The Year of "I can"

morbid (adj):
1. (a) of, relating to, or characteristic of disease
(b) affected with or induced by disease
(c) productive of disease


This is a term we use all the time in medicine. Even the public uses it, as we are well aware of the increase in and impact of morbid obesity on our society. Not exactly a term I've ever wanted as a self-descriptor, but I have to be honest with myself. Though my body mass index never fell into the "morbid obesity" category (>40), I was certainly knocking on its door with a BMI of 38.1 at my heaviest when I graduated college.

Yikes.

It's a scary thought - a 22 year old with so much excess weight that she's almost morbidly obese. I was on a downhill slide with no signs of stopping.

One thing medicine has taught me: Morbidity ---> Mortality.

Not for this girl, not now. I'm proud to say that a lot has changed in 4 years. Not just my weight, but my mindset and my lifestyle. I stand (er, sit) before you 70lbs lighter than my college graduation, and on my journey to (and approaching!) my goal weight. I'm healthier, happier, and feeling better than I ever have before.

I'm not writing any of this in search of congrats or encouragement; in some ways, I think I need to put this down in writing; to admit where I've been, what I've done, and where I plan on going. I was enormously overweight, and even today - 70lbs thinner - my BMI STILL places me in an overweight category. Every day I see people who suffer from obesity; I see heart attacks in 30 and 40 year olds, amputations from diabetic complications, and children losing their parents to obesity and its sequelae. So I made a resolution that this would never be me. And I'm sticking to it.

I never thought I'd be able to lose 70lbs, let alone my ultimate goal of 90. But, I'm deeming 2011 the year of turning "I can't" into "I can." Because if there's one thing I've learned, it's that we are all capable of amazing things if we put our minds to it.

And so today, February 1, 2011, I've taken this to a whole new level: I have signed up to run the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9, 2011. And now I've put it on the internet for all to see... to hold myself accountable and to fuel me forward.

26.2 miles - am I nuts?!

I can do this, and I will. This blog is going to serve as an outlet and a record of my journey to the finish line, and I invite you to read it and follow along as I attain a life goal.

249 days to go. Let's get busy.