It's getting to be that time of year where I'm glad I'm not back in Wisconsin. The upper midwest is gorgeous, but there is a bad side to it as well, a bad side that I, for one, have experience in dealing with. You see, when the days get short, especially when one is cooped up inside all day, people who are prone to depression anyway tend to suffer from seasonal affective disorder. Unlike so many other "fad" illnesses, SAD is very real, although, fortunately, very treatable. The trick is, you ...

I have been working as hard as I can to get back into shape. Because I tend to overwork myself when I exercise, I've been doing it in small steps. This has resulted in slow progress, but what I'm looking for is a pattern I can stay with long after I've achieved my desired results. My knee has been day to day. Some days I can barely walk on it, other days it feels fine. I was fortunate that yesterday it felt fine. So, I decided to do the unthinkable, and climbed off the couch and onto the ...

I have struggled to fight off hyper obesity most of my adult life. Until I was 18, I was fairly fit, but a year's incarceration began a general 15 year upward trend in my weight. The last two years, I have been successfully working downward, with some pitfalls. To those without eating disorders, it always seems simple. While, for most of us (myself included) it's a matter of control, that control isn't as easy to obtain for some as for others. For me, the reasons I overate were psychological....

So, the last two days I've had to head into town bright and early,foregoing breakfast at home. This has meant I had to stop and get quick bites to eat wherever I could. Now that we're settled in, I'm trying to work on my weight again, that never ending battle that I'm slowly winning. So, I go to McDonald's. My "healthy" breakfast options are limited to a fruit and yogurt parfait and orange juice. Not bad choices, mind you, but it got me to thinking. Walk into any restaurant and look for th...

Strangely enough, while I'm not usually a proponent of "train wreck" TV, I have to give a certain amount of "props" to "Celebrity Makeover". Why? Well, put simply, it has served to underscore a problem with weight loss that many people who have never been fat don't consider. I have lost over 100 pounds over the last two years (although I went back up a bit over the winter, it was nowhere NEAR my pre-diet weight). I have rolls of loose skin on my torso, and "flaps" below my arms from where ...

Now, don't get me wrong. I struggle with my weight, so this is kinda personal, but something has really been irking me lately. I have a friend who has had recurrent problems with his gallbladder. Put simply, it needs to be removed. The problem? The doctors won't perform the surgery because he is too large. This man has always been a large man, even in his youth. While his eating habits are less than optimal, if you know anything about health, you would understand why diabetes and Congestiv...