"Heavy" Thoughts

A lot has been written in the past years about he "obesity epidemic" that seems to be sweeping our nation. About a month ago a number of us at work decided to do a "Biggest Loser" challenge among us. I then started to pay attention (again) to calories. This time with a little more seriousness.

I realized that since I am reaching that magic age of 65 this summer, it is probably a good idea to really pay attention to my weight. It only gets harder and harder to get rid of once it's on. I have lost weight in the past and then, within a six- to nine-month period, it's back. About a month ago I reached the heaviest I have ever been. (Nope. Not gonna tell ya.)

So I started watching my weight. I am using a software from an old friend called "DietPower" (Link). I started paying attention to what things have what calories, etc. Overall, my daily intake has been okay to handle. But over the last 8 - 10 days we had a holiday when we ate out a little more than we should and I started to look up nutrition information online for the restaurants we were visiting- none of which were the real "Fast-Food" places.

One meal- one entree(!)- at some of them would be 80% of my daily caloric allotment!! Some breakfast items could be 105%! I started looking around some more and I kept finding the same thing. Huge caloric content! I didn't even look at things like fat and sodium.

McDonald's and the fast-food places have taken a big hit from nutritionists- probably well-deserved. But the problem may not be those places. The problem I have a fear is in our eating habits- namely eating out on a far more regular basis. When I was a kid we ate out only at special times. A regular meal at a restaurant? Very seldom. Today, people are not eating at home as much. And even excellent quality restaurants with good quality food are probably serving too much food with too many calories.

Scary.

I know there are a lot of other things involved in this obesity epidemic. It is not healthy, I have no doubt. All i can do is try to lose the weight and watch what I eat.

Maybe I can win and become the biggest loser at work! But I won't be able to celebrate with an over-stuffed, over-calorie-filled meal. Not if I want to keep it off this time!