Why am I overweight?

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According to a BMI chart, and also just by looking at myself in the mirror, I am overweight. I have had periods where I’ve managed to get my weight in the healthier ranges, but for most of my teenage years and adult life I have been overweight or obese.

Like many other fat people, I have blamed my genetics, my culture, my childhood, my parents, and many other factors for being overweight.

I have felt insecure, especially in the summer when shirt-wearing as a male in the water is culturally weird and I’ve had to get my less than desirable body out on show.

I’ve also felt uncomfortable many times in my own skin since being overweight makes daily living harder, it’s that simple. But for all the excuses, blaming and being uncomfortable, I have come to understand this simple truth.

I am overweight because I CHOOSE to be overweight.

I choose to eat calorie dense foods. I choose to eat multiple portions. I choose to exercise less than I should. I also choose to drink soda, eat candy, refined carbs and fast food.

These are all choices. Because I choose to be overweight, I also choose to feel insecure at the lake or pool and uncomfortable in my own skin.

Nobody has ever forced me or coerced me into making the choices that make me fat, so there is no one to blame other than myself and the choices I make.

I could choose to be a healthy weight. It’s a much harder choice, which is why I have struggled to make it. Being fat, at least initially, is always the easier choice to make. This is why America and many other countries have an obesity pandemic that makes Covid-19 look like the common cold.

The point is, being overweight or being a healthy weight comes down to personal choices. It’s time for all us fatty’s to stop blaming everyone and everything for our own choices. If we don’t like being overweight, we can start choosing today to be otherwise.

I am not suggesting it will be easy or painless, but the choice is nevertheless ours. And as we take responsibility for our problems, we also empower ourselves to solve them.