SMWI* = Saturday Morning Work-out Inspiration
Tag: Workout
SMWI*: Endured Humiliation. But Never Gave Up.
- William Howard Taft, (1857-1930) was the 27th President of the United States.
- The only massively obese man ever to be the president of the United States
- He struggled mightily to control his weight
- Endured humiliation from cartoonists who delighted in his corpulent figure
- His weight-loss program was startlingly contemporary
- His difficulties keeping the pounds off would be familiar to many Americans today
- On advice of his doctor, he went on a low-fat, low-calorie diet. He avoided snacks.
- Meals were to be eaten at certain times and meats were to be weighed. Taft was to eat a small portion of lean meat or fish at every meal, cooked vegetables at lunch and dinner (no butter), a plain salad, and stewed or baked fruit (unsweetened). He got a single glass of “unsweetened” wine at lunch.
- He kept a careful diary of what he ate and weight himself daily.
- The tale is strikingly modern…The self-monitoring — weighing himself daily, keeping a food diary — are “the fundamental tenets of changing behavior,” said Dr. Kimberly Gudzune, an obesity researcher at Johns Hopkins. “Keep yourself accountable.”
- He hired a personal trainer and rode a horse to exercise
- Like many dieters today, Taft lost weight and regained it, fluctuating from more than 350 to 255 lbs.
- After he had lost 60 pounds…people told him he looked good, yet he was “continuously hungry.”
- Researchers were struck by Taft’s persistent hunger pangs. Losing a substantial amount of weight and keeping it off amounts to telling the body it is starving…“One of the most important drives we have is to prevent starvation,” Dr. Hirsch said.
- By the time Taft was inaugurated as president in 1909, he had regained all he had lost, and more, weighing 354 pounds. He became the butt of jokes, with many relishing a story that he had gotten stuck in a White House bathtub.
- But Taft never gave up. When he died in 1930, he weighed 280 pounds.
Read full article in the New York Times: In a Struggle With Weight, Taft Used a Modern Diet
- SMWI* = Saturday Morning Workout Inspiration
- Image Source: Natemaas
- Thank you Susan
SMWI*: It’s that time. Let’s go. Let’s go. Let’s go. Let’s go.
*SMWI = Saturday Morning Work-out Inspiration with our baby ostriches.
Source: themetapicture. Thank you Susan.
SMWI*: No words required.
SMWI*: I Can Do This
“Who are you to do something like this? What makes you think you can make a difference? What makes you think you can succeed? I was diagnosed with polio as a young boy. When I came out of the doctor’s office, my life was going to be very different. And even as such a young age, somewhere deep in there, I remember thinking, I refuse to let this define me.
Mongolia evokes the kind of emotion that I would read in an adventure book as a child. The place that was always winter and never Christmas. Ulan Bator is the coldest city in the world. There is a big problem. Thousands of children that have been abandoned, many of them living on the streets. Without the help of the orphanages, how many of them would be dead? They’re overflowing, I have to do something. I’m not wealthy. I’m not famous. And I started to think about what I could do.
I have to do something. What came up, was, running. I’m going to run 1,500 miles across Mongolia to raise awareness and support for orphans and vulnerable children.
My Dad left when I was 2 years old. Nobody should ever be abandoned. I would deny part of who I am if I didn’t at least try.
I want you see these children and spark a hope that you can make a difference.”
~ Brian Hunter. Donate to the cause here.
SMWI*: Saturday Morning Workout Inspiration