The title here, that our technology is a weight loss challenge, probably does not take any of you by surprise. If you are overweight or obese, you have faced difficulties yourself in your attempts to lose weight because you have less than a healthy lifestyle.

I'm sure everyone of you has at least one grandparent, or maybe an older relative…or maybe it's you…who loves to go on about how you have it so easy – not like when they were a kid. You know the story…they had to walk 10 miles through hip-deep snow to get to school every day, uphill both ways. And they had to carry 75 pounds of books.

Worse  yet, after they trudged home each evening they had to chop wood, or scrub clothes on a washboard, or milk the cows and feed the pigs, or…these tales of woe go on. You roll your eyes and scoff, certain that no such things ever happened.

Well, though these tales are no doubt highly exaggerated, actually the older folks among us did have it much tougher in a physical exertion sense. They didn't have 3 or 4 cars for every household, they didn't have microwaves and dishwashers and packaged foods, they didn't have a drive-through fast food joint on every corner, and they actually played outside – running and jumping and skipping (gasp!) – rather than sitting in front of a computer or TV for hours on end.

Now most of our modern technologies are wonderful and make our lives richer in many ways. Some of them, however, such as the unhealthy packaged foods and fast-food joints, and the convenient technologies that help us avoid exercise, are not wonderful. In fact, they are the cause of so many of us being overweight or obese, beginning now at a very young age.

I think we can all admit that going back to a few of these old-time practices would be a good thing. So I put out this challenge. If you have decided you need to get serious and finally lose weight and start eating a healthier diet, but it is overwhelming and you don't know where to start…why not just start small?

Start out by cooking simple meals with fresh ingredients instead of grabbing some fast-food on the way home. Along with that, try fitting some physical activity into your day – every day. Come one, now…don't shriek in horror. All I mean by that is…go play outside. Yes, you too, adults. Just eat something fresh and go play outside as your first tiny steps toward a more healthy lifestyle. I think you'll like it.