Day 28: Serving as a warning (example) to others

"It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others." Comedian Steven Wright

I've noticed that since I quit smoking (1 year and 5 months ago) I don't like the smell of cigarette smoke. I find myself thinking when I smell a smoker, "Yuck, I used to smell like that, too!" Just the putrid stench that was in my hair and clothes and on my breath should have been enough to make me want to quit smoking, but I didn't quit. It took developing some breathing issues to make me actually say, "Enough is enough."

I didn't become an "addicted" smoker overnight. It was a gradual process over the course of several months. I would sneak a cigarette now and then, maybe a couple of times a day. I told myself I could "stop smoking" whenever I wanted to. When I was smoking 2-6 packs a day I still told myself this lie. I couldn't just quit whenever I wanted to anymore. I was addicted.

I didn't become overweight overnight, either. It was a gradual process over the course of several years. I didn't necessarily sneak food, it was more that I continued eating the same amount of food, but got far less physical activity.

When I was in college I weighed around 160 for the four years I was in school. In college I was involved in track and field and we worked out hard. After college, I had a job as a housekeeper in a group home and I worked hard. I was able to keep eating the same amounts I had in college and didn't gain weight.

About a year later I was promoted to a job that didn't require the intense physical work. I still kept eating the same.

In another year, another promotion led to even more sitting and less movement.

After a third promotion in as many years, I finally saw that I was getting fat. (I am using the "f" word because, let's face it, I was "f"at!)

Well by this time I was around 237 or 247... I had been in denial, I guess. Just like with cigarettes and smoking, becoming overweight had kind of snuck up on me. I didn't notice I was gaining weight. Oh sure I had to buy bigger clothes, but didn't everyone have to do that as they got older?

I had a brief time of weight loss when I moved back to Clarissa, but it was short-lived and last year I was up to my max weight of 276.

I still have a long way to go. I am sure several of us do. I read the other day that over 2/3rds of the nation is overweight. That is a lot of people.

I want to serve as an example (warning) to people that over-eating makes you fat. But I also want to serve as an example of hard work and perseverance paying off in weight loss.

Remember to be good to yourself and to others!

Karin