Because it must be done...

Enough is enough already. It's time to face up to the music. The fat lady has sung and she is currently choking on a Twinkie. It must be done. I've known it for years, and I'm doing something starting Monday. Why Monday? Because it gives me the entire week to get my azz in gear. Who starts weight-loss on a Friday? I'd fall right off my schedule if I did. So what am I talking about? I'm talking about the great big elephant in the room, the huge cloud hanging over my head, the monkey on my back. I'm talking about this extra weight I'm carrying. I'm only twenty-three and I'm introverted as all get out. A fun day for me would be sitting on my bottom reading great books or chatting with friends on the web. I've been overweight since I was fourteen or so. It hasn't caused me any problems,yet, which I think God for. I don't breathe heavy, I don't have sleep apnea, I can run faster than most skinny people, I don't have asthma or high blood pressure, I walk fast as hell, can run up stairs without being winded--I guess you can call me a 'functioning fat person'.

And by the way, isn't that a cruel word? A hurtful, confidence-crushing assault on the senses? If someone calls me fat(and that rarely has happened) my confidence level goes to zero in no time flat. I like to think I'm a very confident person, but I'm also very aware of what and who I am. I am fat, or plump, or overweight. Most of my weight is carried in my bum and my hips, which are very curvy. I know that more time than not its the 'truth' that hurts. Call a skinny person fat any day of the week and they'll laugh it off and call you crazy. Call a heavyset person fat and they'll get pissed. The truth hurts. I've always advised people that if they don't like something then change it, but I'm failing to do the same thing for myself.

I don't want to lose weight because people say I need to. Quite frankly, almost no one says I need to. They are very polite. Plus, obesity is so prominent in the U.S. almost everyone will be overweight at one time or another. So, there is no room to talk. I'm losing weight because my cousin took a picture of me while I wasn't looking. It was a picture of me walking away, and I looked like that lady that I said I'd never get as big as. I looked like that woman whose clothes couldn't hide the fact that she had a big belly and wide hips. I looked like that woman who was in danger of getting heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. I looked like that woman that didn't care enough to get in shape. I don't want to be that woman anymore.

High-blood pressure runs in my family. My grandfather has had two heart-attacks and two strokes. My great uncle, two great aunts, and a cousin all died of heart attacks. Yet, most of my people live long lives. My Gram and Gramp's on my father's side are in the late seventies. My great aunt in her late eighties and so on, but my grandmother still suffers complications from being overweight. The cartilage in her knees have been worn away from being too heavy. I don't want that for me. I don't want that for my children.

I know this will be a long and hard road. I know this as well as the next overweight person. I'm not in denial of who I am. I know being inactive is a large part of why I am where I am today. I know that my love of bread and potatoes, and fast food has done me in. I'm not the type of person to eat huge amounts, but its what I eat that has brought me here today. Besides that, I'm aware my metabolism is slow. I have to compensate for that. I have to change my lifestyle.

So here it is folks. Sage has got to do something 'before' the troubles begin. I'm not usually one to put my personal stuff out there for the world to see, but it was important to me to write this. I know I'm not the only one who struggles with weight issues. You don't have to look far here in the USA to see that you are not alone. I just wanted to share my story, perhaps it will touch something in someone who reads this. Perhaps it will be the spark that sets fire to that wick of determination. We don't have to be skinny, we don't even have to desire a model figure, but we can be better.

We can do better. Lose weight for yourself. I'm losing weight, personally, because it must to be done...