Yeah, I said it: Fat.
I actually remember the first time anyone noticed that I was putting on weight. It was about 15 years or so ago. I was shirtless in my mom's house and my brother Scott was there as well. My mom said I was getting a little "pudgy." I got defensive, probably overreacted, and it was instantly an awkward moment. I don't think I can recall my mom ever saying anything like that again unless it was a topic I brought up and honestly, I don't think she's ever uttered the words:
Chris, you are fat.
Chris, you are fat.
Because who does, really? In our culture, this is one of the taboo subjects. We have found a lot of nice ways to say we are fat, because no one wants to utter the "f" word.
- I'm struggling with my weight.
- I'm not as in shape as I used to be.
- You know Jane, she's the heavyset one?
- I've been exercising lately because I want to get healthy.
Consider this story about a school board president being forced to resign over calling a mom "chubby" and "fatter each meeting". Note in the story, the comparison that calling someone "fat" is the same as a racist comment.
But the truth is, many of us are fat, and depending on how you measure these things, more than a third of us are obese.
I remember the first time I started eating poorly. Actually, I don't. I was four months old. My mother started giving me formula and a short time later, she gave me rice cereal (in my formula). Currently, the most basic nutritional information on Gerber Rice Cereal paints what seems to be a pretty picture of vitamins and minerals. But realize that even today it has 2 grams of sugar per fourth a cup. Formula today has healthy sounding names, but is loaded with things that baby does not need. The common problem between both of these early foods, especially when I was born (1975) is that they are full of sugar. And at less than one year old, I was hooked.
Now I'm no nutritionist, but I can read and I can listen and I can understand what I'm being taught about sugar today. And looking back, I realize that my sweet mother fell into a trap most parents fall into: feed your kids what you can afford, what you have time for, and what everyone else is feeding their kids. Here's a list of things I remember eating as a kid, which really didn't change until my 30s, when I met my wife (while my home diet improved a little, my out of the house, independent diet remained awful and actually got worse):
I remember the first time I started eating poorly. Actually, I don't. I was four months old. My mother started giving me formula and a short time later, she gave me rice cereal (in my formula). Currently, the most basic nutritional information on Gerber Rice Cereal paints what seems to be a pretty picture of vitamins and minerals. But realize that even today it has 2 grams of sugar per fourth a cup. Formula today has healthy sounding names, but is loaded with things that baby does not need. The common problem between both of these early foods, especially when I was born (1975) is that they are full of sugar. And at less than one year old, I was hooked.
Now I'm no nutritionist, but I can read and I can listen and I can understand what I'm being taught about sugar today. And looking back, I realize that my sweet mother fell into a trap most parents fall into: feed your kids what you can afford, what you have time for, and what everyone else is feeding their kids. Here's a list of things I remember eating as a kid, which really didn't change until my 30s, when I met my wife (while my home diet improved a little, my out of the house, independent diet remained awful and actually got worse):
- Coco Puffs
- Fruit Loops
- Corn Puffs
- Lucky Charms
- Pretty much every cartoon character cereal out there
- Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches on white bread
- Pizza (and by the time I was a pre-teen or teenager, I could eat a large pizza by myself at one sitting)
- Ice cream of every flavor
- Fast food from every place
- Casseroles full of white pasta with canned sauces full of sugar
- White rice at most meals that had steak or chicken
- Brownies
- Cookies
- Some fruit (but a lot of fruit in a can "fruit cocktail" it was called)
- Some vegetables (every salad I had had dressings full of sugar)
- And so on
This list is but a small example of the sugar based foods I was eating at an early age. And my mom knew no better. During my early years, she was bombarded with a dietary message that taught her not to feed me fat. So she went out and bought me yellow chemicals called "Country Crock" and later on "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter". She thought she was acing the mom test when she said "only two scoops of ice cream and that's if you finish your pizza". She didn't know the dough was full of sugar. She often made me eat my whole "Happy Meal" before I could get my ice cream cone, not realizing that the cheeseburger itself was full of sugar (even in 2010 it had 7 grams of sugar, plus check out the graphic below with the sugar content of a full Happy Meal. What's so happy about that?).
Recently, I began a weight loss challenge with my wife. I had a moment, an epiphany, if you will. I honestly don't remember what ignited the idea. It could have been a glance in the mirror. I tried playing basketball and I could barely get up and down the court. I got winded playing with my kids. I don't know what it was. But I had a moment, and I looked in the mirror and I realized, "I'm fat."
And so I began a journey of losing weight. A normal guy, with no real knowledge of health and nutrition, and no great experience with health and fitness.
It's been approximately sixty days and I'm down over 20 pounds.
I have many pounds to go. I'm going to document some of my challenges and successes and teach what I've learned and have yet to learn. But consider this your first lesson as it was mine: Added Sugar is killing you. It is a poison.
I will dedicate an entire blog post to this (and probably many more). You can start learning more by watching this video.
I hope that some other fat people find this motivating. I think that would be a great reward to me. But not the greatest. No, the greatest reward is my own health. It's there, off in the distance. It is a long road, but one worth traveling.
