6 of 7 Magazine | Fitlanthropist

Fitlanthropist

By John C. Ronquillo

Getting Healthy for a Greater Cause

Finding Effective Incentives

I’ve thought long and hard about it, and for some reason, I can’t think of anytime in the 20th century when fat was “in.” This is discouraging since in my nearly 29 years of life, I can’t think of any time where I’ve ever been thin, either.

I’ve concluded that I need incentive. While the odds of someone paying me to lose weight are pretty slim, I am keeping my pudgy fingers crossed that if I loose weight for charity, those odds will improve. Thus begins my experiment in fitness and fundraising. I am aiming to be what I like to call a “fitlanthropist.”

The idea of using fitness or physical activity as a mechanism for fundraising isn’t novel. There are plenty of examples, ranging from community 5K races that earn money for local charities to larger initiatives such as the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure which raises funds to combat breast cancer, or even GREAT STRIDES, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s largest national fundraising event that raised nearly $35 million in 2009 to help find a cure for cystic fibrosis.

However, this mission of mine is also a personal one. For most of my life I have been clinically obese—a term I have always found to be exceptionally unbecoming. I come from a big family, and by big, of course, I mean in stature, not in number. I grew up on Mexican and Italian food. I got accustomed to buying clothes at big and tall stores, and I watched both of my parents end up getting gastric bypasses. I entertained the idea for a time, but was unconvinced of the benefits of what seemed to be a quick fix. I maintained a belief that I could still drop the weight on my own, so now I’m doing something about it. Because I want to improve my health and help those in need, I figure that I can combine those two efforts into one. After all, thinking of a designated charity—one that focuses on youth, homelessness, or hunger—should be motivation enough to get healthy and to give back.

Setting Accountability

When I set out to drop some pounds last year, I created a blog not only as an outlet to detail my thoughts, but also as a mechanism for accountability. I figured if people followed my story and took interest, that if I slipped up, some reader would be there to keep me in check. That worked for a while. I gained some followers who were exceedingly supportive, some of whom had literally run themselves skinny. I viewed their success stories with excitement, zeal even. I was thrilled to have lost 30 pounds in the process, but I eventually slipped up more often than not. My reasons for not exercising turned into excuses like “I have no time” or “my wife needs help with the baby.” Of course there was always the proverbial “I have a paper to write for class.” Well, my grandmother had a saying about excuses, and it’s hardly appropriate to repeat here, but nevertheless, Grandma was right.

The Come Back

The year or so that followed my weight loss endeavor was relatively tumultuous, and sadly that tumult included gaining 23 of the 30 pounds back. Not quite an epic fail, per se, but close enough to realize that I needed to make a change. That change came in the form of The Fitlanthropist (www.fitlanthropist.com), a new blog that is part personal weight loss journey, part charitable endeavor, and wholly beneficial to myself and those I “lose for.” Or, so I hope. This time around, there are more players involved and much more at stake. More commitment will be required on my part than ever before.

I believe that there is something truly synergistic about this model. If I (or anyone, really) can garner enough interest from friends and family, and their friends and family, then the possible donation amount can increase exponentially depending on how hard I work. If I get more people to commit to donating, then the harder I have to work to lose weight and raise money for the respective charity. The ultimate goal is to raise enough money that will make an impact and to work toward optimum personal health. Most nonprofit charitable organizations often provide figures that show what a certain amount of money procures for the organization, and therefore the kind of impact you can make. With regard to losing weight and improving my health, the impact is often less visible, and I alone am the one responsible for it.

I’m no expert in personal health and wellness—that should be obvious. But in terms of finding a creative way to improve one’s health, I truly hope this works for me and inspires others to take similar action. I have a lot of weight to lose, and hopefully a lot of money to raise, but eventually I’ll reach the finish line. It’ll then be up to others to pick up the torch and keep going.