Hi Peter,
Here's my story of how I decided to make a change. And it's all due to one breath.
December 2005 I entered the emergency room of my local hospital with very mild chest pains. I was admitted to the cardiac center. The nurse tested my resparation, found the O2 content of my breath lower than normal, and told me I was going to be put on oxygen. At that moment I saw my future if I didn't make changes. Being connected to machines, being immobile, watching life go by me.... I asked to be tested again. And somehow, some way, I found it in me to get my O2 level high enough so I wasn't on oxygen.
Sooner or later you are going to say "Enough" and make changes. I spent years getting to 400 pounds and pretending I had a pretty good quality of life. I had a lousy life, but like most severely obese people, I lived in denial. But it took one more indignity, one more sign that my quality of life was miserable, to push me to me make changes. And then, once I knew I had to make changes, it was a matter of taking a breath. Once I took that, all the other changes became less challenging.
Only you know if you are ready to do what you need to do, Peter. I think you should take a deep breath, and begin.