A couple years ago, I found a screw in my car’s tire, so took it to Commercial Tire for a repair. Then I went to get a coffee.

As I waited in line for my coffee, I looked around and noticed a woman and a man in the sitting waiting area. The woman was around 130 pounds overweight and eating a HUGE bagel (one of those ones the size of a baby’s head).

She was also sipping from a big sugary coffee drink.

When I see someone with that much weight to lose, I wonder what’s at the ROOT of their weight problem.

I don’t mean “being lazy” or “lack of discipline.”

I mean that a weight problem is a symptom of a deeper problem, and I wonder what the deeper problem is.

In this lady’s case, there was a 50% chance she did NOT understand the nature of the trap.

Maybe she thought a bagel was a healthy option because it’s supposedly full of “healthy whole grains.”

And because we’ve been told you “have” to exercise to lose weight, maybe she thought she could exercise off the boatloads of sugar in her coffee drink.

Maybe there was sexual assault involved in why she gained weight (meaning, she gained weight out of self-protection). 

Or maybe she was on medication that contributed to weight gain.

Of course, there was also a 50% chance she DID understand the nature of the trap and just didn’t care.

I’ve definitely had times when I didn’t care.

There were also times when I didn’t know.

Like a lot of people, I once believed the government’s dietary recommendations. I believed in the food pyramid, and that I needed 9 to 11 servings of grain a day, exactly like it said.

Obviously, I know better now.

And thanks to movements like Code Red (and others), more and more people also know better.

More and more people know that the food pyramid is driven by money and lobbyists instead of science and research. (The original food pyramid limited sugar and carbs. Special interests caused that to change.)

More and more people know that “healthy whole grains” aren’t all they’re cracked up to be…and that sugar, not salt or dietary fat, is the problem.

More and more people know we’ve been sold a bill of goods.

And yet, this country as a whole is pretty fat and sick.

The mainstream way of life is NOT set up to help you get and stay healthy. It’s set up to keep you addicted to eating and then gagging down fistfuls of medication to deal with the symptoms from eating too much and eating crap.

We have more resources than we ever have to lose weight and get healthy; yet in many ways, it’s also harder than it’s ever been to stick with a healthy lifestyle.

The weight loss battle is one that’s REALLY hard to win on your own.

I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it is freaking hard…harder than most people can handle without enough help and support.

Connecting with people on the same journey, who get it, and who want the same thing you do…and connecting with them consistently, not just one and done…is key to your long-term success with getting and keeping your weight off.

When you isolate yourself, you isolate your ability to succeed.

When you’re part of a community, and connected to that community, on the other hand, you are stronger AND so are they.

Bottom line: A weight problem isn’t a weight problem. It’s a symptom of a deeper problem.

Whatever that problem is for YOU, please do not try to fight that battle alone.

Get connected, get community, and lean into both!