“And all of these prizes can be yours – if the Price is Right!”
This is the tag line on the popular game show, hosted by Drew Carey, in which contestants win prizes by guessing the correct prices of various products. The show was hosted by the unaging Bob Barker for decades until just the last eighteen months when Drew Carey, a popular TV personality, was asked to take over.
Everyone knew that Drew Carey was a 250+ pound stand-up comic and former marine with a ubiquitous smile and a weight problem. What everyone didn’t know was that all of Drew’s male family members had the same weight problem and rampant heart disease. His father died in his 40’s of a heart attack. His older brother, Neal, died at age 64, of a heart attack in July of this year. Suddenly Drew got the picture.
Over the past year Drew Carey has dropped 77 pounds, dropped from a 44” to a 34” waist and XXXL to Medium shirts. Why tell you a story that you have already heard about on TV or read in Parade Magazine?
Drew Carey’s story is a repeat of multiple stories heard on Dr. Oz, Oprah, and any number of infomercials on Sunday morning. Famous person gets a clue that they are too fat. Famous person goes on a diet and begins exercising. Famous person loses multiple pounds and becomes a new person. Multiple famous persons have done this – and gained it all back and more besides after falling off the wagon.
The difference? Not only was Drew aware of his condition, not only did he know what it was doing to him and what he needed to do about it, but he decided to do it – for all the right reasons. This wasn’t a fad or a publicity stunt. This wasn’t being done for a movie role or to impress a younger audience. Drew Carey knew this might cost him his persona, a chubby, funny comedian – which is his livelihood. He was more concerned about his relationships with his fiancée and her son, more about his deteriorating health (type-2 diabetes and his coronary stent), than he was about his career.
Drew’s program of success? Simple – eat less; exercise more; avoid calorie dense foods; no deadly snacks. But the real secret to Drew’s program and to all successful weight loss programs is the wisdom an individual learns on the way to their target weight. Here are some of Drew’s “pearls” of wisdom.
Commenting on his former eating habits: “The hardest diet I was ever on was the one when I was fat. You can only wear fat clothes; you don’t feel good; you don’t have any energy for anything. It’s horrible.”
Commenting on his enhanced clarity of thought and renewed vigor: “This is how you’re supposed to feel every day. This is what I should have felt like my whole life.”
Commenting on falling off the wagon for a short time and eating a whole pizza two days in a row: “Eating crappy food is not a reward – it’s a punishment.”
Commenting on his overall success: “After a few rough weeks where I was so hungry I could have chewed my whole arm off, I began to enjoy the rapid weight loss and the compliments. Now I feel like I have my whole life back. I could live to be a 100.”
You can have your whole life back. You can live to be a 100. It’s your life and your choice. Just do it.