Day Five - Umm, How Did I Get Here?

So, how does one get to the point where they are disqualified from some normal life activities, aka zip lining? I think there is a common misconception that people who are overweight eat their body weight in French fries or some other fried deliciousness, daily. That’s just not the truth—instead it often boils down to a combination of genetics, circumstances, choices and influences—not excuses. I think we all know that “one” person who eats everyone under the table and never has problems managing their weight. Is everyone like that…no. We are all unique creations of God. For me, my journey to where I am now is a combination of age, career path (I sit down all day), lack of time and hunger (like feel it in your soul, hunger). Have I dieted and successfully lost weight? Of course—I’m quite expert at it to be honest. So how did I get here, exactly?

It’s been more years then I will actually cop to, but for the sake of argument, let’s just say my weight loss journey started 11 years ago. Up until then, I had (somewhat) maintained a healthy weight through exercise (I ran like I was preparing for the apocalypse), not diet. I’ve always been hungry, and my only defense against obesity during this time was running daily. And, then the unthinkable happened. My knee started to hurt daily and soon it became unbearable. I found out that because of sports injuries sustained when I was younger, I had developed arthritis and the running I did as an adult had worn the cartilage in my right knee down to dust. After an extensive orthoscopic knee surgery which served to replace some of the cushioning I’d lost through an experimental procedure, my orthopedic specialist advised me never to run again, ever! And that’s when the weight gain came. It’s like I had been running from it (literally) for years and now I couldn’t run anymore.