By J.B.-

At my work, one of our print vendors brought in doughnuts for us to enjoy today. That’s hard for me, because I really love doughnuts. I have an unnatural love affair with doughnuts when it comes down to it really. Anyway, I went to the kitchen, cut off a piece of doughnut and began walking away. One of my co-workers looked at me and said, “That is why you are so thin.” I laughed, and went back to my desk. I spent the rest of the day smiling, and thinking of the person I was one year ago. I topped the scales at 305 pounds. That was 117 pounds ago.

I never thought of myself as fat, or overweight. I would stand in front of the mirror at the right angle, sucking in my gut lying to myself, and who I was. It’s only now when I look at old pictures of myself that I realize the delusion I was living with.

People often share their sympathies with me as they imagine how hard it must have been denying myself sugar smothered goodies and carb filled treats. They quickly get a little irked when I tell them how easy it was for me. Sure, there were times I wanted that extra-large piece of cake in a bowl of milk, chased by a few Oreo cookies (a regular snack of mine,) but for the most part, keeping sugar away from my mouth was easy. I just had to find out the reason I ate.

Around the world, you will find people who eat to survive. If they are lucky, they will have some extra food to share with friends and family. I was well past that point. I ate to survive, but I also ate when I was bored. I found myself bored quite a bit since my nightly activity included television and the couch. And no, excessive TV does not fight boredom, it breeds it.

Once I figured this out, I was able to make changes in my life. I found other things to do to occupy my time, which turned into a love of running, which in turn helps me in my long term goals of personal fitness.

Everybody has different reasons to eat. For some, it is an escape from pain, and for others it might be a lifelong habit formed as a child. Regardless of what that reason is, that is what must be solved in order to fight the fat. Imagine a doctor who prescribes pain-killers to solve the issue of a broken arm. While the pain goes away for a while, ultimately the arm is still broken.

So my message to the reader today is this. Sit down, and figure out why you eat. Be brutally honest with yourself, and give it some honest time and thought. Once you figure your reasons out, begin to solve those first. That may be hard. I was very fortunate in the fact that my reason for eating was laziness, and my addiction to television. Yours might be hard, and may require more help than you can give yourself. Don’t let this stop you, push on, and find that help. Remember, it’s all about small steps and determination. While weight loss is nice, it should not be the goal. Weight loss is a symptom of living a healthy lifestyle.

I hope to continue to share weekly messages on my wife’s blog detailing my continued journey to healthiness. I plan on sharing tips, stories and a few of my failures. So sign up, subscribe, invite friends, and hopefully my little story can inspire someone else to change their lifestyle.