This is my pair of pants before I lost 80 lbs on Weight Watchers several years ago. I had kept this last pair and wrote a reminder for myself. Now I’m reminding myself of that unkept promise of “Never Again” to gain so much weight which I have started to do. Unhealthy lifestyle led to unkept promises. Time to reclaim my promise.

On Saturday, January 5, 2013 I committed myself to be the Biggest Micronesian Loser. That’s right, the biggest Chuukese loser in Hilo, HI! For once a Micronesian in Hawaii can actually celebrate being a real loser instead of bemoaning the negative stereotypes of being a big Micronesian and whatever other prejudices we have to endure in the United States.

But this is about making a commitment to a healthy lifestyle change to lose weight. After all, a healthy mind will thrive in a healthy body. Our self image cannot start and end with our bodies; it must include everything else that makes up who we are as human beings, what we value, who we love, what matters to us. But speaking from my own experience, our self confidence is helped very much with how we feel about our bodies and how successful we are in keeping small commitments.

This is a journey for and about myself.  That is a self-ish attitude that is needed to get myself back on track to a health and long life. But instead of keeping this as a private struggle which for me has led to lack of accountability and loss of focus, I’ve decided to go public with it. I’m going to chronicle my journey and if it inspires my fellow Micronesians to start their own journey of reclaiming their lives, then that’s a double joy in my personal success. So, every Saturday after my Weight Watchers weigh-in and meeting, I will take some time to reflect on the week and set goals for the upcoming week.

My Journey

What happened to me anyway? Basically, after losing over 80 lbs on Weight Watchers a few years ago I succumbed to the same problems of many losers: overconfidence. I started to think, “I Got THIS!”…that I conquered my weight problem…that I didn’t need to follow a proven successful Weight Watchers program…that I was too good for the weekly meetings comprising of mostly (ok, maybe all) older women. That overconfidence led to overindulgence which resulted in overweight. And that is where I find myself now…a whopping 258.8 pounds of undesired, unhealthy fat. That’s exactly 58.8 pounds of overconfidence. According to my doctor, my ideal weight is 200.

Goal

My first weight goal IS to lose 20 lbs as a birthday gift to my wife Desha. I will get to 238.8 lbs one pound loss at a time, one WW weekly meeting at a time, one decision at a time, one tracking at a time, one workout at a time, one goal at a time, one step at a time. No timeline, just focused commitment to get there.

Tools

My weight-loss journey will be done more as a lifestyle change than the gym rat way. To help me on this journey (haai), I have invested in the following provisions (baai):

1. Weight Watchers: Renewed my $42.95 monthly membership (that’s $9 weekly investment in my health) to access their eTools resources.
2. P90X: Dusted off my P90X DVD set to let Tony and his crew put the hurt on me every morning at 5:00 AM Hawaii Time.
3. Running Shoes: Putting some mileage back into my old lonely pair of extra wide New Balance running shoes starting with early morning walks 3 days a week.
4. Dumbbells: Bought a pair of 30 & 20 lbs dumbbells for the P90X workouts at home
5. Door Pull-Up Bar: Bought the door chin-up bar.

Inspirations

While the commitment to a healthy lifestyle is mine alone to make and live, I will be getting my inspiration from these:

1. Family: My kids Keala (6) & Keoni (2.5) inspire me with their lack of energy and my very fit wife Desha inspire me with her lifetime commitment to healthy eating habits.
2. The Biggest Loser Challenge: This NBC weekly TV show which premieres this week chronicles the lives of very unhealthy, overweight contestants and their journeys back to health and fitness…and healthy, focused confidence. I have signed up for their challenge to lose weight and formed a team.

 Motto

Let’s do THIS!

Want to Join?

I invite anyone who wants to start on their own journey to join me. Let’s support each other for through together in health, we can inspire each other to success. Here are two ways to join me wherever you are in the world.

• Biggest Loser Challenge Team – I have started a team called “LET’S DO THIS!” on biggestloser.com to compete with other teams in the Challenge America weight-loss program. Our team slogan is, “Together for Health Inspires our Success!”  aka T.H.I.S! It’s a fun way to keep all of us focused on our personal journeys.  Join THIS! Team
• FB Group – You can also join my support group on Facebook called “Let’s Do THIS! Together”. Let me know if you’re on FB and I’ll invite you into this Closed Group. Join THIS! Group

Dr. Vid Raatior

Consultant at Raatior Ventures

Vid is an education consultant, web designer, social entrepreneur from Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). He earned his BA in communications from University of Guam, MA in school administration from University of San Francisco, and a Doctor of Education (Ed.D) degree from University of Hawaii at Manoa. Vid lives in Northern California and works at the College of Professional & Global Education at San Jose State University. Previously, he worked at UC Santa Cruz, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Santa Clara University, and Xavier High School in Micronesia.