For those who are fortunate enough to live in, or visit the state of Colorado, we all know that the beauty that is the Rocky Mountain range isn’t the only aesthetically pleasing part of the state, but also the people. While most of the United States deals with obesity rates of 25% or higher, Colorado, the healthiest state, is at a whopping 20%. Now, I know what everyone is thinking. Isn’t 20% still pretty high? The answer to that is no. If you look at the United States as a whole, the rate for adults who are either obese or overweight is almost 70%. Considering all of the ailments that come along with being obese and overweight, such as high blood pressure and heart disease, those are really scary numbers.

I’ve been overweight for all of my teenage and adult life. It’s not that I don’t know how to eat healthy, because I absolutely do, but especially during my teenage years, I found that it was easier to just accept myself the way that I am and just let the rest figure itself out. Looking back on that now, and all of the time that I could have spent improving myself and becoming the healthiest me that I can be, I absolutely do regret falling into that mindset. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with accepting yourself and loving yourself for who you are and what you look like, but at the same time, in order to maintain that love for yourself it’s really important that you’re the best version of yourself that you believe you can be, whether that version of yourself is prettier, thinner, more handsome or just more intelligent. There will absolutely always be outside influences that are pushing you in a certain direction, but at the end of the day, it’s important that you’re making decisions that will be the most beneficial for you and who you are.

Deciding to go to school in Colorado was a very difficult and scary decision for me to make for a multitude of reasons. One of the biggest reasons had to do with the healthy reputation that the state holds. Living in the south, everyone is kind of desensitized to seeing people who are overweight and obese; that’s just how it is. Many people like to make jokes about stereotypes of the south, but for the most part, they’re true. The south is full of bigger, wonderful and not-so-wonderful people. Colorado, on the other hand, is known for it’s beautiful hiking trails, biking paths, and of course, the fit and active people. Knowing that despite the fact that I played lacrosse in high school, I was not one of those fit and active people was really scary for me because I had no idea how people were going to perceive me.

I would love to say that when I got to Colorado, the harsh judgments from fit people gave me the

motivation to lose 60 pounds, grow my hair out, and take up water aerobics, but that would be a lie. While I can’t say I’ve never looked at a group of beautiful, thin girls on campus and felt envious, I can say that no one has ever made me feel bad about the fact that I’m not a certain size. If anything, the fact that people aren’t as judgmental as I once thought has been really inspiring for me to lose weight. When I’m at the gym, sweating it out on the stair climber, I receive knowing smiles from other girls who understand how difficult it is to last a whole 30 minutes on there. I might be fat, but lazy and unmotivated, I am not. I enjoy the fact that I have friends who don’t mind spending an hour or so at the gym with me, laughing about how stupid we look doing squats in the mirror while trying to obtain cakes like Nicki Minaj. I love the fact that I have a nutritionist who has helped me to lose weight, not by encouraging me to count calories or stop eating the foods that I enjoy, but by giving me tools to make smarter decisions and to understand portion control when I’m alone. Being overweight, while being the biggest struggle of my life, has absolutely been my decision, and since being in Colorado, losing weight has also been my decision because I have chosen to be a healthier person and live a longer life.