Once I was young. Now that I’m getting older it seems my metabolism has finally begun to slow a bit. I have gained weight. In other more blunt words: I’m getting fat.

No, I’m not obese. I’ve hardly gained 15 lbs since I got married almost two years ago, but I have gained wait over these past two years. Some say there’s a freshman 15 for first years university students. Some say married men gain 10 pounds in the first year of marriage because they are actually eating two or three delicious meals a day prepared by their wonderful wives. Although my wife’s meals are super tasty, I don’t believe they are the reason I have gained weight.

Here are some likely reasons:

  1. Eating ice cream with almost every meal, and many times without meals.
  2. Eating chocolate almost every day.
  3. Having a change in occupation. I used to be on my feet all day running around town in a car delivering pizzas. Now I sit in a chair all day, then do some low-intensity work on the house when I arrive home in the evening. It takes a lot of time, but essentially no muscles (with the exception of the brain) burn calories.
  4. Drinking more soda pop than ever before. My place of employment subsidizes our 'drink options'. Soda pop is $.25 per can (Coke, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, Creme Soda). It is sometimes challenging to resist drinking some of that sweet, caffeinated corn syrup! Especially when I love the taste of Coke...
  5. Getting older, which generally results in slower metabolic functions.

Of the above list, the last option is the only one I cannot change. I can’t stop myself from getting older. That’s a part of life. God designed people to age, and therefore they do. One day everyone reaches the point where their cells are old and worn out. I’m not quite there, but it is coming quick!

14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;

16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.

-Psalm 103:14-16

The third option I don’t want to change. I love my job and believe sitting in a chair is not the root of the weight gain issue. It can be considered a cause of the problem, but I believe the problems can be corrected in spite of having not sit down for about 9 and a half hours a day (if the drive to work is counted).

The best way to correct my weight problems would be a change in diet and a change in exercise. Eating healthier foods can be done, in many cases, by choosing to eat the healthy foods while at the same time refusing over-eat the potentially harmful foods. Don’t get me wrong eating chocolate and ice cream is not a sin, however eating them all the time as a gratification of a desire is a sin.

I’m going to have a conversation with my wife on how to put these changes into effect. Maybe she’ll even exercise with me!