More to Love?

By Tiana Bridtter

Staff Writer

I couldn’t let obesity take my aunt from me.

Obesity is an issue affecting the human race throughout the world. There are so many people that have stories and their own personal issues that they took on in dealing with this “health plague.” I’m here to tell you how it affected me.

I’m not and have never been overweight or obese, but I have an aunt who is. The funny thing is that when you see her, her weight is not at all what stands out. She has such a beautiful personality, and you barely even notice her weight even though you know by sight its there. My aunt is the sweetest person on the planet. She is very into church and willing to help anyone and everyone in need. For as long as I’ve known her she has always been overweight, and as time went on she didn’t seem to be getting any smaller.

Whoppers, pie, cake, and pretty much anything that was edible, became catalysts for my aunt. Not for nothing, I love to eat just as much as the next human being, but she was eating a lot. She was eating herself to death -- literally. She wasn’t able to wear the clothes the average woman was able to put on, and was more subjected to dresses and other loose fitting clothing. She wasn’t even able to wear high heels for fear of breaking them, so she stuck to flats only.

She claimed her weight didn’t bother her and said her weight meant that there was a lot of her to love, but of course I knew that was a lie. Not to say someone can’t be happy with their weight no matter what size they are, but my aunt showed the signs that she wasn’t: the late night crying; the way she looked at herself in the mirror; and the way she stared at women smaller than her, almost like she wanted not so much to be like them, but be as small as them.

I stepped up and decided to help her tackle her issue firsthand, which meant she had to admit that she was overweight, that she did have an eating problem, and that she needed to take care of the problem before it became worse -- before it was too late.

Denial is always the biggest stumbling block to get over when it comes to weight loss. It’s actually more of an issue than losing the weight. For months my aunt wouldn’t admit that she had a problem. I could no longer watch her slowly kill herself. I grew frustrated and scared at the same time. I couldn’t take another minute of fearing that she’d be snatched from me, so I decided to do a family intervention and we told her head-on that it needed to stop.

I pulled up stories and facts about obese people. I had investigated the health scares about obesity and found research on people who were either the same size as her or bigger. I even went as far to find stories about people who have died from the condition. I found out that obese individuals 30 years old and up have a 50 to 100 percent increased risk of premature death from all causes, compared to individuals with a healthy weight.

Click here for great facts about obesity.

When you’re obese, there is a huge risk of having a heart attack. Congestive heart failure, sudden cardiac death and angina, or chest pain, is increased in persons who are overweight or obese. High blood pressure is twice as common in adults who are obese than in those who are at a healthy weight.

When I brought the information to my aunt’s attention, she was very upset at first, but she knew I was right. I assured her that I would help her and wouldn’t quit on her. I made a deal with her. I told her if she’d start eating right and going to the gym, I’d go back to church. I knew that was an offer she couldn’t and wouldn’t refuse. She agreed to the deal. Just as promised I went to the gym with her four times a week, twice a day. It was quite a struggle and an obstacle but I stayed true to my promise.

That was over two years ago. My aunt has since gone from 350 lbs to 167 lbs -- that’s 183 lbs! Now she is able to wear the high heels and fitted jeans she wasn’t able to wear her whole life. But more importantly, she is alive and now healthier than ever before.