lieving!

Healthy Living: So B.E., it has been awhile since we’ve had the opportunity to sit down with you and talk. What exciting things have happened in your life over the past two years?

B.E. Thompson: My Fox Orlando and Huffington Post have both interviewed me about my weight-loss journey. I have also been contacted about appearing on the Dr. Oz Show. I have stayed in contact with the producers who have discussed featuring me in an episode on incredible weight-loss stories. Then last October, I met SQuire Rushnell and his wife, the lovely Louise DuArt, at the LifeStream Behavioral Center Foundation’s Gala of Hope. He is a former television executive for ABC news, and he is pitching a show to NBC called Up Island/Down Island. He wants me to be a character consultant for the show’s main character, Tyler Burns, who previously weighed 500 pounds.

HealthyLiving: How exciting! How else has life changed since you’ve lost 320 pounds?

B.E. Thompson: Well, I’ve gone from wearing size 72 pants to wearing size 34 pants. I’m half the man I used to be!

Healthy Living: I understand you are making many public appearances these days.

B.E. Thompson: I was in a fashion show sponsored by the Golden Triangle Republican Women’s Network. Who would have ever thought that several years ago? Here is a funny story about that show. Clara Schneider, who owns Em’z on Fifth in Mount Dora, organized it. I arrived at the event dressed in nice clothes with my hair fixed up. Clara looked at me and asked if I was a professional model! After the show, she told me I could do modeling professionally because I seemed at ease onstage.

HealthyLiving: That is amazing. Being in public used to make you uncomfortable, right?

B.E. Thompson: Back when I was 540 pounds, if I had to attend a public meeting I would go hours in advance and scope out the venue to make sure there were adequate seating arrangements for someone my size. I really hated chairs with arms because I would literally have to wedge myself into the chair.

HealthyLiving: When you are making public appearances to talk about your weight loss, what is one thing you share that few people know about you?

B.E. Thompson: I was born 12 weeks premature and weighed three pounds. I was actually a decent-sized baby for someone born that early, but 44 years ago, we did not have the technology and medical advances we have today. I was in an incubator for 12 weeks. Several days after arriving home, I turned blue and stopped breathing. My mom stuck her finger down my throat and dislodged a tube to clear my airway. I tell the audience that I began to thrive after the tube was pulled out and kept going and going until I was 540 pounds. That always makes them laugh.

Healthy Living: How often do you make public appearances to speak about your journey?

B.E. Thompson: Usually two or three times a month. I have made appearances for companies and organizations such as Total Nutrition and Therapeutics, the Leesburg Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Golden Triangle YMCA. I am involved with Get Fit Lake.

Healthy Living: In addition to speaking to the public, how else do you make an impact?

B.E. Thompson: I recently served as mentor for LifeStream Behavioral Center’s five-member team that competed in the Leesburg Area Chamber of Commerce’s Business Wellness Challenge. My team ended up winning. They

I’ve gone from wearing size 72 pants to wearing size 34 pants.

I’m half the man I used to be!