Whenever I leave the cozy confines of the Beltway, I'm always struck by the astounding size of the average American.

Of course, now that it's August the tourists are crawling all over D.C., and it's had to miss them. Except that I want to miss them, because I get the feeling that they'd do more damage to my '92 Civic than I could do to them.

My "Drink More Beer Diet" has succeeded beyond all expectations. Now I have a solid 31-inch waist, and I can't buy clothes in most men's departments. The problem isn't so much the size, but the availability. It's not too hard to find 30-inch shorts, jeans or pants. And 32-inch sizes are just about everywhere. Thirty-ones, though, are almost non-existent.

What I do, of course, is buy the 32 and wear a belt.

I hate belts almost as much as I hate ties. This is so maddening.

Still, it's a problem I can live with. And my main issue is shorts. My thighs are far too large for 31-inch jeans, and so they hold up my 32s quite nicely. And I almost never wear dress pants (though when I do, I strap on the dreaded belt). So. Summer. Shorts. Belt. Bleh.

Most regular-sized people I know are astounded by how much food I eat. I mean, I really put it away. No one ever accused me of skimping on my portions. And yet, when I happen to be in the presence of "real" Americans, my "massive" appetite is quickly downgraded to "almost healthy."

It's not just how much people are eating, though. It's also how little they're moving. I know, a lot of folks exercise like crazy and still aren't thin. The funny thing is, those folks are easy to spot. They look normal. They walk like normal people. It's the folks who don't get around much who look like balloons with pipe cleaners attached. Wall-E, anyone?

Their kids are the worst. I hear them complaining even before they get to the top of the Metro escalators.

"Three blocks? Three blocks? I'll never make it. Can we just sit down and rest for a minute?"

The sad thing is that these kids truly need the rest. They almost never exercise. They're bussed or driven to school, where they have no recess and P.E. consists of watching health films. They go home and play video games (or, if they're so inclined, read books) and wait for a parent or other caregiver to shlep them a massive snack and almost unimaginably huge supper. Then they watch TV until bedtime. Oh, I suppose somewhere in there they do some homework. Still, there's not much physical activity.

I know, we all come in different shapes and sizes. I'm lucky in that my body basically doesn't digest fat. This trait manifests itself in a couple of unpleasant ways (perhaps you remember the to-do over Olestra), but it also means that I can eat a relatively high-fat diet and not gain weight. I get it. I'm not the person who should be writing this column.

And yet, what seems obvious to me is that obesity is a lifestyle choice for many people. Healthy folks can be thin, average or even heavy. But like I said, healthy people are easy to recognize. They're the folks who look very comfortable with their bodies as they move. It's not a question of size.

Almost everyone, from the First Lady on down, is trying to do something about our national girth. The NFL has its Play 60 campaign, which encourages kids to get an hour of physical activity in every day. There are public service announcements just about everywhere that say the same thing. But none of these things are working.

For those of us with kids in school, there's one easy way to get in a day's worth of exercise: Walk your kids to school. This is often impractical or impossible for those whose kids attend private schools (whether preschool, elementary or secondary), but if your kid is in a local public school, walk with them. Your kids will get some good exercise, and so will you. You may not lose weight, but you'll slowly become more healthy. And if you're stressing about your busy schedule, look at it this way: spending a half-hour (or even an hour) a day walking will make it that much more likely that your heart will keep you healthy enough to actually play with your grandkids.

I'll close with a story. A boy on my older son's soccer team is obese. He's simply huge, maybe four-foot-six and well past 100 pounds. When he first joined the team, he could play for only four minutes at a clip, not even long enough to last a quarter. His mom wasn't able to get him to practice, so his only activity were those small snatches of games.

Last spring, she got him to every practice. He got an hour of exercise every week. And by the end of the season, he not only could play for a full quarter, he could even run for a half. He wasn't any smaller, but he was a lot healthier. He walked (and ran!) instead of waddling. Even an hour a week of exercise (which is well below the guidelines) made a huge difference.

Small steps. Then bigger ones. If we really want to become a healthier nation, we have to make that choice. Right now, we're still super-sizing.

Jon Worley doesn't own a scale.