I feel terrific with 31 pounds gone! I am amazed at how much better I feel with this weight gone. I have a LONG ways to go, however. I have to admit, my first reason for wanting to lose weight is just sheer vanity. I want normal sized clothes. I want to look the best I can.

But secondly, I have real health concerns. All through my twenties and thirties my weight did not affect me a great deal. But at 46, I am noticing it a lot more.

I had a sobering phone call from my 25 year old daughter yesterday. She is a CNA in a nursing home with over 200 patients. She was telling me how they still have a lot of fragile elderly patients who go outside to have their daily smoke, but the very large patients are completely bed-ridden. She was saying how few large patients are there at all, they generally don't survive that long. Apparently, the large patients are much more difficult for the staff to handle. It takes several people to move them and help them do things. As a result, they generally have to wait longer when they need something. They have to wait until several people are available to help. All the staff dreads the work required to move and lift these people.

I started thinking about my own health issues and wondering how many others in the TDC have obesity related health problems. I know some people hate the word obese - but it is a medical term and it applies to me.

I have had Plantar Facstitis off and on all of my adult life. All through 2001 I had terrible heal pain in my left foot. Other years it has affected both feet. It is so painful that I dread getting out of bed and walking much is out of the question. Fortunately, with drugs and exercises, it went away in May and has not returned. But I know if I keep this weight on, it will return at some point. OUCH!

I have had a condition called Pseudotumor Cerebrie since my mid twenties. It is really a fancy name for intercranial hypertension. My blood pressure is normal, but not in my head. It causes screaming migraines and threatens the eyesight because the optic nerves become swollen and rigid. I cannot count the hours I have spent in CT scans, MRIS, and havine neurology testing. While this disease can occur in all populations, it primarily affects overweight women. My neurologist is very kind, and points out to me that losing weight may not affect it at all, although it would be good to try. At the worst, they insert a shunt to drain off extra fluid which causes problems of its own such as infections. Mine has been controlled by medication, although never perfectly.

I don't mean this to be a morbid thread. But my hope is that here on the Triple Digits Forum we can talk about what is REAL about obesity and our lives. At 46, I can see that I can no longer "get away with it". I have to get this weight off and I have dinked around for years. Now it has really become a health issue as I get older. Any thoughts?