ADAM 3XL : A Wonderful Answer to Obesity

                                         Excerpt

                                 

That night, Adam had an unusual dream: He was playing in a gigantic stadium. It was the last qualifying game before the championship. They were two points behind. With a few seconds left, the power forward passed the ball to him. Adam pump-faked the opponent's center and finished with a three-pointer. The game was over. They had won. Adam woke up.

   It was such an intense dream that he remembered many of the details. He couldn't get it out of his mind. For days, he thought of this three-point shot over and over again.

   So he wrote down his dream because he had read a story about how important dreams can be and that they often contain a message.

 

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   The following years were devoted to basketball. Right from the beginning, he was a member of the starting five. Initially, the coach let him play in various positions. Shorter players were assigned to be the small forward and the point guard. As the power forward, Adam secured the rebounds, disrupted the opponent under the basket, and created uneasiness and gained the respect of the opponents with his strong physical play. As the tallest player on the team, Adam was also effective as the center. He was very precise when passing the balls, had a sure shot, and almost always kept the necessary overview. But soon it was clear that he was the ideal of a shooting guard. He had the best throwing technique of all, made the most baskets and got along perfectly with his fellow players. The team had found its top scorer. He scored from every distance and every angle, deciding many of the games. And at the same time, he continued to think about the dream that he could not forget.

   In the following months, the teamwork of the five players became increasingly important. The trainer explained many of the plays on drawing boards. These Xs and Os of basketball fascinated him. That was the headwork. And this was where he learned most quickly.

   On the weekends, Adam once again drove to the big games with his father. During the evenings in the yard, he tried to imitate everything that he had seen the players do: their tricks, their shooting techniques, or their fakes. He practiced this to the point of obsession until he had memorized every little detail of a new exercise sequence in his head and in his muscles.

   He already tried to incorporate these new moves at the next game. With his fast breaks and three-pointers, he regularly made the crowd jump out of their seats. In his senior year of high school, many people said that this eighteen-year-old played a spectacular game.

 

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   Adam was now fully grown at six feet, ten inches. His mood had stabilized, but the old cheerfulness and the desire to exercise had not come back. So he looked after his house and read a great deal. At noon, he drove the van to the fast-food restaurant where his father had also eaten and went shopping for food at the supermarket. He could not pull himself together to do any more than that. A new problem had arisen: He had a much larger appetite than before. This was caused as a side effect of the medication. He slowly started to have weight problems. He quickly put on the pounds and his jeans, which used to have a perfect fit, wound up in the closet. When the width of the new jeans had the same measurements as the length, he became annoyed. Now he was slowly turning into a square.

 

   What Adam did not know at this time: Many young men, who are fully grown at 18 years, have an enormous weight gain in the following years because they still consume the same portions that they ate as teenagers. A young person clearly has a higher basal metabolic rate while growing and also needs more calories. And if he or she doesn't reduce these surplus calories as an adult, then they are stored as fat according to an ancient blueprint of metabolism.

   Every person requires a certain amount of food in order not to gain or lose weight. If you just eat ten French fries too many per week, you will gain almost 33 pounds within ten years for this reason. Every teacher could explain these facts in ten minutes and the students would listen because this would be interesting and important for them.

 

   In any case, Adam did not cut these calories. He increasingly succumbed to eating binges in which he often totally lost control. He developed sudden cravings for everything that was sweet, which he could not suppress. He had soon recognized that the cause for his appetite was the medication. But a reduction of the dose or even stopping it was not an option for him. He was afraid of once again reliving this nightmare.

   So Adam ate huge amounts of ice cream, cake and fast food, together with milkshakes and coke by the gallon. Although he felt good for a few hours after eating, he often suffered from a guilty conscience. He talked himself into believing that he would somehow get the problem under control. By the end of the year, he weighed more than 280 pounds.

   What happened in his fatty tissue during these months merely followed the laws of metabolism. The cause-and-effect relationships were only explained to him many months later in a very simple way. But he was programmed to gain weight until then.

   All of Adam's thoughts were related to food. Basketball no longer played a role for him.

 

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   His heart beat all the way up to his neck because he was so happy to see her again. He went to the counter, pulled the ordered book out of the drawer, and carefully wrapped it up. Once again, he took his time in doing this.

   "Your first piece of advice was good for me. It really worked. May I discuss something else with you?" At this moment, the bookseller appeared and wanted to lock the door. It was lunchtime. Adam spontaneously seized his only opportunity.

   "I'd be pleased to invite you for a cup of coffee. There's a very nice cafe nearby. We can sit in the sun and have a quiet conversation there." They slowly walked down the street to a small cafe. He asked where she wanted to sit, pulled out the chair for her, and waited until she was seated. Then he asked what she would like and ordered two cups of coffee and one glass of water. Conny put her head on his knee and was patiently petted.

   From his many books, Adam knew how much women value a man who can listen to them. He also knew that it was much more important to many men to engage in verbosity than to really get to know their counterpart. Above all, every little flirt is certain to have a sudden end because of one thing - the man's incessant flow of words.

   Adam would not even have known with what he could distinguish himself. His self-confidence had already been non-existent for some time now. Wasn't it a gift to even be allowed to drink a cup of coffee with such a beautiful, nice woman? And so he remained silent, tried to make eye contact, and smiled. He did everything right at this moment. His expression signaled that he was listening to her and so she began to talk.

 

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   At some point, she also asked him to tell her something about his life. Adam paused for a moment. The most recent past was not suitable for discussion. So he told her about his valley, his wonderful father, and the time at high school. He formulated his dreams for the future in somewhat vague terms, such as studying literature or a similar subject at the college. He did not mention a word about the round piece of sports equipment that he had been able to handle so well in the past. She certainly would not have believed him and would have laughed as she got up to leave.

   Instead, he provided a witty commentary about how the street basketball players playing on the opposite side of the road were proving their shooting skills in someone's yard.

   Suddenly, the ball rebounded, fell into the street, and rolled toward their table. With a speed that astounded her, Adam stood up, stopped the ball with his foot, lifted it very elegantly with the tip of his shoe, and began to dribble in place.

   "Hey, chump, give the ball back," yelled one of the boys. Adam did not let that put him off. Using an old trick, he let the ball rotate on his index finger. "Hey, fatso, we aren't in the circus here - give the ball back."

   Adam looked at Sarah and began to laugh. "Did he really say fatso?" With a perfect baseball pass, he sent the ball on its way. After more than 30 yards, the ball hit against the board and just barely missed the rim. The boys on the other side clapped in appreciation, and Adam sat down. "Sorry, Sarah. At least that was better than a brick. After all, beautiful women disrupt the concentration."

   Sarah had followed the entire scene in disbelief. "That was really fantastic. The ball almost made it in. You don't just throw a pass like that by accident. Don't you want to explain anything else to me?"

   Adam played the innocent little angel. He acted very embarrassed. "But that was just luck, the good luck of a - chump." Her unerring instinct told her that this wasn't even half of the truth. So she said in an amused tone, "You don't really have the talent to be an actor, so you would have been better off as a basketball player."

   "Unfortunately, life doesn't happen in the subjunctive. What could have been, what would have been if..." Adam looked up pensively.

   For Sarah, this specimen of a 3XL had become increasingly interesting. She carefully wrapped up the book and smiled. "What a beautiful gift. I'll tell you what I learned in two weeks. I hope that we'll see each other here again."

 

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   Rule Eight: More exercise!

   Would Dr. Grant be happy about the way that he had simplified his concept? Adam just wanted to make it easier to understand. What use is all of this knowledge if people don't understand it? It must have a practical value. Anyone can learn these eight rules by heart in three minutes. After all, weight loss was the most important measure in the treatment of syndrome X, and people need some rules for this - simple rules!

   Adam took the note with the eight rules and taped it to the door of his refrigerator. This was a good place for a simple concept because the greatest dangers were lurking here.

 

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   At lunchtime, Adam liked to go to the new restaurant because the owner put together the meals according to the young patron's wishes. It didn't take long for Adam to spark his interest. So the owner introduced himself one day and wanted to know more about him. They were both pleased to discover that they shared the same first name.

   "The way you order your meals is quite unusual. Is there a special reason for that?"

   Lunch had tasted especially good that day, so Adam was quite willing to share the information. "I'm working on losing some weight. With a little plan and some rules, coupled with a bit more exercise, the program works quite well. Take a look at it yourself. Maybe it would also be something for you."

   The other man patted his belly. He was really quite likeable. "As a cook, I actually understand a lot about eating, but I really would like to say goodbye to this calorie package before it kills me. How about explaining your plan to me?"

   Adam took a napkin and sketched the little chart from the doctor in a few minutes. Then he wrote the eight rules beneath it with his distinct nice handwriting. He briefly explained the role of blood sugar and insulin. The cook was impressed. "Even though I didn't understand everything, what matters is that it works." Adam also mentioned that this concept had a long American tradition behind it. The cook had a lot to think about by the time he left.

 

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   Just three weeks later, it was already hard for him to get a seat for lunch. There was just one left at the counter. The man next to him, who was easily recognizable as a lumberjack, was giving the waitress his order.

   "Please cook the steak medium and give me a big salad. No french fries, but an extra serving of the broccoli." Adam looked at him questioningly. "But that's just logical. That makes you fat and just causes problems with digestion. There's a plan on the wall to tell you how to do it." The man pointed to the wall behind the counter. The napkin that he had written on three weeks ago hung there, carefully framed in glass and with a small brass sign below it: The Original. The lumberjack patted his fat body. "I'm successfully divorcing myself from this burger cemetery before it puts me in the grave." Adam nodded in acknowledgement. The concept was apparently accessible to anyone. A radiant cook waved to him from the kitchen. After Adam finished eating, the new waitress told him that his lunch was free today - and also in the future.

 

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   The coach was somewhat surprised, but he could hardly deny this devoted fan his request. "We'll be done here in an hour. Let's meet in front of the stadium." Joseph thanked him, went to his car, and practiced the art of patience.

   Then the coach appeared. Joseph opened him the passenger door for him. "I would like to tell you a beautiful story."

   "I always have time for a great story," the coach responded. They sat in the pick-up. Without further ado, Joseph told him Adam's story up to that morning. The coach listened very attentively because it was an unusual tale. Then he leaned back. "And what would you like me to do now?"

   "I would be very happy if you would take the time and just look at him. He really is remarkable!"

   The coach became thoughtful. He looked at his watch. He noticed a feeling inside of him that signaled the need to pay attention. The story had also made him curious. "Where does our young friend live?"

   "Just a few miles from here," Joseph responded and suddenly felt a sense of happiness flowing through him.

   "What are we waiting for? I don't have any other plans today, so let's go."

   Joseph parked the car on the street. "We don't want to block his court, just in case he wants to show us something." From the street, they could already hear from the sound of the ball that basketball was being played here. "He is already practicing again. He never sits in front of the television. All he does is study and train." They slowly walked around the corner of the house. Adam stood with his back to them. He was so engrossed in his game that he didn't even notice them. The athlete darted between the three-point line and the free-throw line, making one basket after the other. Joseph was deeply moved. He had moist eyes, and not just because of the talent that he thought had been lost. After a perfect swish, the coach pulled him back by the sleeve. He was surprised to notice Joseph's facial expression. "Come on! Let's drive back. I've seen enough. That was more than remarkable. That was unbelievable!"