WAKE UP! GET UP! Do something!

Hello Everyone!  I made it home from Orlando in one piece, despite the GI bug and the lightening storm and the fatigue from 6 amusement parks in 9 days. It was a wonderful trip. The kids had a blast, despite being sick for a few days. We arrived home late Sunday night, early Monday really, around midnight.  The kids had slept on the plane, despite the turbulence, but were still really tired yesterday when time for school. We made it through the day yesterday anyway.

Unfortunately, my allergies are hay-wire and I have a really sore throat. That's ok, I'm making it. But, I have to be careful when I get overly tired as I tend to get sick. That combined with my breathing issues means no workout for a few days for me. Maybe tomorrow if today goes well.

The good news came when I weighed yesterday. I weighed in at exactly what I weighed the week before. Really good news considering the trip and I know I am retaining some water just from the travel. That means that in the next day or two as I shed that extra fluid, I will be down a pound or two. That means I went on vacation for 9 days and didn't gain any weight. In fact, I will likely have lost weight. Really good news. I know in the past I have easily gained 10 pounds on a vacation. This means I have learned something.

I know I wasn't perfect with my eating on the trip. I didn't manage to track everyday, although I tried. But we walked and walked and walked ALL DAY. And I did make some good eating choices. Plus, I just plain cannot eat as much as I did before. That's good news. It is just another testament that what I'm doing is working and I have made true lifestyle changes. It was so nice to be able to get on rides and not worry about fitting or seat belts buckling.

It really was a great time and a great trip. I'll try to find a few pics I can post although most of them are of the kids, naturally.  I am sad to say that I must now have a rant.

It was absolutely unbelievable and frankly disgusting to observe the numbers of people on scooters at every park we visited. Some of these people were morbidly obese. Some of these people were not. The vast majority of these people looked obese and lazy. They didn't seem to have any medical reason to be riding a scooter.  Now I realize that you can't always tell, but it was ridiculous. These people would motor everywhere.  They would park and get on rides and seem to walk just fine. They would motor up to the front of every line. This is bull. If you are too lazy and too obese to walk around the park, you shouldn't be there. The best thing you could do is WALK around. You might find you feel better.

These were not older people with obvious arthritis. Some of these people were younger than me. They were just fat. I found myself getting more and more irritated. What is wrong with our society that it has become so common place for people to be this overweight. I don't think that obese people should be treated badly, but REALLY, riding your scooter into the food line to order a double cheeseburger, fries and a shake is irritating to me. Maybe if you got off the damn scooter and walked a little and ordered, perhaps, a single cheeseburger even, you might be able to MOVE.

I am by no means saying obese people should be judged. I am still fat. But at least I am making an effort to be healthier. I shudder to think what some of these people will look like in 10 years, assuming they live that long. I saw several whole FAMILIES who were obese and all riding scooters, some of them with small children in their laps.  What are they teaching these children? It just plain made me ill to think about.

I am almost afraid that our society has gotten so used to the idea that most people are obese that it is ok now to be obese. Again, I don't think that obese people should be treated unfairly. I don't think making fun of them helps anything. Lord knows I suffered being a fat kid and teenager, and even sometimes as an adult.  BUT, it isn't ok for your health to be obese. It isn't. It will kill you. It will kill me. It will kill my kids if I let it happen to them. Anyone who doesn't think so is fooling themselves.

Can you be fit and fat? Yes. I feel like I am. I walked and sometimes ran all over the place, carrying a huge back pack and sometimes a kid on my shoulders, that's like 60 pounds. No shortness of breath, no trouble at all. But, you are kidding yourself if you think a fit and fat person is as healthy as a fit and normal weight person. Being overweight increases your risk for all sorts of problems from heart disease to diabetes to cancer.  And that is why I am determined to change my health and my weight.

Should you judge someone on their size? NO. But, you can judge them on their actions. Riding a scooter because you are too lazy to walk is embarrassing to all of us fat but fit or fat and trying to be fit people.  It just solidifies the idea that thin people have that fat people are lazy and disgusting and eat all the time. I hate the fact that people look at me still and see obesity. I am obese, but I won't be forever.

I refuse to be this way forever. I will be healthy. I will do something to move toward that goal. Every. Single. Day. I just want to scream at these people, "STOP IT! WAKE UP! You are killing yourself. You are killing your kids. GET UP! Do something!" But, of course I can't.

Instead I'll keep the focus on me. My behaviors. My family. My exercise. My diet and MY GOALS. And maybe by example someone will notice. Maybe they will see it CAN be done and in turn they will get off the damn scooter and move. Are you with me?

Then let's get busy!