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Several years ago, Joy Bauer started a segment for the TODAY show called “The Joy Fit Club.”  Membership into her club was limited to those people who had lost more than 100 pounds. Currently, there are over 100 members of in Joy’s club and our hope is to encourage others to follow in our footsteps and become healthier by reducing our weight.

Another member of this elite club is my friend Jon Staton of Michigan.

Like me, John is also on a mission to get the word out that living a healthy lifestyle can have lasting results for your waistline.

He started a blog that follows his ups and downs about weight loss. His most recent entry was heartfelt and all to true for so many people that can’t find their way out of a weight problem. 

Obesity Kills

Today's blog is not a "happy" blog. While I prefer to focus on the positive and convince you of all the reasons you can and should lose weight from a positive perspective, there is, of course, a very negative side to obesity. I was reminded of that just this week.

First, a bit of background.

When I lost 230 pounds, I found myself with several boxes and bags of clothing that I could no longer wear. Most of the stuff was size 5x or 6x or 64 to 66 inch waists. I had paid a lot of money for those clothes. My job required professional dress, so within those items were pants, dress shirts, etc. that cost a couple hundred bucks each,

in some cases. I had a hard time parting with the clothes because of the money I had invested, so I tried to sell them on Craig's List. I had a few bites, but nothing panned out, so in the end, I decided to just give them away. I was going to take them to Goodwill but then I thought about it a little bit more and decided to give them to someone I thought could really use them.

I took the clothes to his house and he was indeed very grateful. He was especially grateful for the winter coat as he had been surviving

Michigan's winters with nothing more than a sweatshirt jacket. He was also very grateful because he could not afford to buy the clothes he really needed. Wal-Mart and K-mart only carry up to 3x and the clothes I special-ordered were out of his budget.

I found out that the gentleman I gave these clothes to passed away this week, at the age of 42. He leaves a loving wife and young son. He had many health problems including diabetes and high blood pressure. I didn't have a chance to talk to him again after giving him the clothes and now I really wish I had taken the time to stay in touch with him.

This occurrence reminded me of something that most Americans refuse to acknowledge. Obesity kills. Our culture as a whole refuses to acknowledge this truth. We place Surgeon General warnings on cigarettes, but take our kids to McDonalds 3 times per week. We tell kids they can't consume alcohol until they're 21, but we cook box after box of unhealthy macaroni and cheese and serve it to them with a breadstick and "Juicy Juice."

Our nation has a death wish, and unfortunately, that death wish is being visited upon our children as well. Statistics out this week showed that obesity increased in 28 states from 2008 to 2009, including Michigan, which is ranked #10 nationwide. Michigan is on the cusp of passing the mark where 1/3 of its citizens are obese. Perhaps even more disturbing is the realization of how this trend has skyrocketed in a short period of time. Today, more than 2/3 of states have an obesity rate above 25-percent, whereas only 20 short years ago, NO state had a rate above 20 percent.

Enough is enough. It's too late for my friend, but I know he is now in a better place, but his son will grow up without his dad, and that is a profound injustice. We can do better. We MUST do better.

If you struggle with obesity, take a step - ANY STEP - today, and begin your journey to health and wellness. I began by walking to the end of my driveway and back and started paying attention to what I was eating for the first time in my life. YOU CAN DO IT TOO!

Please, don't let yourself become a statistic - do something about it - NOW.

Lisa Griffis lost 185 pounds through diet, exercise and sheer determination.  To find out more about Lisa, visit her blog at www.lisagriffis.com.  She is a regular ShareWIK.com contributor.  

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