For the past few months, while I’ve been juggling work, family time, and volunteering for local group projects, one of my biggest struggles has been trying to maintain a healthy ideal weight. Sometimes, all the health information in the world can’t stop a person from overconsumption, especially if the person surrounds themselves with people who are unwilling to adopt positive eating and fitness habits as well. “You only live once” is the motto I tend to live by when I find myself overindulging, but in truth, we need to understand that the dangers of fat and obesity are real. Excess body fat has been linked to heart disease, cancer and diabetes, which are the leading causes of most deaths in America. Let’s ask ourselves every time we give in to binge eating or drinking, how much do I want to live?

Today, as I was pinching some of the fat on my body that I still want to lose, I became curious of what body fat actually looks like. Imagine the fat under our skin as the same fat we see on chicken legs or thighs before they’re cleaned and cooked. Here’s a picture I came across of what actual body fat looks like: