You Don't Have to Be Thin to Win: The Official Chub Club Coach's Workout Program

How Did I Get Here?: The Story of How I Went from Fat to Fit What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. -Ralph Waldo Emerson How does someone go from a volleyball scholarship to Clemson to morbidly obese in the span of about seven years? Well, it didn't take just seven years. It took a lifetime. As a youngster growing up in Indiana, I never thought of myself as big and tall. I remember writing a paper on Babe Didrikson in grammar school. She was amazing-a track-and-field star and a great golfer. It seems she could do anything she wanted whenever she wanted. And she was big. I was already big for my age, so I could relate. People started calling me "Babe." I liked that. I thought big was a go d thing, something to aspire to. I was a big girl, but I wasn't the tubby kid who was abused throughout school. I just had a large frame. I didn't hide out. People always thought I was older because I was tall. I did it all: snowball wars and sports with the guys; playing Barbies in the afternoon. The summer after sixth grade, I worked at Camp Millhouse, a summer camp for physically and mentally challenged kids. The girl who brought me to the camp couldn't stand being there and left after three days. I worked there for three summers. At first, I was a counselor-in-training, but by the second summer I was leading groups and had all the responsibilities of a full-fledged counselor. I loved every single minute of it. These kids needed me. To make an autistic child laugh or put a smile on a sad child's face made the experience special. The age range was from kindergarten through adult. Even early on, I had as much responsibility as the high school kids. I think it was because I was so tall that I looked mature. Again, I perceived big as a positive state. In eighth grade, I was the only girl on the boys' baseball team, although I got into only two games and spent more time keeping score than actually wearing a glove or swinging a bat. But I was on the team, and it was an honor. We moved to Granger, a community outside South Bend, Indiana, that year. Life was good. I had nicknames in high school-"Magilla Gorilla," "Grape Ape," "Too Tall Jones"-but I never found them offensive. In ninth grade, one of my teammates started calling me "BJ," or "Big Judy." It had a nice ring to it. To me there wasn't anything negative about it. These were MY friends. I wanted to be a better basketball player. Since I was living in South Bend, the home of Notre Dame, I started watching the Notre Dame basketball team practice. I became an instant fan. Every day I watched and learned from coach Digger Phelps. The practices were closed to the public, but Digger let me sit in. I played varsity sports, studied drama, and sang in the choir. I had a ton of friends, and not once do I remember anyone calling me fat. Dating? We all went out as a group, and the boys and girls group-danced together. We even invented are own weekend court dances on the campus of Notre Dame. We took a boom box and went out and danced. I didn't have a special boyfriend, but I always had a secret crush on one of my best friends, Jim. I never felt left out. I even went to my senior prom with Jim, and we had the time of our lives. Sixteen Steps for Getting Ready to Get into the Game Your thoughts determine your actions. Your actions determine your habits. Your habits determine your character, and your character gives birth to your destiny. --UNKNOWN Chapters 2-11 focus on helping you move more, and Chapters 12-17 show you how to eat better. The process of making changes in your life is just that-a process. When faced with the opportunity to make positive changes in your life, it helps to give some thought to developing a stratMolnar, Judy is the author of 'You Don't Have to Be Thin to Win: The Official Chub Club Coach's Workout Program' with ISBN 9780375504143 and ISBN 0375504141.