Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Transformation Road

Whenever I see someone who is really, really, really overweight, I can’t help but think “There but for the grace of God go I.”

I don’t know what it’s like to be facing the monumental task of trying to lose over 200 lbs, but Sean Anderson does. He chronicled his weight-loss journey every day, step by step, on his blog, The Daily Diary of a Winning Loser, and goes into even more detail in his upcoming book Transformation Road.



Sean was kind enough to forward me a copy of the manuscript for review purposes.





President Lyndon B. Johnson once said, “If you let a bully come in your front yard, he'll be on your porch the next day, and the day after that he’ll rape your wife in your own bed.”



For Transformation Road’s Sean Anderson, the bullies he encountered as an overweight youth in grade school were nothing compared to the browbeating and bullying his own body put him through.



His journey took him through every fast-food drive-thru from Oklahoma to LA, and you can feel the crushing pain as opportunity after opportunity collapses like the office chair beneath his 500+ lb. frame during one of his disastrous job interviews.



And just like with the school bullies, one day Sean finally decided that enough was enough.



It was time to take a stand.



He lost the weight and salvaged his future, doing it without pills, without a big-name program and without salads. He looked into the abyss of his own terrifying food addiction and he slowly backed away, blogging every step of the way.



I’ve spent much of my life morbidly obese, and though I never tipped the scales near Sean’s heaviest, I can relate to the feeling of hopelessness and helplessness that comes across here. I think anyone who’s ever stared intently at the bathroom mirror on a Monday morning and proclaimed “This is it!” will as well.


Transformation Road
is the story of redemption, reclamation, salvation.



Unless we stand up to them, the bullies and personal demons we all face will advance on us mercilessly, never giving an inch, taking everything we hold dear.



Life is too short and too precious to let anyone… or anything… make our lives less than they could be.






So You Think You Can Tweet! Somehow, probably through some sort of computer malfunction, I've been named as one of the Top 50 Most Inspirational Healthy Tweeps. If you feel like messing with it and have 15 seconds of free time, go vote for me here.







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