I quickly walked across the freezing linoleum to the scale. Only then did my feet not feel the cold floor. Instead, I focused on how disgusted I would be when I stepped on the scale and saw what a fatso I'd become. I saw all the red flags, all year but ignored them. I felt my clothes tighten, and how my t-shirt had now become a belly shirt because of my new pot belly.

I heard over and over again my father say in his thick accent, "Jennifer, you fat." And then in only a way my father can get away with, he'd say "Jennifer, you used to be one in ten million, now you are only one in ten." My father had always made me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world, but now he does it with the caveat, "you will be better if you lose weight."

One does not gain 40 pounds with one meal or a couple of macho nachos. Little by little I let myself go. I stopped exercising, started eating unhealthful foods late at night-a fourth meal if you will. And worst of all, I ate when I was not even hungry 'cause it sounded good. I stopped drinking water and began drinking soda. Some call it "cancer in a can." I did so many things wrong and over a period of time it resulted in a weight gain equivalent to the size of a small child.

I'm unhappy with my weight gain because it manifested from lack of self discipline, boredom and control.

Food is one of the greatest pleasures in life but I lost balance and flipped the boat. I had fallen prey to gluttony and sloth-two of the seven deadly sins. Those deadly sins are, in my humble opinion, deadly indeed.

They include: PRIDE, an excessive belief in one's own abilities that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. ENVY is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation. GLUTTONY is an inordinate desire to consume more than one requires. LUST is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body. ANGER is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. GREED, or covetousness, is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. SLOTH is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.

What are some of the DEADLY SINS you commit when you play poker? Playing hole cards you know you shouldn't because you're bored. ANGER is playing irrationally or targeting a player that is annoying, or put a bad beat on you. Playing over your own financial limits or playing with money you shouldn't have been playing with in the first place. Scared money doesn't win. DISTRACTION is the inability to focus, playing poker while you have other things that keep creeping into your thoughts. TIME can be deadly if you're pressed for it; poker cannot be played in a rush. IMPATIENCE (like PRIDE) has been called the sin in which all other poker sins arise. If you ain't got patience, pal, get up and run out of the poker room-pronto!

The point of this column is to make clear that if you're a broke ass or a fat ass it didn't happen over night. It happened by making bad choices over a period of time. But there's good news too: By making the right choices over a period of time we can yet again have money and firm butts!

What do you think? Please email your thoughts to matiran@sbcglobal.net

Changing the world one sentence at a time, Jennifer Matiran believes the pen is, and always will be, mightier than the sword. Contact her with questions, comments or interesting material at matiran@sbcglobal.net.