I look in the mirror and "sigh," don't like what I see, need to get the weight off from me. I'm like the women in those commercials with the bathroom scale chained to my leg, and the song, "You Are Always on my Mind" is playing in the background. 

 I am running scared not just for my health's sake but for my fear of that word. Maybe I am already there, maybe they consider me that now but hate the term, run from the word. 

 As a writer I love words, except for this word which is being thrown at us in the all forms of the media, at the medical facilities, at the gym and work out areas-the word I hate so much is "obese."

 I see obesity everywhere, folks that are very, very, very large and I feel bad for them.  They don't want the extra weight anymore then I do, Seeing them I pray I won't get as large, need to get the pounds under control. 

 It's ironic I dress in the morning and check the mirror and think, not too bad; then later at work I see my reflection in some glass and think, "Ugh, why did you think you looked good?"  

 I hear the size 2's and 4's saying things like "letting themselves go," "eating like a pig" and a few other phrases they are using to talk about someone else's size; the irony there is most thin people I know are the bigger eaters.  How do they know if someone let themselves go, and exactly what does that mean?  

 Most of the thinner people I know also have health problems, another situation that argues with the medical field that is pushing everyone to be smaller. All the tables have changed at our doctors; the BMI (body mass index) has been lowered, the amount of cholesterol and calories allowed and etc all have been lowered. Obese for instance was a term only used for the very large, now anyone with some extra pounds is called the word. 

 A person's size has a lot to do with metabolism and not the amount we eat but what we choice to eat.  

 I plan to keep trying to get my weight down but I am not going to hate myself in the process. I did not "let myself go," not with my busy schedule, I am not sure why I have the extra but I do know it is important to like oneself.  

 Diet yo-yos are not improving their health either, that is folks who try a diet and lose the weight, but then put it on again. Seems unfair how slowly the weight goes off and how very fast it can come back on. (For most of us that is, I have one friend who is trying to gain and can not.)

 Forget the diets, work on nutrition and exercise I think is the way; and get a friend to work with you.  Someone to join you in your struggle, not ride you about it. 

 And as for the outfit you are wearing today, if it looks good in the morning I am sure it looks good all day long.