Got a Spare $8,000?

July 7th, 2011 by Amy Gonsalves Leave a reply »

The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services’ Department of Health Policy released a study last year that reported the individual cost of obesity in the United States.

Not the cost in macroeconomic terms, the costs individuals pay for being obese.

Women pay an average of $4,879 and men pay $2,646 each year for obesity-related medical expenses and lost productivity.

Yikes.

Beyond that, the authors added in the value of each individual’s loss of life due to their obesity.  THAT took the toll up to $8,365 for women and $6,518 for men. Each year.

Yikes again.

We aren’t even counting what it costs to live with (presumably) type two diabetes.

Nor what the non-monetary costs are.

I suggest those non-monetary costs are much higher.

Do you travel less than you would if you weren’t concerned about fitting in a seat?  Do you attend fewer functions because you only have one or two “nice”outfits that fit?  Do you feel as though you can’t be yourself because you’re busy worrying about how big you are?

Do you think people aren’t your friend, don’t invite you to get-togethers, or talk behind your back about how much you weigh?  Do you take an awfully long time to climb a flight of stairs or walk to your destination?

If the answer is “yes” to any of these, I’m willing to bet you’d pay more than $8,000 to get it to stop.

_____

I’m not going to say that if I can do it, anyone can do it.  Anyone can do it regardless of my own success losing a lot of weight.

And it takes work, and not everyone is willing to work at it for as long as it takes.

But it IS possible, and you CAN do it.  But you absolutely must believe that you can; that’s I think where a lot of the trouble lies.  It isn’t about the monetary costs, and it isn’t about the non-monetary costs, and it isn’t about knowing or not knowing what to eat and not eat.  It isn’t about how long you’ll live or in what condition.

Most of it is about your belief in yourself. 

If you’ve got that, you can do anything.

So if you need to, take some time and have some honest conversations with yourself about what your body needs you to do.  Speak to your doctor, speak to me, speak with someone in your family, speak with a therapist.  Do what you need to do to get yourself to recognize your own needs and believe in yourself.

You (and your bank account) deserve it.

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