A single step

Some look at obese people and wonder how they could have let their weight get so out of control. They look at the five-hundred-pound woman and think, Couldn't she have done something before she reached that point?

What those people don't undersand is that there isn't any one point when a person goes from being a healthy weight to being obese. It's a gradual change. In the six months after I graduated from college, I went from a size 18 to a size 22 without realizing it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's experienced weight gain like that and not realized it. Some might not understand how a person could gain 50 pounds and not realize it, but it's actually rather simple.

Because the weight gain is gradual, the close you already own grow with you to some extent.  Shirts you've worn for years still fit because as your waist grew, it stretched out the fabric. Shirts you've purchased in the last year don't fit nearly as well. You tell yourself that you're still an XL because, after all, all your other XL shirts fit. These newer shirts must have been made differently, is all. You must not have broken them in yet. After all, you aren't really a 2X, you tell yourself. You just wear them because they're more comfortable, because you can wear them without having to worry about your stomach sticking out.

It's the same with pants. You get used to your pants not fitting properly, so you continue to squeeze into them and don't register that you're actually getting bigger. You tell yourself that they're tighter because they were just washed and haven't loosened yet. If you're a woman, you're used to pant sizes' being different depending on which cut and brand it is, so the fact that the 18 you grabbed to try on is too small doesn't really tell you anything. You tell yourself that a different brand's 18 would fit. It's just that one cut that you have to buy in a size 20.

Then you get used to those pants, and you forget that they're not the same size as all your other ones. You just think of them as the comfier pants. It's not until months later that you finally have to face the fact that not only do you not fit in any 18s but you also do not fit in any 20s. It's only then that you accept that you're not wearing bigger clothes because they're more comfortable; you're wearing them because they're the only clothes that fit.

I'm not 500 pounds, but I can understand how someone could get that heavy and not realize it. I'm just glad I noticed in time to stop it from getting worse. I started Weight Watchers the week of Christmas, and I've lost seven pounds so far. The goal is to reach my goal weight of 160 by the end of 2012. I'm hoping to be down to a size 14. Smaller would be nice, but I'd be happy with 14. That would be smaller than I have ever been in recent memory. Even after a semester of PE in ninth grade, when I lost 20 pounds and was looking better than ever, I was still a size 16 and weighed almost 200 pounds.

They say that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. I have 127 pounds to lose. Other people have done it. So can I. Let's go.