WashingtonPost.com chat with Jonathan

Chat on line with me from 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Tuesday, March 20.

I'll be the featured guest on The Washington Post's Moving Crew Chat.

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Welcome to the United States of Obesity

Another day goes by in the U.S. and everyone is fatter and unhealthier. Despite intense focus from the media and the fitness industry, obesity grows rapidly.

My life has been affected significantly in a personal way by obesity. With 800 pounds of parents, I've seen the loss of quality of life that comes with obesity. As a result, I have a unique ability to comment on this topic.

Here are 3 Steps to Defeat Obesity:

1. Forget About Your Weight
2. Get a Life
3. Know Your Strengths

1 - Forget About Your Weight
Get fit first, and your body will take care of the rest. Focusing on how much you weigh will only end in frustration. Live better. Give your body what it needs to be fit and healthy and it will change. Day-by-day, your body will remake itself more fit than before. Give it the message that there is no reason to hang on to excess fat since you're active and you eat the right amounts of the right foods. When you live in a body that feels more capable, your clothes feel looser, and you start to like the changes you see, you are well on the way to getting leaner. And getting leaner is more important than getting lighter.

2- Get a Life
A recent newspaper column mentioned a man who changed his mind about skipping dessert after the waitress informed him about another customer who skipped dessert and was killed in a car accident soon after leaving the restaurant. How sad and pathetic. This guy should have dessert after every meal! If your idea of living a full life is having dessert, then have it after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Never skip dessert, ever. With all of the wonderful and amazing things in this world to see and do, it is offensive to suggest that "life is short, so have dessert."

3 - Know Your Strengths
It fascinates me how many people that are terrifically successful in many other areas of life continually struggle with nutrition and exercise. Try these questions on yourself:
What skills do you use to solve problems at work or at home?
How do you manage to do all you do at work or at home?
What are you good at?
Now, treat nutrition and exercise like a problem in an area of life in which you feel confident and successful. Bring those same skills to bear on your desire for a healthy lifestyle by remembering all the qualities that help you find success in other roles.