On Being Overweight

I've struggled with my weight for many years, and it's been an issue that I've been really ashamed of due to being teased as well as just not feeling good about myself because of how weight is portrayed in society and the media. Being overweight is often portrayed as a moral fault or inability to exert self control, as well as many other things, many of which are even worse. Girls and women are encouraged to be pencil-thin and men are encouraged to be extremely muscular. Rarely are positive images given of people of either sex or age in a variety of body types. For me, a lot of the other bad habits I've picked up has something or another to do with a poor self image from being overweight. I smoked, drank, lazed about watching TV or surfing the internet, while all this just prevented me from doing other things that would have actually helped me lose weight and be able to do more and feel better. One by one, I started taking a look at those habits and addressing them. I gave up smoking. I radically cut down on drinking alcohol. I started exercising. I'm working on improving improving my diet. It has been difficult, but over time the pain started showing benefits. Since my last check up sometime this past summer, I've lost 35 pounds and as of today am back in the normal range for weight at my height and age, at 185 lbs. This is after almost 10 years of being between 200-225 lbs. I feel strong and have a lot of energy. My exercise routine is getting easier. I feel good about accomplishing something that's eluded me for many years, and in the process I am minimizing my risk of heart disease, cancer, and stroke. I am going to try not to take any of the progress for granted by keeping a progress log and behavioral modification plan handy. Those things alone have been very helpful so far. Anyway, this is very personal stuff and I'm sharing it because it may possibly be beneficial to other people who are interested in controlling their weight or finding health benefits from weight loss. Here's the BMI tool that I am using frequently, and in the future I hope to write another post with some more specifics about weight management once I decide that I've reached a plateau with my weight. Any advice that you have to share would be very welcome, and I also just want to write that I hope this is not discouraging to anyone. I've read a lot about how men and women lose weight in very different ways, and I'm sure that there are about a million other factors that go into weight loss as well that I haven't considered. But overall, following the very simplest of advice from the Centers for Disease Control, has done me a lot of good: Eat healthily and exercise regularly (source).

BMI For Adults Widget