I’ve recently (um, as of yesterday) become obsessed with reading the “Ben Does Life” Tumblr thread backwards – starting at the beginning and scrolling back (forward?) towards the present.
The short story in a nutshell:
On Christmas Day, 2008, I made a promise to my grandmother to get a grip on my obesity, my depression, and my life. I’ve lost 120 pounds, run marathons, and finished an Ironman.
What I like about this blog – much as I like daily food blogs, or daily fitness blogs – is you get a clear picture of how something like this is done, which I find about ten times as inspiring as any after the fact success story.
If you start at the beginning – when Ben was “358 pounds and depressed” (his words), you get a chance to see him going through the daily motions of getting it together. They aren’t long entries – a couple of sentences, maybe a photo, but the overall picture that it draws together is almost an instruction book that starts to read like a “And you can, too.”
One comment I saw on a blog somewhere mentioned that “his entire life is about fitness and that website.” Which…yes, duh. Losing 120 pounds, achieving a goal like an Ironman or a marathon – those aren’t goals you can achieve in a vacuum. These things aren’t hobbies. Knitting is a hobby. Healthy living is a lifestyle.
If you’re looking to kill some time at the end of the day, or refocus any New Years Resolutions, check it out
InnerTeub 
Someone recently mentioned to me that they thought this “fitness and nutrition stuff” was taking over my life.
Which, um, yeah.
Mainly because it IS my life.
It kind of turns into a “Don’t know, can’t tell em” situation, which sucks, because I WANT to tell them! I want to go back to the me of 7 years ago and tell her that she’s focusing on the wrong things, that she is spinning herself in circles and will only get more unhappy until she changes focus..but it’s so personal. Because it’s about a whole life, and not ad hoc behavior.
First, I love Ben Does Life. Most definitely one of my big inspirations throughout the weight-loss/fitness process.
But I tuned in to say basically the same thing AndreAnna did — yeah, I talk about food and sports all the time now, OK. Maybe my friends don’t want to hear about it. But I can’t not talk about it. Running and food changed my life. My life is different now; I am different now.
You guys get it.
Yeah, I’ve – for some reason I can’t really pinpoint – have actually tried really hard to NOT talk about food and fitness here. But it was getting too hard to ignore it, it’s so much a part of my life and takes up such a big space in what I read, do and think about. So I’m outing myself as caring, I guess. Glad there’s others out there that care too 🙂
Oh hi, that was me — didn’t realize I was logged in. Not-so-secret identity revealed.
Heee, no worries – I’m excited to check out your Food blog, too! 🙂
I actually *just* started it — it’s for my freshman writing students. Our topic is sustainable food.