A Healthy State of Mind

Yesterday I wrote about the difficulty of losing weight after 40. Not only does my genetic make-up conspire against me in the battle of the bulge, but I also live in Wisconsin. The food pyramid here has a base of fried cheese curds, layered with brats and beer, topped by the Friday night fish fry. Sure, you could have the fish broiled and substitute a baked potato for the fries. But if you're going to ruin it that way, you might as well stay home and gnaw on a chunk of tofu.
Living in Rhinelander will also make dieting harder. Usually, fitting into summer clothes is an added incentive to shed some pounds. But here, I'll probably have two weeks of shorts weather and then it will be winter again. I'll need that extra flab to keep warm.
Fred and I are not each other's best support group when it comes to losing weight. I love to bake, and he complains that I'm sabotaging his diet. "We don't need that stuff around here! And don't buy ice cream, either!" A couple nights later while watching TV, he'll ask, "Do we have any ice cream?" I've lived by two misguided credos: Food is Love, and Always Clean Your Plate. I know in my head that the first isn't true and the second isn't necessary, but habits of a lifetime are so hard to change.
Ok, yes, I'm making excuses. After doing a little research at calorielab.com, I learned that in 2007 Wisconsin ranked 22 in the U.S. for overweight people--which is actually down 4 spots from the year before. 62.3% of us Badgers are overweight or obese!!! WOW--though if you've ever gone to a Dells waterpark in the summer, that number probably doesn't surprise you. The fattest state is Mississippi (let's see what Brett Favre looks like in a couple years!) and Colorado has the thinnest citizens--probably from all that mountain climbing and pushing vehicles out of snowbanks. Does it really matter where you live? I think being slim is a state of mind, and until you hit bottom with a loud thud and leave a big-butt-sized crater, nothing will change.
I seem to have struck a chord with my readers when I mentioned wanting to do a 5K yesterday. Both here and on Facebook I have received encouragement and suggestions to make it a reality, not just a vague goal in the far-off future. Thanks, everybody! I have to keep reminding myself that making changes starts with small, steady steps--they don't happen overnight. So today I will start by not eating any sweets--and I'll research upcoming 5Ks in this area. Stay tuned...