The Parable of the Chocaholic

Hi Guys. Hope you enjoyed your weekend and had some fun.

We have had quite the response to our Shove with Love post on Friday and it seems that quite a few of you are ready to do different to create different. Good. I look forward to your Friday updates and I hope that this can genuinely be a turning point for all of you who committed to the twenty eight days – not just another short-term behavioural change.

On with today’s post…..

A Love Story. Of sorts.

Once upon a time in a land not too far from your house lived a fat bloke named Sam. You may have seen him around but probably didn’t know his name. Sam had been fat most of his life but vaguely remembered a time when he was “just like the normal kids”. He remembered that time fondly but also with a degree of sadness. At the age of seven Sam’s life changed; he discovered and fell in love with, Chocolate. All things chocolate; chocolate ice-cream, chocolate cake, chocolate spread, chocolate biscuits, chocolate milkshakes, hot chocolate, chocolate fudge and of course, pure chocolate. Aaaah… pure chocolate. Nirvana. Instant happiness. Just the word chocolate gave him a sense of pleasure and familiar comfort. As his love affair with chocolate blossomed, so too did his girth and weight.

Fat Sam

By the time Sam was fifteen he weighed one hundred and forty kilos (308 lbs) and was known to most people as Fat Sam. Not everyone called him that to his face but many did. Sometimes he would even call himself that in an attempt to show how much it didn’t bother him. But in reality, it did. A lot. The big chubby happy guy wasn’t really so happy. Having the word fat precede his name didn’t do much for the teenager’s self-esteem, confidence or social standing, so just before his sixteenth birthday he decided to lose weight – the first attempt of many. He cut back on his chocolate intake and did some exercise. It wasn’t enjoyable at all. He lasted one week. He missed his drug of choice and hated being uncomfortable. By seventeen his weight had reached one fifty (330 lbs) and he was having trouble finding clothes to fit. On the advice of his doctor, he undertook another weight-loss program, this time with the help of a dietician and a personal trainer. He lasted three weeks before he succumbed to the allure of his nemesis. Or was it his lover? Both perhaps.

Self-loathing

For months he kept up the ‘charade’ of healthy eating and exercise when eyes were watching but all the while he was secretly visiting his lover at every opportunity. They shared many tender and memorable moments together but ultimately it would always end in despair. In the throes of that chocolate-driven passion, he would lose himself over to the sensory pleasure that only chocolate could provide. In an essentially miserable life, his lover gave him momentary glimpses of joy. Glimpses followed by extended periods of regret, depression and self-loathing.

In a strange and seemingly masochistic ritual, Sam would regularly haul himself into the bathroom, remove his clothes and analyse every square inch of his fat self in the mirror. Standing there with tears rolling down his cheeks he would make yet another decision to change his body and his life. Like a man on a mission, he would find and remove every ounce of chocolate from the house. Only to replace it all the next day.

Riding the merry-go-round

By the time he reached twenty, with his weight approaching one seventy (over 370lbs), his life was a constant series of weight-loss attempts. He was forever getting on and off the weight-loss merry-go-round. Stopping and starting. Frustration and disappointment. He tried every diet known to man and used every pill, powder and potion on the market but still managed to gain weight – always because of the chocolate. He always said he wanted to do it but just couldn’t. His doctor told him that his chocolate addiction was an emotional and psychological issue and that his weight was merely a physical consequence of some deeper underlying problem. While not really understanding what on earth the good doc was talking about, he agreed to visit a psychologist.

The shrink concurred with the doc.. “when you master your mind, you’ll master your body and your chocolate addiction Sam”. He saw the shrink for two years and managed to gain ten kilos in the process. He continued to indulge himself in his obsession but at least now he understood why! Every Monday he would start the process again. On a very good week he would last two or maybe three days without chocolate but typically he wouldn’t make it past Monday night.

Fat farms and gurus

The subsequent years saw Sam visit three fat farms, more psychologists, a hypno-therapist, numerous doctors and specialists, a very expensive life coach, a dozen or so dieticians and a string of personal trainers. While simultaneously maintaining his destructive commitment to his high-calorie lover.

For a few years he went down the personal development route in an attempt to effectively deal with his chocolate problem. Numerous workshops, books, CD’s, DVD’s and motivational websites all amounted to more debt and momentary behavioural change at best. He even visited some over-priced motivator dude (Craig someone) with no results.

Hanging out with Mr Chocolate Fudge

Two weeks before his thirtieth birthday Sam was sitting in his favourite chair, watching one of his favourite TV shows and was about to spend some quality time with one of his best friends in the world; Mr Chocolate Fudge (you may have met him yourself). Still hating his body, still trying to find a solution, still alternating between gluttony and self-loathing. And now fatter, heavier and unhealthier than ever. Lonely, sad and huge. Still desperately wanting to change but seemingly incapable. His frame of mind would skip from motivated to depressed to I-don’t-care-anymore. Typically leaning towards the latter.

Oops…

As he shoved his first piece of fudge into his mouth he experienced an unfamiliar sensation; a racing heart beat – which the doctor would later refer to as something called tachycardia. Being fully committed to the chocolate cause, he chose to ignore the weird heart thing and plough into his fudge. With every bite his heart rate increased. He began to feel faint and could sense himself sweating profusely – even more than normal. His face began to feel hot and then cold, so too his extremities. He began to feel himself panic. He wasn’t sure what was happening but for a moment thought he was going to die. With the anxiety came an even higher heart rate. The big fella dropped his fudge to the floor and began to feel drowsy. He slumped down in his re-enforced chair and his eyes closed shut.

Fortunately for Sam, his loving and long-suffering mother was in the next room. She found her gigantic, unconscious son and called the ambulance.

Hospital

When Sam woke up he was in an unfamiliar environment; a hospital. He hated them with a passion. They scared him. At least he wasn’t dead though. For a few hours nurses came in and out of his room and poked and prodded him. They took blood, adjusted tubes, read charts and checked his temperature. Nobody could or would explain to him exactly what had happened. “The specialist will be in soon, Sam” one of the nurses informed him. “To do what”, he enquired. “To explain your condition.”

“I have a condition!?”

All of a sudden, he was scared. Petrified even. Hours passed, numerous people came in and out of the room and still, the specialist hadn’t arrived. Lying there in that strange mechanical bed, in that strange sterile environment with an assortment of tubes, wires and other scarey-looking things protruding from his body, Sam felt incredibly fragile and vulnerable. How ironic; a fragile giant. Staring out of the window, he replayed parts of his life over and over in his mind. “What a pathetic and pointless existence”, he thought to himself. But as pointless and pathetic as it may, or may not have been, he knew one thing for sure – he didn’t want it to end.

Knock, knock, knockin‘ on heaven’s door

After what seemed like an eternity, an old bloke with a kind face and glasses appeared at the door. He looked over the top of his specs at the scene before him and walked into the room. He looked at Sam without speaking and then picked up some charts at the end of the bed. “Hmmm” he said, stroking his short, neat beard between his index finger and his thumb. Sam felt a little confused and even more nervous.

The old bloke looked up from the chart and proceeded to speak. “Sam you have a condition known as chocolate poisoning. Although it sounds funny, it’s actually a condition which effects a small percentage of people who have consumed excessive amounts of chocolate over an extended period of time. Your body now recognises and responds to chocolate as a toxin.” Chocolate!! Sam hadn’t even thought about chocolate for hours and for the first time in living memory, the idea of it didn’t seem at all appealing to him. “I must be sick”, he thought.

“I’ll what??!!”

The doctor explained to Sam that his excessive sugar and caffeine consumption (found in the chocolate) over such an extended period of time had all but killed him. “Apart from the obvious fact that you’re morbidly obese, if you continue to eat chocolate your nervous system will shut down and your heart will stop beating.” Sam felt the blood drain from his face. “You have over-fed your fat body (with excessive calories) and over-stimulated your nervous system (with excessive sugar and caffeine) for far too long, your next piece of chocolate will most probably be your last. In fact, it will probably be your last anything. Your body has reached it’s chocolate threshold Sam. The not-so-happy-go-lucky fat bloke sat there in stunned silence.

“You mean if I eat chocolate again I will die?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not speaking metaphorically?”
“No Sam, the next piece of chocolate you eat will kill you – literally.”
“You’re not just trying to scare me?”
“No!” screamed the frustrated doctor.

Sam left hospital two days later.

He never ate chocolate again. Ever. Never even considered it.

Amazingly, the man who couldn’t give up chocolate no matter what he did or how hard he tried, instantly had no discipline problems, no motivational issues and more than enough will power and self control to do whatever it would take to live. All of a sudden the bloke who had tried everything and everyone but absolutely couldn’t stop eating chocolate, found it incredibly easy to do so. In the following year he lost just over a hundred kilos (220lbs), went from fat to fit, almost dead to healthy and miserable to incredibly happy.

Like all of us, Sam always had the ability to do something life-changing and amazing. He always had the potential to transform his body and his situation but sadly, he was addicted to not only chocolate but to comfort also. It wasn’t until he was faced with the ultimate discomfort (his own imminent death) that he used what was always there – an innate ability to transform his life and situation. All of a sudden that switch flicked in his head and instantly certain behaviours became non-negotiables. What a pity he had to knock on death’s door to get to that point.

Transformation can be a decision away or it can be a ongoing saga which ruins our life year after miserable year. Either way, we make it so.

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