March 25, 2011

Health

A friend of ours is on the waiting list for a new heart. In order to qualify she needs to get her BMI in line and her diabetes under control.

A young man I know has a pace maker due to a congenital heart defect. He fell over dead around the age of 14 while playing in a basketball game and was revived.

So indulging in the child's game of "what if" I ponder: Lets say you are the heart czar and you have one available and these are the two choices?

There is a lot of talk about the obesity epidemic and some suggest the food police enforce gastronomic law. If Orwell wrote about this, you could see some federal database logging your every food purchase with a wary eye, weekly weigh in's to ensure your not exceeding the weight cap and trade...

On the P.C. side of things you are not to use the word "fat" nor to blame the individual. It is the fast food empire, the junk food empire the video game empire, the uneducated parents etc. Point that blame finger!

If only the government would start the war on obesity! Ugh...

The other day someone at work asked me about my motivation for loosing weight. I drew a blank, other then I was tired of being fat. This was a canned answer that made me realize I never really had a reason other then my wife wanted me too.

Now that I am down the 80 something pounds, riding a bike 50 miles a week and running. I enjoy the fitness level I am at, still the motivation question caught me off guard. It is easy to see the benefits and state that was the motivation after the fact. Still it is not really honest.

I know how to eat right, and stay in shape. It works for me and I have no lack of motivation for maintaining. This makes me a bit jaundiced towards anyone who does not. I guess I should be sympathetic, having been there.

Weight loss has made many people rich. It has employed lots of people as well. There is a huge fitness industry. Being the right weight and fit has many health benefits that would help our health care dollar nationally.

So where does the motivation come from, if I cannot fathom where mine came from?

4 comments:

flyingvan said...

If you allow employers to discriminate against fat and stop all government food programs the problem would be self limiting

Tina said...

A lot of people need a "scare" like a heart attack to become motivated.

I was just really tired of my reflection. I knew I could do better, but the progress was so slow, it was easy to put it off until later. That's why the support group helps me so much. I always knew I could do it, but after a week, I'd get discouraged.

I'm never going to be skinny, but I am healthy. That works for me.

I think you were motivated a lot by someone you knew back when you were both young & thin (but didn't care), that had also become heavy. When you saw what he'd accomplished and how he did it, it made sense to you, and he was encouraging you along as well. Now that you're at that better weight (as he is) you are both enjoying the benefits & don't want to go back to where you were.

Whatever works for you :)

flyingvan said...

I was thinking about your doctor's unwillingness to declare you are not a diabetic. If he does a fasting c-peptide/proinsulin study, those numbers will definitively demonstrate one way or the other

Tina said...

Yeah - he already told Lee "on paper, you're not a diabetic." !?!?

Yet, he can't give US a paper that says THAT for our life insurance.

:/