Starting a New Tidal Wave

Happy Sunday! I'm off to church in a little while, but not before posting something that I hope will be encouraging to you today :-).

Most of us are aware of the growing obesity trend in the United States, but it's stunning to see how fast obesity has grown (no pun intended) and how bad things have gotten throughout the country. I went to the CDC's website last night and looked at a U.S. map that tracked obesity state by state from 1985 to 2008. If you're interested in seeing this for yourself, here's the link: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html#State. It's pretty sobering to see how bad things have gotten and how quickly it's happened! With the exception of Colorado, at least 20% of every state's population is obese, with obesity defined as a BMI >30 (2008 statistics list 15%-19% of Colorado's population with a BMI >30). Alarmingly, there are six states with 30% of their population in the obese category, and other states are certain to join these six states in the very near future. No surprise, the rate of diabetes has risen in almost direct correlation to the rise in obesity.

The good news is that we are bucking this trend, one person at a time. Every day that we choose to stay on plan, every day that we see the scale drop another pound, we are moving another step away from this epidemic. It's not easy swimming against the tidal wave of obesity sweeping this country, but as we swim against the tide, we are not only changing our own lives, but potentially changing the lives of others around us.

I've written before about the ripple effect our weight loss can have on our family members and friends. Because of my own weight loss of 126 pounds, I watched my husband lose weight (50 pounds!) and get healthy, my son lost 60 pounds, my son-in-law lost 65, my mom lost 40, my dad lost 35, one of my best friends lost 70 - and then HER son and his wife lost weight, then her daughter-in-law's mom lost weight; another friend of mine lost 40 which inspired her husband to lose 70, which encouraged a friend to lose 90 . . . and the stories go on and on!

Wouldn't it be amazing to be part of reversing this obesity epidemic? You can be, starting with your family and friends, who are watching you right now. I've written before about the need for us to be a bit selfish and focus on what we want, and while that's still very true, today I'm encouraging you to think about doing this for others, too. The choices you make today can be the start of a ripple that may spread to those around you, creating your own person tidal wave of health. With that in mind, choose wisely :-)