Weight Loss
FOXNews
For this Web-based phase, the study's authors asked users to log on to a weight-loss support website and record their weight and the amount of exercise they ...
Recording Weight Loss Online Could Help You Lose MoreRTT News
The Internet may be a good weight loss tool -- as long as you log onLos Angeles Times
Motivation Speeds Weight Loss Results, Keeps Weight OffTechnorati (blog)
MedPage Today -Dr. Cutler -kgw.com
all 112 news articles »


Us Magazine

Drew Carey Weight Loss:Diabetes Cured?
Health Related Infos (blog)
Drew Carey's weight loss has drastically improved his health on many fronts. Previously, the actor suffered from diabetes. Losing the weight helped curb his ...
Drew Carey on 80-Pound Weight Loss: "It Sucks Being Fat"Seattle Post Intelligencer
Drew Carey's dramatic 80 pound weight loss, before and after photosExaminer.com
Drew Carey shows off 80-pound weight lossTbo.com
New York Daily News -Right TV -Celebrities With Diseases
all 185 news articles »


Daily News & Analysis

Next Weight Loss Drug on FDA Agenda: Contrave
HealthNews
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began reviews this month on three new weight loss drugs. The first to be reviewed, Qnexa developed by ...
Weight-Loss Combo Appears EffectiveMedPage Today
Combo Weight Loss Pill Fights Cravings and AppetiteWebMD
Orexigen weight-loss drug shows positive results in studyFierceBiotech
MSN Health & Fitness -NASDAQ -ABC News
all 61 news articles »


New Study Suggests Online Diet Programs Are Very Effective for Weight-Loss ...
MarketWatch (press release)
The study by Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research found that regular users of a weight-loss site developed specifically for the study maintained ...

and more »


Sydney Morning Herald

Chelsea Clinton's stunning wedding makeover: Weight loss & plastic surgery
Examiner.com
So how's Bill wedding weight-loss plan going? "I'm halfway home," he says. Chelsea, who went through some awkward adolescent years during her dad's ...
Chelsea Clinton's wedding: ready for her big moment and moreTelegraph.co.uk

all 4,048 news articles »


Fairfax principal apologizes for yearbook ad, stops selling weight-loss products
Washington Post
An advertisement that Principal Nardos King placed in the Mount Vernon High School yearbook, for weight-loss products she sold in ...



How unrealistic expectations could affect your weight loss
Helium
When you weigh over fifty more pounds than you should it is going to take quite awhile to shift the weight if you stick to the recommended weight loss of ...
Quick Wedding Weight Loss Can Be DangerouseMaxHealth
Weight Loss: Chelsea Clinton's Wedding--Who's Fat?Huffington Post (blog)
Why women often gain weight after their weddingHelium

all 5 news articles »


ModernMedicine

Combination Weight Loss Drugs Appear Effective for Obesity Naltrexone and ...
ModernMedicine
FRIDAY, July 30 (HealthDay News) -- Treatment with two obesity drugs, naltrexone and bupropion, plus lifestyle modification appears effective in helping ...

and more »


Washington Post

Ellen DeGeneres Resigns in American Idol – Contrave Promises Weight Loss
Zacquisha
We go to another health story, a new supplement promises weight loss but it is still on its experimental stage. Orexigen's experimental drug Contrave is ...
Drew Carey Weight Loss Secret; Ellen DeGeneres Leaves American IdolSassyqarla Entertainment Blog Site
Jennifer Lopez To Join The American Idol JudgesGaea Times (blog)

all 2,408 news articles »


TopNews Arab Emirates

Addiction drugs 'aid weight loss'
BBC News
The Lancet reports that Naltrexone, commonly used to treat alcoholics and heroin addicts, and the anti-smoking drug bupropion led to greater weight loss ...
Addiction drugs “aid weight lossPharmacy Europe
Addiction drugs 'aid weight loss'One News Page
Anti-addiction drugs 'improve weight loss'Nursing Times
TopNews Arab Emirates -Belfast Telegraph -Behavioral Health Central (blog)
all 38 news articles »

Google News

home | site map
©EmptyNestNow.com 2006