Inspiration

For those of you struggling with weight (me included!) I hope that this story empowers you.

Driver weighed 400 pounds before shifting gears
By LORETTA GRANTHAM,
AP
Posted: 2008-05-25 00:01:11
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Ronnie Basilico had the perfect job for a food addict: He drove an Entenmann's bakery truck."I'd eat five or six boxes of cake a day," he recalls. "I'd basically eat and sleep. I'd go in at 2 in the morning, eat throughout the day, get home around 3 in the afternoon and then have lunch. Then I'd sleep, wake up for dinner, eat and go back to sleep. I never gained a lot at once, but it kept going up and up and up."All the way up to 400 pounds."When I was in my 30s, three of my friends got married. I didn't want to embarrass them, so I did the crash diet thing and lost a lot of weight. But I remember being at the buffet table at the final wedding and thinking, 'Oh, thank God, I can eat again!'"That bliss, however, was short-lived. Not long after, Basilico passed out on his delivery route and woke up in the hospital."It turned out my sugar was off the scale," he says. "I was a diabetic at 39, and I started taking pills. I kept on eating the way I was eating because I relied on the medication. But I knew I was killing myself."That knowledge alone still wasn't enough to motivate the New York native, who moved to Palm City in 2000 and became a school bus driver.At age 49, Basilico's vision started getting blurry. He had cataract surgery on both eyes nearly five years ago and was sternly warned by his doctor to control his blood sugar or face possible blindness. He also noticed that his feet were getting numb, a complication from diabetes."What does a blind person with no feet do all day at home?" he says - and not in a joking way. "You listen to TV, and you eat and you die. I told myself that it was over. It was time to fix this."And that's exactly what he did, losing 155 pounds in about 2 1/2 years through diet, exercise and support from his colleagues.Basilico, who is 5-feet-11, now weighs 245. His waist size dropped from 60 inches to 40."I can wear 38s." But, he adds with a smile, "they're a little snug."Basilico's exercise routine started abruptly one afternoon as a group of Martin County bus drivers, waiting for school to get out, watched Dr. Phil on TV."Dr. Phil was saying to go out and take a walk, so I said to the women watching, 'Why don't you do what he says?' And they said, 'Why don't you do what he says?' So right then and there, two of us took off for a walk."He also joined the YMCA in Stuart, starting out with just five minutes on an exercise bike."I literally limped in there and told them I needed to get healthy. I was embarrassed, but when you're ready to do something, you don't care about what people think."Now, he walks a brisk 6 to 8 miles on the beach (up to 10 miles on weekends), goes kayaking and spends hours - not minutes - exercising at the Y."I grew up in an Italian family where food was everything," says Basilico, whose only sibling, a brother, also battles obesity."Food became a habit. A perfect example of this is that I would go to Dunkin' Donuts to get coffee, and I'd have to get a couple of doughnuts. You know how to beat that habit? Go somewhere else for coffee and start a new habit!"Basilico, now 54, started sipping java at a bookstore and reading everything he could find about health and wellness."Not about dieting, but about lifestyle change. I already was doing some of what people like Dr. Phil and Bob Greene were saying, so I knew I was on the right track."He didn't follow a prescribed food plan, instead swapping out bread and cakes for fruits and vegetables. Chicken and seafood, meanwhile, replaced all-you-can-eat buffets and fast-food binges."I could eat six Quarter Pounders in one sitting," he recalls.Although Basilico didn't weigh out and measure his food or keep a daily meal diary, as some weight-loss experts advise, there was one steadfast rule: no sugar."I was very strict in the first two years about not touching it, but now if I want a cookie, I'll buy one of those two-packs, eat one and throw the other away. In the beginning, I was scared of the stuff. The books said if I could stay the course - and I did - my mental attitude would change. I'm still an addict and always will be, but I know what my limits are."Basilico credits not just diet and exercise for his success but also his regimented work schedule."Driving a school bus absolutely saved my life," he says. "You work four hours, have four hours off and then work four hours. That gives you that set time in the middle to work out. I pack my clothes and go straight to the beach or Y. There are days I want to go home and take it easy, but I don't let myself."His goal, he says, isn't a number on the scale. It's overall fitness. And Basilico reports that he's never felt better in his life."People keep asking me, over and over, how I did it. There's not a magic thing I can tell you. I just wanted to do it."It was, like, I've had 50 years of fat and insults, sitting in my car and crying. I hated myself, and I'm not ashamed to say that. I was out of control. But not anymore."Information from: The Palm Beach Post, http://www.pbpost.com