My Love of the Stage and My Fear it will collapse under MY WEIGHT!

Eye-catching title, huh?  I'm quite proud of it.*  Blog entries should always have a strong title.  That being said, there is more to my selection than a jovial attempt to lure you to my "online, digital stage."  It's a statement about me and what this entry and future entries will be about.

So, let's get to it shall we?

I'm heavy... and not in a "Back to the Future" kind of way.  No, I'm heavy... as in obese.  

It's actually an embarrassing admission.  I've never really stated it so bluntly... and meant it.  Oh, I've made plenty of "fat" jokes about myself, but I've never focused on the fact that I am indeed "massive."

My healthy dose of reality came, oddly enough, while I was sick.

My daughter and I caught an awful bug recently and both ended up at the doctor's office.  We had to go through the usual pre-screening.  That meant a check of the pulse, blood pressure, temperature, height and, of course, weight.

I've always hated weigh-ins.  Most big people do.  It's just another reminder that we're engaged in a "Battle of the Bulge" and we're losing miserably.  Speaking for myself, I tip the scales.  Seriously, they have to add a small weight to the "torture device" in order to get an accurate reading.  It's nerve-racking.  On occasion, I've tried to get out of them no success.

This latest visit was no different.  The nurse asked me to step onto the scale.  The reading was, in a word, mortifying.

394.

I couldn't believe it.  I almost asked the nurse to try again.  In my mind, I said to myself, "There's no way.  There's no way I'm that fat.  I don't look that heavy."

After a small wait, the doctor came in.  He diagnosed us, prescribed medicine and sent us on our way.  But not without requiring me to come back in a couple of months for blood work.**

I knew three things when I left the doctor's office that day.

1.  I am morbidly obese.

2.  I will NEVER see the number 394 when I step onto a scale again.  I WILL lose weight and CHANGE my life.

3.  I WILL DO IT for these people:

COMING UP NEXT TIME:  What I'm doing to win the "Battle of the Bulge" and my progress so far.

*If you are proud of something, own it.  Never shy away from that.  Just remember, there is a fine line between pride and bragging.

**I've been on blood pressure and cholesterol meds for 12 years.  A massive heart attack killed my father when he was just 44.  Eight months later, I was put on the meds for preventative reasons.