It was a photograph a few years ago that made me realize I couldn’t be the size of a house any more, as my father might have put it. I was 106kg at the time. I did NOT look good. I did not feel good either. I did not have a healthy relationship with my body or food.
Photographs have a power to show us our reality if we are willing to look closer. The picture above hides my weight but I’d have been about 104kgs at the time. My hands are hiding the weight around my waist. I hope @Atles doesn’t mind my sharing his picture, it’s much more flattering than the one I had planned to show.
Prime candidate for metabolic syndrome, right? Yep. Pre-hypertension: already yes. After looking at my poor mother’s autopsy a couple of years ago, it only confirmed me that I needed to make radical changes to reduce my risk of a heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure (probably due to diabetes).
My lifestyle change is not about wearing nicer, more comfortable (to me) clothes, it’s not about gender norms (though I play with the apparent norms), it’s not even about ‘looking slim’ (though some people say I am) … it’s about improving the quality of my life! It can be done! Even if you’re as old as I am.
But radical change cannot be made overnight… so I started small. Small, beneficial, repeatable actions that aggregate to much bigger changes. I also give thanks that I have time to change things up.
And I never give up
Never. Even if I fail. Even if I put on 2kgs. I never give up. Never. Even if I fall off my bike and can’t ride for several weeks. I never give up. Never. I will not give up until I accomplish my goal of setting my BMI to 24.5 again or lower. It might take a couple more years. I never give up. Never.