Meet Ben Stark – a dude with one of the coolest names in the history of nerds, and our next member of the Nerd Fitness Hall of Heroes. He’s a 40-year-old social worker and mental health program coordinator for the VA.
Ben’s story is one of my favorites for a very specific reason: it’s real. Ben is not much different than Deadpool – finding inspiration and a path forward when you get dealt a bad hand. Although it’s often not our fault for where we are, it’s our responsibility to dig ourselves out of it.
And that’s exactly what Ben did.
Where we are RIGHT NOW is a combination of things that are within our control and things that aren’t. And often it feels overwhelming, which leads us to inaction, anxiety, and “I’ll start when I’m ready” mentality. We give an excuse. We read articles and never take action. We collect underpants. There’s always another reason, or problem, or setback that we tell ourselves why we haven’t cracked the code yet to a healthier, happier life.
Not Ben the Rebel.
When he started his journey, he was about 420 pounds. Perhaps more importantly, he was very sick, had a great deal of pain from herniated discs, and also had facet joint arthritis his back. As if this wasn’t enough, in true Deadpool fashion, in the summer of 2013, he learned he was pre-diabetic, had high cholesterol and triglycerides, gout, and sleep apn…