Part 3

Well, maybe unthinkable is a little dramatic...but it definitely wasn't pleasant.  I was working late one night and to make a long story short, i was car-jacked by four dudes with guns.  I never saw my car again.  I can't even begin to tell you the stress this put on me as i was suddenly faced with paying for a car i didn't have, trying to close and reopen bank accounts, putting flags on my personal information in case they stole my identity...not to mention i no longer had wheels to get around town with, or do my job for that matter.  At first I dealt with the stress by picking up my workouts, sometimes hitting the gym twice a day.  But after about 6 weeks i ended up getting a nasty cold that knocked me out for a few weeks.  We all know what happens to a good habit when you can't do it for a few weeks....it disappears, or atleast does so more easily.  During this time I ended up moving to DC for the summer to sell alarm systems door-to-door (ugh).  I never really got back into the habit of working out again, i'm sad to say.  The added stress of a commission-only job and the rejection that went with it also starting getting to me, and i soon began experiencing panic attacks.  I was also in some strange areas past dark, and given what happened to me i would experience a heightened state of fear at these times.  Over the next year i had steady bouts of panic attacks, sometimes 3 a day, and also had some blows with a nemesis called "depression".  My body continued to get more and more unhealthy as it would release adrenaline and create cortisol, which sped up my weight gain.  Add in physical inactivity (or atleast not as much as i was used to) and emotional eating and i had a disaster on my hands.