Give Yourself A Kiss

A Hershey's Kiss that is.  And it's so thoughtful of the good people from Hershey, Pennsylvania to wrap the little delicacies in just-right-for-the-season colors of metallic red and green.  Thoughtful, because now a Hershey's Kiss is just an arm-length away, thanks to merchants, grandmas and executive assistants placing them in candy bowls as Holiday decoration.

So how does this make fatness simple?  Simple:  it's called "mindless eating".  The Hershey's website says 9 pieces (9 "Kisses"--doesn't that sound nicer?) contain 230 calories.  Not terrible really. But not a ton of nutrition either and lots of calories from fat.  And since bowls of candy, plates of cookies and trays of fudge are everywhere from Thanksgiving through Christmas, mindless eating can turn into serious weight gain.  Considering the Halloween treats were just finished up by mid-November (aren't the orange and black M&M's adorable?), we're tempted by "seasonal candy" for what amounts to the last quarter of the year.  And then on January 2, the Valentines treats come out...then the marshmallow Peeps...ah, the circle of life. 

FATNESS MADE SIMPLE RULE:  Don't think. Just eat.  

THINNESS MADE SIMPLE COROLLARY:  Just think. Don't eat.

BMI? TMI.

I haven't always had this middle-age spread.  In fact, there was a time when I was sort of a fitness nut and I really enjoyed working out.  But over the last few years, I've slowly but surely gained weight and started moving less and feeling not-so-well.  The good news is that I haven't developed any of the weight-related afflictions like diabetes, high cholesterol and the like.  But I'm certainly not feeling or looking the way I'd like to look and so I'm going to do something about it--drawing upon my own knowledge of weight management which comes from a lifetime of interest in the subject.  I've read a lot of books, tried a lot of programs, etc., and yet, here I am, fat.  

The Fat Rule is simple:  (calories in)-(calories out)=weight management.  Eat more calories than you expend, you gain weight.  Use more calories than you eat, you lose weight.  Simple.

But somehow still, I am fat.  So, I'm going to use this blog as my platform for uncovering and addressing ways that my own actions reflect a belief that the rule doesn't apply to me.  My hope is that by sharing how I got fat, others will learn from it and control their weight in the process.

I'm not trying to be ironic.  I'm trying to point out the myriad ways we all undermine our goals of living a fit, healthy life in little ways every day.