I have been away from writing for while. Nothing earth shattering happened just not much to write about. I am back to the grind with school and work, etc etc. I have fallen back into my old habits of eating as I get busier with things and I need to get on track. I learned something that was very scary but not shocking yesterday, research shows that Obesity related fatalities are surpassing smoking related fatalities in the leading cause of preventable deaths in the US. Crazy right? But does it shock you? It doesn’t surprise me… Americans have gotten to a point where the majority of those that have weight to lose are not just overweight but OBESE!! I hate that word. We have come up with so many other words to describe ourselves in our current overly flabby states, lets see, husky, Stocky, a few extra lbs (more like 50 extra but who cares), pleasantly plump, BBW (big beautiful woman) or my new personal favorite PHAT (Pretty Hot and Thick) I just learned that one today, it doesn’t matter how you say it we are just plain FAT. The sooner those of us who need to lose the weight realizes it the better. Who are we fooling other than ourselves?
I was watching the Biggest Loser last night and hearing the stories of some of the people that were hoping to get on the ranch all had a common theme, they lost someone in a tragic way (losing someone is always tragic but these stories were awful). The other common theme was that they gave up and slipped into the dark place and brought along some junk food with them. I am/was the same way when my dad died. Food and a sedentary lifestyle became my very best friend. It had been that way for awhile but it was only magnified by the loss. At some point you get the wake up call and you begin to try to do something about it. Believe me when I tell you that it isn’t easy…. I have fallen of the diet/exercise wagon, rolled down the hill and floated for miles down the creek more times than I would like to count. The problem is that putting the weight on is easy but taking it off is freaking HARD!!! It is probably one of the hardest things to do. It doesn’t stop there either, than you have to keep it off. Can I express how daunting that is?? The only thing harder is to know that by not doing it I am shortening my life.. day by day, week by week, month by month… I am also hiding myself. It isn’t about the clothes I would like to wear (ok maybe it is a little) its about the fact that how long can a persons body deal with carrying an extra 100+ lbs around and still be able to function. I am not going to put that to the test. I don’t want to find out the answer. SO I am making a promise to myself to change, the same promise I made to myself a year ago. It will take a long time and I might not enjoy the road I have to travel but it will be worth it in the end…. I am taking the first step today by not visiting the candy bowls in the office. Baby steps, all about the baby steps…. Anyone want to take the walk with me? I can use all the help I can get.
