Acknowlegements of an overweight human male

(Or, in non-PC terms: Confessions of a fat man)
How I got here:
I used to be thin, almost underweight. I walked and rode my bicycle everywhere when I lived in Japan. I even got off the train one stop early and walked to my destination, not to lose weight, but to save a little money. I ate what and when I wanted because I thought I would always be thin. It was the way I was. Becoming overweight never entered my mind. Things changed when I started graduate school in 1992. I drove to school to save time, I was at my desk constantly, and I often ate junk food to obtain direct and immediate brain fuel. With the reduced physical activity and higher caloric intake, I immediately began to pack on the pounds. I didn't notice it at first because I was not in the habit of weighing myself. However, when I couldn't fit into my clothes, I started taking notice, but the pressures of school and work were of higher priority. My weight gain has been a one way street except for one summer when I lost 25 lbs. by exercising and dieting. Other than that episode, I have acted like a bystander watching my weight skyrocket ever higher. Work and family duties always took precedence over health issues. The past two years I have begun to feel awful. My joints hurt, my feet hurt, I discovered that I could not run between classes without considerable pain, and I was irritable and not sleeping well. The cost of buying new clothes was no small matter either. It was becoming abundantly clear to me that I was going full speed down the wrong path. I wanted to be around as long as possible to care for my family and Robin especially. It finally realized that my health IS one of my family duties. In fact, it is a high-priority obligation. So I made the decision to turn away extra translation work and to delegate more responsibility to my teaching assistants at BYU in order to have more time to exercise and concentrate on health issues. In my next post, I will describe where I am right now in my quest to lose weight.