Weight for me! Weight for me! Weight for me!

Yes, weight for me! Weight has been a big (pun intended) issue most of my life. When I was young, my mom called me "thunder thighs" because they were large. It wasn't until I was a freshman in college that I realized the thunder was actually muscle! You ask, "how in the world could you not have known that your thighs were muscular?" Easy. In a world that measures beauty in a pencil-thin mold, my thighs didn't fit. And while I know now that they didn't fit because they weren't supposed to, as a teenager already insecure because the inability to see clearly required me to wear "coke bottle" glasses and my front teeth were on par with Bugs Bunny's, it didn't matter that my thighs weren't supposed to be like pencil-thin models' were.

So I finally got a grip and began to understand more about my own body type, which helped me understand that being 5'5" and 150-155 pounds is actually ideal for me. For me, carrying that amount of weight means I'm about a size 10. And I feel tremendous! And for me, that's perfect!

Well, I'm 15 pounds over that range right now. And I feel like crap, actually. It's not like I don't know what to do. I've been in my ideal range - several times, actually. So now I'm back up. I can't keep doing this. I'm 42 years old. My cholesterol is high. I contracted gestational diabetes when I was pregnant, and my father is a Type-2 diabetic, so my risk for developing Type-2 diabetes is high. Those are great reasons to begin TODAY to do something about my health, which will take care of my weight.

I have two other reasons, though, for getting my health in order - my husband and my daughter. My husband is an avid worker-outer. He's not excessive by any means; he tries to do something everyday. My daughter sees him doing push-ups, crunches, squats - and she imitates him. She can do more crunches than I can! And everytime I watch them (while I'm sitting on the couch) I feel guilty.

Well, clearly, no wisdom is being exercised here! That goes completely against what my mission is - to acquire and practice wisdom! So here's a challenge to myself. For me, my husband, and my daughter, I am setting a goal to lose 15 pounds by March 31, 2007. There. It's out there for all to see.

I'll provide weekly updates on Mondays to let y'all know how I'm doing. Wisdom is crying out to me, saying, "Take care of yourself!" I am making a commitment to do so.