Q&A with Bill Gobin, former Kentucky State University basketball player turned personal trainer and founder of The Get America Fit Foundation.
Bill Gobin
Q: Oprah once wheeled 67 pounds of fat onstage in a toy wagon. What would 10 million pounds of fat look like? A: That is the equivalent of 1,710 Hummer H3 vehicles. It's literally a mountain of fat.
Q: Why is America so overweight? A: It's about prioritizing. I've heard more people say, and it just makes me cringe, "It's easier to buy bigger clothes than it is to go out and run." That's flat-out lazy.
Q: How are you going to track 10 million pounds? A: We want to get health clubs involved. A club manager can encourage members by saying, "Every time you've lost weight, write it on a piece of paper and drop it in this box." The club can create a free profile on our web site and update it: "Our club has been responsible for 227 pounds of fat lost this month." It's really time to call this industry to action, and this is a way to hold trainers accountable. Now that they're certified, how are they changing the lives of clients?
Q: How long do you expect this campaign to last? A: I call it a five-year campaign, but it's ongoing. Obesity is not going away, so neither are we.
Q: Is that pessimistic? A: It's realistic. A family that I was dealing with had an eight-year-old girl who weighed 160 pounds. I managed to get the family memberships in eight different fitness centers over the course of three years, but they would always stop going. The girl kept putting on weight and so did the family. By December, the girl, now 11 and 280 pounds, had gotten so big that for four months she was sleeping on her knees by the bed, as you would pray. She went in to take a nap, rolled off the bed onto her back and didn't wake up. I really thought that I was motivated to do what I do. I didn't think my commitment could get any stronger. Well, it has, because that's the most senseless death that I can think of.