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Coming down from 396 to 192 has definitely been the experience of becoming a new me. Exercise has been a key tool during my weight loss and fitness journey. I don't believe it is 100% necessary to exercise in order to lose weight, but it sure does make things a damn site easier and healthier. And, since fitness was an equal goal with weight loss, it was a necessary component for me.

Along the way I have reaped countless benefits from exercising, the difference is like night and day. But, the most real and fundamental one is not often mentioned directly in articles about the benefits of exercise.

Freedom.

From the time I was 14 until I was 21 I had an infection from an ingrown toenail in my right big toe. The pain it caused was severe enough that for years I had to walk with a cane and cut the toes out of my right sneakers. The infection survived countless Epsom salt baths and five operations. My circulation was so poor at 396 pounds that the infection never fully cleared. After six months of T'ai Chi Chih, which was my first exercise tool employed in my weight loss battle, the infection was gone (along with 50 pounds of excess weight.) I was able to stop using the cane, wear normal shoes and stand without pain. The scar on my toe reminds me of the days when I was a cripple.

Freedom.

After I had been studying Aikido for three years I was doing something stupid to earn extra money. A local museum needed someone to deconstruct a storage space they were vacating. My wife (then fiance) was working for them at the time, which is how I got the job. So, there I was, alone and unsupported tearing down 15 foot high shelving units in a dark room with a metal floor. Oh, and I happen to be afraid of heights. I had worked some construction before, so I had a working knowledge of what I was doing, but not enough to deal well with the shoddy job that had been done putting the huge shelves up in the first place. These things were supported by 2X4's, were seven feet wide and four feet deep, weighed a ton and were screwed into the plaster dry wall. Formula for disaster. So, as I was at the top of a ten foot ladder one of these eighty pound monsters pulled loose and fell on my head. I managed to slide it off of me backwards, saving my head and injury, but the shelf flipped and cut the ladder out from under my feet. I was pitched into free fall, backwards toward the 2X4 littered metal floor. Because of my Aikido, and fitter condition, I was able to toe off of the tumbling ladder. I

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