Get With the Program, Tubby

Anonymous has reared his/her ugly head again, with a comment suggesting that my personal obsession with obesity and weight loss is trivial and I should get over it already. I beg to differ. Weight loss products, weight loss programs, weight loss problems, overweight, obesity--all that jazz--costs each and every one of us a ton-- no pun intended. In April, Reuters reported that obesity in America is currently adding "an astounding $190 billion to the annual national healthcare price tag, exceeding smoking as public health enemy number one when it comes to cost." So there.

Besides being unattractive and unhealthy, being overweight is a pain in the neck for the tubby one--I know this from personal experience. While I have never quite been circus material, I have tipped the scales at about 25 pounds more than I do now, and still remember all too well how much harder it was to climb stairs, walk around the block, do my daily chores, whatever. I also remember the uncomfortable feeling of too-tight clothing, with the waistband of my jeans digging into my skin. Then there is the humiliation factor, nothing to sneeze at. On the beach, at the gym, in the dressing room at Loehmann's--a giant, mirrored common room that always made me feel like I was in the showers at Auschwitz--being fat is downright embarrassing.

Admit it: Fat feels bad and cookies taste good, the choice is yours. And please, if you've got a bone to pick with me, just sign your name--I love nothing more than a good debate. (Except maybe Key Lime Pie.)