Day 1

A thousand mile journey begins with a single step.

On some days when I walk in to the exam room and see a 5 foot 2 inch 45 year old woman who weighs 245 pounds, I think "What can I do?" No medicine is going to cure this patient's problems, which given my specialty are typically diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol) and chronic kidney disease, which can ultimately lead to kidney failure and the need for dialysis. This cluster of problems is sometimes called the "Metabolic Syndrome" which is doctor speak for problems that develop when a patient is too fat. In my office we prefer the descriptive ROO. ROO stands for "Ravages of Obesity".

Patients who are obese develop diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, degenerative joint disease especially of the knees.... the list goes on. The Ravages of Obesity. What I do is roll up my sleeves and see if some combination of medications can help the poor obese soul in front of me stave off an early death from complications of these diseases. This is at best a rear guard action. I write my prescriptions and think to myself: Alternatively, you could lose 120 pounds!

This would seem an impossible task. One hundred and twenty pounds! But is isn't. A one hundred and twenty pound weight loss begins with a single pound. It begins with a single day and then continues one day at a time.

In this blog I will endeavor to provide a single concept for each day to keep the journey towards your ideal weight moving forward. Focus on the day's idea or concept for that day. Review previous day's as needed. If you get to the end of the year and you're not at ideal weight then keep reading or start over at day one.

You can lose weight. You can achieve the goal of reaching your ideal body mass, and when you do you will feel better, look better and live longer.

Start the journey.