Technology is a wonderful thing, and it certainly makes my job as a journalist easier — not to mention my job as a mother, wife and housekeeper helpmate.
But my sighs of relief as I push the button on my dishwasher turn to sighs of despair as I walk into the living room to find my almost-4-year-old trying to invent new ways to convince his parents the current episode of "Wonder Pets" is crucial to his education welfare — at least he's using his imagination — rather than playing with his train set or
Then I cut a blazing pathway in 100-plus degree heat in the comfort of my air-conditioned car (last summer I was not so lucky) and arrive at work to plop down at my desk to start surfing the Web in search of the latest-breaking news.
And here is what I found.
We, as Americans and Oklahomans, are fat, not pleasantly plump but obese.
It's not necessarily a news flash.
All we have to do is look around to determine that fact.
OK, honestly, how many times have you looked around while in the check-out line of Wal-Mart and thought, "I hope I'm never that big?"
It's safe for me to say I speak from experience — yes, I have thought that and probably have had those thoughts directed at me.
Because I am not just pleasantly plump, or even fat. I am obese, and I have been for many years and have fought the good fight for many more.
And it seems I'm not the only one.
A new government telephone survey released Tuesday puts the adult obesity rate at nearly 27 percent and rising. A more scientific survey has already said the rate is 34 percent and holding steady.
Experts believe the 27 percent is probably an underestimate, because it’s based on what people say. People tend to say they weigh less than they actually do and say they are taller than they are.
Yeah, I've been known in my younger, wilder days to (1.) have no idea what I weighed because I wouldn't be caught near a scale for fear I may learn, and (2.) lie about my weight.
The new report — www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns — also found that in nine states at least 30 percent of the adults were obese in 2009. The states were Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, West Virginia, Mississippi and, yes, my fair state of Oklahoma. In 2007, only Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee topped 30 percent.
But there's no denying the more high-tech we become the more plump we will be.
Unless we make the decision to change, these numbers will not change.
It's a price we pay for our computers, our cars, our televisions and Nintendos.
My weight was what spurned me to create my blog — Too Much To Lose — because I have way too much in my life to lose it all because I'm to heavy to get up from the couch.
I'm tired of being a statistic and I'm ready to change. But being inspired gets old at the end of the day when you are dead tired from a day of carrying around the weight of your world and the weight of your waistline.
So you must find inspiration, whether it is a photo of your son, a granddaughter or even yourself in pants that looked a lot better a few pounds ago.
You have to fight past the fact a box of Hamburger Helper costs less than the chicken lower in Trans-fat.
I hope Oklahomans find their inspirations.
I hope to find the state off the CDC list in the future.
It really does boil down to the fact that you, like I, have Too Much To Lose.
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You know, if you are going to hold up a sign saying Americans are the "enemies of humanity," prove it.
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