Chapter 4. Changes and Challenges

Most people(women) will agree that the best way to attract the opposite sex is to display confidence in yourself. The average looking dude that walks with a swagger to his step and confidence in his voice will do a better job of attracting a pretty girl vs the soft spoken average dude that walks around with his shoulders hunched and his head down.  Something I made a terrible habit of when I was 315lbs.  I would seriously look at myself in the mirror and hate myself for letting it get as bad as it did.  I got by mostly on the (awesome) company of my friends along with the fact that I was able to channel my frustration on stage as a stand up comic.  In a twisted way it was a nice therapy knowing that my short comings were at least making other people happy.

Laugh it up assholes

Little by little the changes started happening.  While I knew I had a ton of weight to lose, I knew I was on the right track.  Mostly because people started to notice the transformation.  All of the sudden their portly friend was looking less and less like a big concentrated blob of rejection.  Comments like "Looking good bro!" or "Holy shit, Mike are you losing weight?" gave me a new found confidence in myself.  It also gave me something to replay in my head for that last kick on the treadmill, or when I needed to lift that last set of really heavy shit.  The little changes became big changes and the weight loss was adding up, 20lbs gone became 30lbs, became 40lbs, became 60lbs, became 70lbs... holy shit.  I was feeling amazing.  I was holding my head higher and there was a new spring in my step.

Lookin a little better.

Life was the best it had been in a long time.  Yet, there still lay one more challenge for me to overcome.  While several of my closest friends were members of the opposite sex, I had yet to perfect the craft of going up to a pretty girl that I had never met before and start talking to her.  I knew they were interested because for the first time since JR High School they were smiling at me and saying "Hi!"  The problem was it would always catch me off guard.  Being a big dude for as long as I was had imprinted in my brain that I was the exact opposite of what a girl looks for in a guy.  I was one of the few people in the world that would fuck up trying to say "Hi" back.  I would eventually spit it out.. but there would always be a lot of stumbling to get there.  "Uhh...wh... Hey whats up?"  "Huhhhh.. ummm Hi!!"  Usually by then it was to late.  I was making a lot of pretty girls smile.. but when it came to intriguing them beyond introducing themselves I was a fucking mess.   WHY CAN'T SOMEONE JUST AVOID THE BULLSHIT AND TELL ME THEY ARE INTERESTED?!!!

Then it happened... It was as if she had been sent from a higher power knowing that I was to much of a chicken shit to sweep a pretty girl off her feet.  The girl that would eventually turn me into a Man...

Someone up there was looking out for me after all...