214 lb. Nathan, Revisited

A year ago, I published an essay called “214 lb. Nathan.” With a tap of the enter key, I publicly confessed some challenges I had been wrestling with concerning my weight, body image, and plans for correcting the course of the ship.

Your response to that essay was overwhelmingly positive, supportive, and everything I could have asked for when I shared something so personal. It inspired me to begin a journey back to better health; a journey I shared via a series called “A Dream Realized.”

By revisiting this essay today, I would like to reflect on the last year. For myself and anyone who struggles with their weight, I am attempting to answer three questions: What changed? What remained the same? What is next?

Reflecting on this life of mine, I realize I have never held a positive view of my body. At five years old, my first pair of glasses framed my face. Those first frames were brown, bulky, plastic, and square. They didn’t drip with an ounce of cool. Heading south, when I smile, I am overly conscious of my crooked teeth. As a middle-class family of five, there was never extra money lying around for luxuries such as braces. Zooming out further, I was not the tallest, fastest, or strongest either. As a total package, when I looked in the mirror, I saw the epitome of average. Others may have not viewed me this way, but it was my truth.