This is the story of Chester's struggle with weight from youth to adulthood. Learn about his weight loss success & how you can follow in his footsteps towards a healthier you!  To read Chester's complete story, refer to the article index below.

Chester's Stress Level & Work History, the Weight Gain Connection

How eating as well as work habits influence eating habits, weight gain & health.

The Childhood Years - Even Kids Have Stress

Little Chester's father wasn't doing very well on the low cholesterol diet that Mom had the family eating these days. And all that dieting had sure made him cranky.

However, there still were good times to be had - or stolen, depending on how one looks at the situation. For example, when Mom was running low on skim milk one night, Dad volunteered to take Chester with him to the store to buy more.   On the way there, Dad dropped by the pizza place and ordered a double pepperoni, double cheese pizza which was mighty good, especially after Mom's tuna casserole that evening.

On Dad's next visit to the doctor, they found something called diabetes which really scared Dad, which in turn really scared Chester. It must really be bad to scare Dad, Chester thought.

Chester was so stressed out about his Dad that he barely passed first grade with little red D's. He didn't like school, and he didn't like his Mom and Dad being so sad and cranky these days, and he didn't like the bland diet that Mom made either.   Life wasn't good but Chester still thoroughly enjoyed playing ball.

On the days that he was able to play ball, he found that he was very tired when bedtime came around. But when it rained, or if it was too cold to go out, Chester found that he had trouble going to sleep at night. And when he did, he had nightmares about rabid tuna fish and mean teachers.

School would be starting again soon, and Chester had to admit that he was a bit excited.

The Young Adulthood Years - Diet Migration

Chester was under constant pressure - dividing his time between college and work, then frantically finding time to study. There was little time left for relaxation these days and as for playing baseball - those days were few and far between.  

Playing baseball had always seemed to energize Chester. It was also a key factor in releasing harmful stress in his life. Playing baseball also strengthened him physically, as well as mentally.  

Since his activity level had decreased, Chester was discovering that he wasn't walking with a springy step, and he indeed lacked energy. His endurance level had definitely slipped.

Whenever Chester did find time to relax, it was generally with his college friends. The parties consisted of drinking marathons, smoking marathons and 'Hey, I'm a totally cool dude' marathons. Chester always woke to the new day by tossing up his gut, the result of too much playing, too much drinking.

During Chester's final year at college, his stress level kicked to new heights when he met a lovely girl named Bertha who was majoring in food economics. Chester wasn't sure if he fell in love with Bertha herself, or if his love was better-connected to her fine art of cooking and because they both shared a passion for food. They were married six months later, just before Chester Jr. was born.

Chester was rapidly learning that his day at work had a lot of influence on his diet. If he was overworked, he wouldn't take time to pause to collect something healthy to eat. Fast times called for Fast Food.

Whenever he was overworked, he didn't feel like doing anything once he got home either. The evening was generally spent in front of the television, but what really added to the inactivity was the hot buttered popcorn, the chips, the dip, and the warmed-over pizza that he ate while watching television.

Even though Chester did a fair amount of activity at work, it was a bit here and a bit there - nothing to get his heart rate up, nothing aerobically beneficial.

Chester's stress level was at an all time high. He had a good job, a loving family, and a nice place to live.  He was stressed because he was overworked and frustrated about his weight.

Whenever Chester became frustrated about his weight, he would cycle through the mood and kick himself about a bit over being overweight, and then he'd toss his hands up and go find something lovely to eat.

Chester started to pull back on his work hours, skipping the overtime pay and opting for more time at home. Because he didn't feel so overworked, he was able to enjoy an evening filled with more activity, thus keeping his weight on a downward spiral, as well as getting his body fit.  At Chester's next doctor's visit, he would see big changes...

Chester's stressful way of life had all but banished! He had a new Diet Attitude! He had a spring in his step and a song in his heart - a healthier heart that was beating heart disease through all the activity that Chester was now incorporating into his daily diet plan.

Was it easy? NO! Was it hard? Depending on the day, and his outlook, Chester had good diet days and bad diet days.

But whether the diet days were good or bad, he knew that he would continue to watch his diet, to exercise and keep focused. He was never going to become overweight again and he was going to find healthy ways in which to manage his stress.

A rule of Diet Thumb: Stress builds on more stress until a breaking point is reached.

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