One Oreo at a Time

Recently, after helping out with the youth group at my church, I was offered the last three leftover Oreos at the end of the evening. I had eaten a few of them earlier, so I declined and patted my belly saying that I had eaten enough already.

One of the women there said "Pa-lease. If you turned sideways you would disappear." Well, first of all to me this is somewhat of an insult. The first thing that crosses my mind is "I know I could use a few more pounds of muscle, but I thought - I'd hoped that I outgrew being skinny many years ago."

The woman continued to explain that her husband, who is definitely bulkier (more muscle) than me, has been gaining undesired weight since working at a desk job, and that she has also always struggled with her weight. So if she's coming from the perspective of me not being fat, then I guess it's kind of a compliment, especially considering that I think I'm in better shape than most men my age.

But here's why I turned down the Oreos, despite the fact that I'm not overweight. Because "fat" simply begins the moment you consume more calories than you burn. It doesn't happen overnight, so that you wake up, look down at your gut and say "Shit! I got fat!" It happens slowly, ever so slowly, a cookie or a piece of chocolate at a time. It happens after every meal that you feel too full and every night that you go to bed saying "Well, I didn't exercise today, but maybe tomorrow".

Don't get me wrong, I eat (and thoroughly enjoy) sweets, burgers pizza, and the like. But if I already had a helping, then I'll turn it down. If I start feeling full during dinner, then I'll just stop eating and leave what's left on my plate (or at least not go for seconds). If I get a burger for lunch then I usually skip the fries. I have maybe 2-3 sodas a week at most, and I rarely finish the whole can.

I'm not trying to toot my own horn here. I'm just explaining my philosophy on eating, and how I plan to avoid looking like the picture below in my later years.