Two Missing Linebackers Is Enough

I have struggled with being overweight most of my adult life. During my childhood I never had problems with weight. I was a very active kid; could eat anything I wanted; and never thought about the subject. I don’t think my family owned a bathroom scale and, except for a couple of institutional weigh-ins, I don’t recall even knowing how much I weighed until I got out of college. It was a non-issue for over 25 years.

I failed to see the danger lurking in the above paragraph – the fact that I thought I “could eat anything I wanted” and the fact that I had gotten away with anything I wanted because of continual physical activity. I eventually learned that the seeds of my problems in adulthood were sown and nurtured in childhood and adolescence.

In high school it was common for me to go to a Mexican restaurant and order “three deuces”- two tacos, two enchiladas, and two tostadas (back in the old days a tostada was a flat, grilled tortilla covered with refried beans, cheese, lettuce and tomato). It wasn’t unusual to add a fourth deuce – two slices of the cheese quesadilla that family or friends ordered as an appetizer. There were also the obligatory chips and salsa, and it all got washed down with fully-leaded Coke. No one ever suggested that I ate like a pig. I was told that I ate like a horse; and horses are good, honorable, hard-working, fast-running animals.

Because I was active, I burned the calories. When I was in grade school and junior high, essentially all of my recreation was outside – biking, hiking, all kinds of sports, and running around playing the proverbial backyard versions of “war” and “cowboys and Indians”. In high school, the balance shifted to include more indoor “activities” but there was still a good deal of outdoor recreation. There was also hard work on the family ranch on weekends and during the summer. I was, indeed, a good, honorable, hard-working, fast-running animal.

I entered college tall and slender, still eating whatever I wanted to eat. We would go to an Artic Circle in Salt Lake City and get four hamburgers, fries, their world-famous fry sauce, and a large Coke for less than a buck fifty, and never give it a second thought. And, there was beer, and more beer, and then a little more beer – again, no thought. If I suffered from such indulgence, then basic infantry training at Fort Ord returned me to my lean, mean, fighting-machine status, the best physical condition I’ve ever achieved. But, as an Army Reservist that condition was too short-lived. The balance was eventually lost and the scales began to tip, though it didn’t really register until I got out of law school and began fulltime work. Somewhere around 28 or 29, I realized I had a problem and that problem weighed about 30 pounds, at that time.

Because I entered the Navy after law school and weight monitoring is constant in the military, I jumped on that problem fairly quickly – but on only one end of the equation. I ratcheted up the physical activity by playing competitive tennis, both singles and doubles, in the heat and humidity of the Philippines. Problem solved. I kept active on the courts until I got out of the service. When I went into private practice and became very involved in church leadership in my early 30s, any pretense of balanced eating and physical activity was abandoned. Before long, the problem I carried no longer weighed only 30 pounds.

For the last 25 years I’ve been at war with myself on this issue, a war in which I’ve won and lost many, many battles. In that period the scales have teetered and tottered in wild oscillations – covering a range of 115 pounds. Nope, that’s not a typo. Over the span of those years I’ve lost the equivalent of two NFL linebackers, over 500 pounds, maybe well over. Nope, that’s not a typo, either. As is usually the case, I regained almost the same amount in varying chunks at various times.

It’s been a bloody war; there have been many self-inflicted wounds; there are scars; there have been recurring bouts of post-traumatic stress. Through it all, it never occurred to me that I should stop fighting the war. It never occurred to me that I should surrender to myself or that I should negotiate peace with honor.

Battle fatigue has finally made the old war horse tired and ready for green and peaceful pastures. So – I’ve signed a peace treaty between me and myself. This pact calls for the most basic solution – a new lifestyle, one that attempts to reestablish a natural balance. No diets; no exercise “programs”; no weight-loss “plans” – just a new approach to food and physical activity for the next 30+ years. My goal is to live long enough to have lived more adult years without this weighty problem than I’ve lived with it. That’s an odd form of “balance,” I suppose; but it works for me.

So, I leave my former battlefield to much younger men and women. Sadly, it appears that there is a large and growing army marching relentlessly onto that battlefield. I hurt for them; there will be many casualties; some will not survive.

I say that, and have written this post because I read a report on childhood obesity recently released by the GAO. It concludes that over 18% of the children and adolescents in the U.S. are obese, and that number will rise to 20% by 2010. We’re already spending almost a billion dollars a year in healthcare for children diagnosed as obese. The report finds that our kids are violating the fundamental law of energy balance – they’re consuming more calories than they’re burning – because their level of physical activity has fallen dramatically. People of my generation probably don’t need the GAO to tell us that fact about today’s generation. We can see it all around us.

The report finds that there is a correlation between low childhood physical activity and low socioeconomic status. There is an obvious correlation between activity level and the amount of sedentary behavior – i.e., watching TV, playing video games and using a PC. Adolescents in older suburban areas are more physically active; adolescents in unsafe neighborhoods are less active. Infrastructure factors, like the presence of streetlights, help determine whether children walk or ride a bike to school or get driven. Areas with high minority populations have fewer venues for physical activity (e.g., pools, parks, ball fields, basketball courts, and other sports areas). There are a lot of factors at play in this growing problem.

The bottom line is that the energy balance has to be restored – kids must consume less and burn more. Increasing physical activity and developing a commitment to a lifetime of activity is the single most important step in preventing and combating obesity in children and adolescents. It works for adults, too.

I’ve never publicly disclosed my “numbers”, as I did above. Those aren’t numbers to flaunt. Before this posting there were only a handful of people with whom I’ve discussed them. One benefit to going public is to increase the accountability level. It’s easier to fail in private; it’s harder when it’s public. But accountability isn’t enough of an incentive for me to discuss a personal issue, especially a fairly difficult one, in a venue like this. I can get my wife or a wellness coach to help with accountability.

I’m doing it because I’m the father of five, the stepfather of one and, as of the day after tomorrow, the grandfather of nine. I don’t want those 15 people and other grandkids that may follow to live the kind of imbalanced life that has produced those numbers. Those numbers don’t deserve to see the light of day unless a lifestyle change eventually makes them meaningful in the context of a “good lesson well learned”. Of course, as my dad used to say, “If we serve no other purpose we can always serve as a bad example.”

I’m taking a risk that my commitment to a lifestyle change will take root; will be sustained and become ingrained; and will produce results that makes the old numbers part of a meaningful lesson for others. We’ll see. I may eat these words, along with some quesadilla, chips and salsa.

I’m mostly concerned for my grandchildren because, statistically, at least in the U.S., two or three of them will become obese, while others may just become overweight. No one who has been in a war of any kind wants their loved ones to go through the same experience. War may be necessary from time to time, but it’s no way to live day to day. Fortunately, none of my grandkids exhibit this tendency so far. Perhaps their parents have learned something from their grandfather’s bad example. Maybe all 15+ can yet learn something from his good example.

So, to all within the reach of this posting – maintain a steady energy balance by eating less; eating healthy; and staying physically active throughout your life. Doing so will help lead you to green and peaceful pastures.


(Note: a Blogspot.com problem caused yesterday’s post to be delayed. It didn’t get posted until this morning.)