Years ago, I began fooling around with slight of hand and card tricks. It was a simple hobby, something designed to keep my hands occupied (I tend to fidget when I’m bored). For months, I didn’t bother to show anyone a trick. I didn’t see much point. The first time I did, it was for a friend’s ten-year-old son, who was upset because he’d just dislocated a finger. We were in the emergency room, he was sniffling and shaking after the ordeal of having a stranger in a white coat shove the joint back into place. Not knowing what else to do, I pulled out a deck and did a simple, basic trick.
His tears stopped, he stared at the deck in my hands, and his eyes rose to look at me. He was dumbfounded. And I was hooked.
Anyone who does magic or illusions does it for one reason: the reaction. That extraordinary moment that you’ve broken their view of what’s real or expected. Their mind scrambling to try to rationalize what they saw, and that perfect moment when they fail utterly and stare at you with shock and wonder. Sometimes it’s just for a moment, and they go back to what they were doing, but that moment is amazing.
Yesterday, I posted my first set of before and after pictures to my Facebook page. The response was absolutely overwhelming. But my favorite reaction came from an old friend of mine, a fellow bubblehead that I haven’t seen in over a decade. He shot me an instant message composed of five words.
“Are you f*cking kidding me?!”
We’ve all become used to seeing friends who have gained weight. But seeing someone who has dropped all that weight is bewildering. I know, because for years, I had accepted the fact that my physical condition was just part of who I was. I was always going to be the chubby guy. When I saw Bennett and her parents defy that idea, it was baffling to me.
The key to all the great magic tricks lies in their simplicity. One of the primary reasons that you never explain a trick is that your audience will invariably be disappointed when they realize the secret. People assume some extraordinary level of complexity and brilliance. The reality is never quite as devious.
Weight loss is much the same way, with one major exception. Far from guarding the secret, those of us who have figured out how to make those pounds vanish are screaming the method from the rooftops, desperate to convince those around us that it’s not that difficult. It’s not some secret technique that takes years of discipline and a white tiger to achieve. It’s easy, it’s simple, and it’s something that everyone can do. In this case, the man behind the curtain is waving and hollering for your attention.
So this is me. Four months, and as of today, over sixty pounds that I’ve waved my white cloak and made vanish into the mystical ether. But the best part? The curtain’s just come up. The audience has just settled into their seats. The show has just begun, and those sixty pounds are just the warmup. Because what I’ll do next will REALLY astound and amaze you.
Just wait and see.
The only thing that would have made this trick better is the use of a smoke bomb and some techno music. Ah, next time.
Jan. 2, 2013 Starting Weight: 280 lbs
April 28, 2013 Weigh-In: 220 lbs
Total Weight Loss in 102 days: 60 lbs
