Look at yourself NAKED regularly. Get bloodwork/medical checkup every year or so, especially if overweight and sedentary. Know the difference between overweight (“a few extra pounds”) and obese. The doctors often use BMI which doesn’t tell much valuable info. But when looking at your naked body in a mirror with truthful eyes, the difference between overweight and obesity should be clear. Obesity can be very deadly, not to mention expensive. No one “needs” six-pack abs. Likewise, no one needs to carry the weight of two people on a skeleton built for one. 

You can be overweight and often still be healthy, especially with regular exercise, decent genetics and a decent diet. However, the same will most likely never be true for obesity. Am I suggesting that we all welcome each pound of body fat? No. Do I think six-pack abs are a requirement to be considered healthy and fit? Most certainly not. Just know that there is a difference between “some extra pounds” and obese. Most often this difference is easy to see with truthful eyes. Obesity can be very deadly and expensive, especially as time goes on. This photo shows two women, both supposedly the same age and the same height. Notice the difference in body fat, both inside and out. Keep this in mind, depending on someone’s height and body type, scale weight can often be misleading and vary greatly from person to person. I have friends that are well over 200lbs and perfectly healthy at their respective weight. However, I would probably be quite unhealthy with over 200 pounds on my frame. For the sake of comparison, imagine the girl on the right is at a low-risk “healthy” weight and body composition, and the girl on the left is the same girl a few years later with 130 pounds of body fat (which would now be more than twice her original weight, placing an enormous strain on all her bodily systems). My point is that we need to pay attention to our bodies. It’s so easy to let go of awareness and care, especially as we get older and life gets busier. This photo, this post, was not posted to fat-shame anyone. This a caring reminder that health is important and obesity destroys health. It has been proposed that the single best thing that any human can do to improve their health is to consistently walk 30 minutes every day. You may only be able to do 10 minutes. If so, this would be great place to start. Obviously, many other things will be in order over time but this is what I always recommend starting with first. Be better every day. #blueskystrongbox