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Friday, June 22, 2007

At Long Last, My Brother Kevin Is Finally Getting Serious About His Morbid Obesity


It now appears my brother Kevin is ready to deal with his weight

It's been a little while since I gave you an update on my brother Kevin and his ongoing battle to lose weight, get healthy, and quite literally save his life.

Ever since I first blogged about Kevin, interest in him has ranged from the curious to the concerned and has even brought out a few crazies (One memorable e-mailer wrote, "Why is your brother so fat if you've figured out the cure to obesity is low-carb? It must not work too well if your own brother can't even get his weight under control.").

So I've tried to give periodic updates on his weight and health for those of you who are praying for him. I've even used his story as an example to make a point in blog posts about livin' la vida low-carb pouring out my heart and expressing the pain that comes from my brother who just doesn't seem to get it yet.

You can read some of my previous posts to see exactly what I was feeling at the time about this deep, dark pit of hopeless despair Kevin had put himself in by clicking here, here, here, here, here and here.

My emotions about this issue with my brother have run the gamut--sadness, frustration, anger, bitterness, disappointment, fear, disgust, concern--sometimes many of these all at once! Never knowing if today's the day your only full-blooded brother is going to die is no way to live.

After suffering three straight heart attacks in the span of one week in 1999 that nearly killed him, Kevin has been living on heart medications with a mere 15 percent of his heart's capacity left. He's been in and out of the hospital with chest pains and middle-of-the-night scares so much in the past few years while his weight has not come down that I thought he had given up all hope for weight loss forever.

Although his doctors have told him to lose weight or die, nothing seemed to get through to Kevin. That is, until something that happened in April this year.

When I was being interviewed for the upcoming documentary film called Inspired: The Movie a couple of weeks ago, I shared with the director my sincere concerns about how to get through to my brother who apparently doesn't care about his obesity. You can see a brief clip from the movie of me talking about Kevin by CLICKING HERE.

The filmmaker was so moved by my heartfelt cry for help on behalf of Kevin that he said he would like to travel to Florida to include him in the documentary, too. So I told the director I'd have to ask Kevin if he'd be interested first. After all, it's a touchy subject talking about being fat with a morbidly obese man--AND ON CAMERA!

But Kevin is not shy in the least (in fact, I'm the shy one between us if that tells you how outgoing my brother is!), so it wasn't surprising when I approached him with this that he was all-too-eager to do it. GREAT! We are planning on driving down to Florida in July for a taped conversation about Kevin's weight. This will hopefully be enlightening and inspiring...to me, Kevin, and anyone struggling with how to help an obese friend or relative. More about that later!

While I was talking to Kevin about the film, I could hear in his voice he had something to tell me. "Guess what, little bro?" he said to me in his own distinctive vernacular. "I'm losing weight now."

WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I just had to confirm what I heard Kevin say. Yep, it was true! He said he was tired of always feeling bad and going to the hospital that he started eating better (yep, that means less carbs--WOO HOO!) and getting as much exercise as his weak heart can handle. All I could say was WOW, WOW, WOW!!! Praise God for answering prayers!

I was curious what made him begin this new journey and he said it happened when our Memaw died a couple of months ago. She was the last grandparent we had and her death was partially brought on by heart disease from eating poorly (although she lived to be 77 years old).

This shook Kevin to the core and woke him up!

Just a few months earlier when I asked Kevin why he doesn't get serious about shedding the pounds, he had told me "I don't know, I'm lazy I guess." Now he had found the impetus for getting serious about his morbid obesity.

HALLELUJAH!!!

He says his weight is under 400 pounds right now, but he doesn't really know for sure since most bathroom scales only register up to about 350. But the good news is he cares, the weight is moving down at about 10 pounds a month, and he seems committed to this.

I'm not gonna assume Kevin's gonna stick with it because he never has before. Right now, though, his mind is on this goal to lose weight and I will support him the best way I know how. Love him, encourage him, and respect his courage to do what he has to do to climb this Mt. Everest in his life.

At the end of our conversation, Kevin shocked me one more time when he said "Jimmy, I'm proud of you for helping so many people with their weight loss stuff. You're doing a good job!" When he said that to me, I nearly choked up trying to hold back the tears. It was as if he said I GET IT, JIMMY, I FINALLY GET IT!

Finally, the message has sunk in. Now the real work has only just begun.

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15 Comments:

Blogger Mariah said...

omg! how awesome... That last paragraph you wrote gave me chills. What a nice thing for him to say. It sounds like he's coming around! Go Kevin! :)

6/22/2007 4:11 PM  
Blogger Jimmy Moore said...

It's been a long road to get to this point, Mariah, and I can only hope he'll be serious enough to see it through until he changes his life like I did. THANKS for commenting! :)

6/22/2007 4:15 PM  
Blogger Amy Dungan said...

Awesome clip Jimmy! I can't wait to see the movie!

I'm so happy to hear that Kevin is starting to take his health seriously. I hope he continues on. Who knows.. maybe someday you'll be working together to help people become healthy and fit!

6/22/2007 4:23 PM  
Blogger Tom Bunnell said...

There couldn't be better news on this earth! Gentle exercise I say! I'm afraid if he goes at this to strong and to quick it could hurt him. One step at a time! I have a scale that goes to 540# (that I bought off from eBay last winter) that I will gladly ship to your brother. I have a regular scale that I bought at Walmart that goes to 350# that I can use. The 540# scale is a battery operated(4 AA) that talks. When you first touch it it says Hello! Then you step aside and wait a few seconds and then it says I'm ready! You then step on to it like a common bathroom scale and look straight ahead for a few seconds and it then says your weight, like 315.2 pounds! etc. You then step off from it and after a few more seconds it says Goodbye! A scale I find to be both frustrating and encouraging at the same time. I wouldn't be without one though. It cost me $60 several months ago. It's "on the house" with free shipping for Kevin, my complements. I'm hoping it will help him to keep focused, but not to focused, you can get hurt dieting if your not careful. Once you get down a few hundred pounds and have been there for awhile things get safer. Like today I was 313.2# a new low for me, that was encouraging. Please send me his address if you and he are OK with this. Congratulations to both of you.

6/22/2007 4:46 PM  
Blogger Jimmy Moore said...

THANKS so much for your generous offer, Tom! Here's an idea I just thought of based on your comment. If you would like to encourage Kevin in this new journey, why not send him a note in the mail letting him know you read my blog and how proud you are of him for doing something about his weight? Oh, he'd get a kick out of that!

Anyone interested in doing this can send your letter to:

Kevin Lee Moore
22 Ruberia Ave
Pensacola, FL 32507

THANK YOU again to everyone who has been praying and rooting for Kevin to get going on dealing with his weight. We will see him through to the end on this.

God bless you all for your spirit of love and support for my brother. He's gonna be so surprised! :)

6/22/2007 5:15 PM  
Blogger Morgan MacLeoid said...

I'm so excited!! Can't wait to read the updates and follow the progress! Great stuff :)

6/22/2007 5:48 PM  
Blogger Alcinda (Cindy) Moore said...

Wow Jimmy! That is awesome!! Tell your brother we're all pulling for him!!

6/22/2007 6:53 PM  
Blogger Tom Bunnell said...

Will do, Thanks

6/22/2007 7:23 PM  
Blogger Diet Pepsi Girl said...

Wow, that is great news! I will be praying for him and hope to see more updates in the future. Hopefully this will be the last time he is at 400#.

Claire :)

6/22/2007 8:39 PM  
Blogger Cutie said...

that IS great news, jimmy!

6/22/2007 11:24 PM  
Blogger Tom Bunnell said...

Shipped -- Amen

6/23/2007 5:46 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is a wonderful story, Jimmy. I have a brother who shares my weight problem whom I love dearly, too--so I feel you, man.
Good luck to him and to you, too.
Adam

6/23/2007 10:29 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought you said he was pushing 600 pounds. But that's no big thing, I'm just glad to hear the news! Just don't tell him that the tired, old, and low-fat appeasing "low carb is nothing but meat, eggs, and cheese" line and all will be good.

6/23/2007 1:36 PM  
Blogger Jimmy Moore said...

He was pushing 600, Jeff. He now thinks he's around 375, but I'm not convinced. He's probably over 400 and closer to 500. We don't really know until he steps on that scale Tom so graciously is sending to Kevin. I'll let you know what it says when I hear.

6/23/2007 1:39 PM  
Blogger Tom Bunnell said...

I could live on meat and eggs and enjoy it the whole way. I love them. I just polished off a pound of pan fryed beef steak with three eggs fryed in the drippings and went to hog heaven enjoying them. I hadn't eaten since about four oclock yesterday, about 20 hours ago. A great meal. I could do the same thing twice a day for the rest of my life and be nothing but satisfied. I usually like to eat twice a day about four to six hours apart, sometimes sooner and sometimes later. I no longer mind being a little hungry in the evening because I know it's good for me and that great meals are coming. The secret is in the cooking. Prepare them beautifully with all there natural flavors intack and cooked to your liking. I like rare with crispy outsides a lot but I like medium and well done and even extra well done too. All the differant cooking methods helps too. Zero seasonings is a biggie too. The eggs I put a little bit of salt and pepper on sometimes but not always. Onions that make you cry and garlic cloves and then both of these in powdered form I use a lot too. Parsley flakes when I'm boiling is good and bay leaves are good then too. Cabbabge and green beans I also use often. Brussel sprouts and califlowewr and spinich I use occasionally and like a lot. Wild Rice I eat a cup or two of whenever I want too. That's my entire diet. Water to drink. I won the battle.

6/23/2007 2:00 PM  

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