According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention,

More than one third of U.S. adults—more than 72 million—people and 17% of U.S. children are obese. From 1980 through 2008, obesity rates for adults have doubled and rates for children have tripled. During the past several decades, obesity rates for all groups in society regardless of age, sex, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education level, or geographic region have increased markedly.

Pretty scary, huh?  But, really, no surprise.

Just walk down any street, any shopping mall, your church, school or community gathering place and you will see puh-lenty of fat people.  You might even see me.

Really Fat

You see, I’m not just your everyday, run-of-the mill, need-to-lose-a-few-pounds overweight person.  I’m what some medical professionals and most insurance companies would call morbidly obese.  That means I’m at least 100 LBS over the weight those cute charts say I should be for my height. That’s a lot of weight.

The really sad part of it is that I never used to be this heavy.  Yeah.  I was always a little chubby. A little stocky.  There were times I was really starting to put some poundage on but I was able to put a stop to it through hypnosis or Diet-to-Go or Weight Watchers or some such thing.  Now, nothing seems to work.

I start exercising in fits and starts.  I try to eat fruits and vegetables in fits and starts.  I try drinking lots of water in fits and starts.  And, then I drop back into the old habits of eating junk and eating too much of it.

My Responsibilty

I don’t think it’s a matter of pure will power.  It’s probably a matter of being too lazy to learn how to cook and having a wife who doesn’t like to cook (not that I should depend on “the wife” to cook).  It’s easy to go out to the local sub place or Panera Bread or Chinese buffet.

I like to hear that I may be genetically predisposed to being fat.  Or that I’m just too middle class. Or, my favorite, that fat is contagious because my friends happen to be fat (but not nearly as fat as me which would make me the contagion).

Yes.  I know the secret formula – eat less and exercise more.  5 words that are the foolproof method to lose weight. So, why can’t I put it into practice?

Here’s a related piece from Marketplace about why healthy eating costs more – Transcript and audio