Yes, I am pro-choice. There, I’ve admitted it. Now you know.
I started a diet 302 days ago (as of this writing) and have become more aware of my choices most days.
Another confession is that I like to eat and have for seventy-plus years; I’ve become quite proficient at eating. There was a time not that many years ago when I could devour large quantities of food and remain rather thin. During my high school years, I was 6’ 1” and 138 pounds. Nothing added weight. College changed that – student union dining (and we had a great one) had me weighing in at 159 when I returned to campus after the Christmas break. Coach had me working out with the basketball team just to get me back down to 145 where I spent several years.
Hmm. By Spring 2023 I was a satiated 222. Now, I think I probably went higher but I found that by choosing not to get on the scale, I could ignore anything higher. When I mentioned weight, most of my compatriots would assure me that I didn’t look that heavy but I knew I was buying larger waist sizes and was at the last hole in my belt.
I had no idea that my pro-choice position was unhealthy for me. I enjoyed food, a vast array, flavors and textures, meats, vegetables, fruits, desserts, lattes – a regular smorgasbord of cuisine. Never really thought much about the caloric content, just that it was a healthy cross-section of nutritional delights. When I decided to actually proactively reduce my weight in a deliberate fashion, I began to look at nutrition, the balance of what I ate but eventually had to look at quantity and there was no simpler way than by calories.
After finding a smartphone app (wanted it to be available and convenient) that tracked not only calories but nutrition, I looked at setting goals, deciding caloric intake. Imagine my surprise that my average daily intake was between 3,700 and 4,000 calories! When I started intentionalizing what I “needed” to consume each day and maintain proper nutrition, the total for a sustainable, consistent loss was 1,674 calories! No wonder I had put on a “few” pounds.
Choice is like that. The freedom of choice is responsibility for the consequences. You don’t have to decide what consequences because they are part of the package. When I decided to eat according to my appetite, I did not have to think about nutrition or quantities or consequences. As long as I could provide myself with the satisfaction of the experience, I was pro-choice.
Unfortunately, consequences do follow choice. Even worse, no one else is responsible for my choices. I alone bear the responsibility; I am an adult and even if I learned faulty choices in younger years, I am now informed enough to bear the responsibility. Part of maturing is learning to make appropriate choices. Too often we don’t actually decide to choose – we just go in the direction of least resistance. And reap the consequences.
I am fortunate that I was active enough that my body has not been damaged too much by the consequences of my years of overindulging. In the past 302 days, I have “lost” 25 pounds; actually, I’ve lost more but then went out and found a few “lost” pounds along the way. I have been under my weekly allotment every week and believe that out of 302 days, I have missed the daily possibly 7 times.
Discussions about pro-choice seldom relate to responsibility and consequences. No, let’s not focus on the abortion issue as pro-choice or pro-life but rather being pre-choice, taking responsibility before there are consequences. Yes, there are issues of rape and incest and abuse but those are not the normal but rather the exception. As with my not deciding the “eating” issue until there were consequences and I had to take responsibility for my actions, should we not have a more appropriate discussion on pre-fertilization decisions? Isn’t after conception a little late to take responsibility for not considering the consequences? Is the argument that we have such primitive needs that we can’t think, decide, be responsible before we take what should be a deliberated, purposeful and even loving act? And is not the man as responsible for a “pre-” decision as the woman? Where is the discussion about the validity of relationship, what each person expects and whether the other is focused on more than satisfying themselves?
Did I mention being pro-choice, being in favor of choice?
The comparison between dieting and fertilization is not meant to trivialize the consequences of fertilization. This is a “think about it” challenge and not a discussion of equal magnitude of consequences. Yet, both should entail consideration as to consequences and responsibilities. For those who face either long-term obesity or unwanted pregnancy, the magnitude is both different and in the case of pregnancy, more immediate.
For the rest of this blog, follow this link to Pre-Choice, Part 2
