Hello, howdy, hi!
How was your 4th of July? Treason day was a blast for us! We spent time hanging out with some family and friends, cooking out, playing with fireworks, and drinking a little (ok, a lot) too much.
No matter what festivities you partook in (or did not), I hope you had a fun and safe weekend!
In this week’s episode we continue down the path of our latest mini-series, “Taking Better Care of Ourselves.” You can check out the podcast here. In our most recent installment, we're talking the worst "f" word of them all, the word so many of us fear, we're talking about being fat.
Before we jump into the notes for this week’s episode, check out our friends over at SG World. Along with being a great bunch of people, they offer innovative, useful, and cost saving safety products for you organization. Visit them at SG World!
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I am quickly filling up my calendar for the remainder of the year (it's already starting to spill into 2023). So, if you are in need of HOP Fundamentals, learning team support, consulting, speaking, or any of the other stuff I LOVE to help out with, cruise on over to HOP Help | The HOP Nerd and get in touch. Or book some time directly on my calendar for a quick 30-minute intro chat at The HOP Nerd Catch Up (google.com)
My journey so far...
I am 110% a full-blown stress eater. Happy...food. Sad...food. Mad... food, and on, and on, and on. Growing up I was always a little soft around the middle; I was your stereotypical pudgy kid. This pudginess grew to bloated extremes after graduating high school, working my way through college, and entering the real world. The stress of life gave me a great excuse to eat myself into an early grave, ballooning myself up to nearly 350 lbs. at my peak fatness (keep in mind I'm only 5'7").
After a few years of trying to convince myself that I was doomed to be unhealthy and overweight for the remainder of my life, I finally snapped. Something had to give! Something had to change! I hated the way I looked, the way I felt, and I knew I was entirely too young to be experiencing the health problems I was beginning to experience.
I had no clue what I was doing, but I was determined to kick fat Sam's ass! And over the course of a few years, and with a ton of learning, hard work, and determination, that is exactly what I did. You have now seen me (almost) at my fattest, now here is me at my fittest (excuse my very "bro" mirror shot but I am damn proud of the hard work it took to pull that off lol).
...and then COVID happened! Man, life is good at throwing us curveballs, huh? Door Dash, gyms closed, and crippling depression is the perfect combo for gaining 50 pounds. So now I find myself working hard to strip that extra weight back off (down 20 at the moment).
It really is a journey... Now, my point in sharing this is not to get the "great jobs!" "Good work!" etc... It really is to say this: If I can do it, anyone can. Cheesy, right?! But it's true! I never thought I would actually be able to do it; I thought I was doomed to be unhealthy forever. What a load of crap I was selling myself. Was it hard? Is it hard? Did it suck? Of course. But it was the best thing I have ever done for myself.
A few tools and people that helped me find success:
Jump into the latest episode of the podcast for more about my ongoing fitness journey!
I have to say that I am pretty pumped about this series! I am currently I the process of planning out some amazing guests and topics for these episodes. If you (or someone that you know) have expertise, stories, ideas, or tips and tricks around this idea of “taking better care of ourselves,” I would love to have you on the podcast. Send me an email or sign up to be a guest on the show!
As always, I love hearing from you. Send me an email at thehopnerd@gmail.com or reach out on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-goodman-03a95391 or drop me a line at www.thehopnerd.com
Until next time,
Sam