You might not appear as overweight, even if you are since lots of
folks are. To most Americans, the orientals most all look skinny, but
probably they maintain much healthier weights. I notice also that
people who are overweight perceive people at a healthy weight range as
(too) thin and also don't seem to see people who are a little
overweight as overweight at all. Perspective is part of it.

I would suggest taking a couple of weeks off in say January to check
out those Great Lakes areas. Better count on 3 weeks just in case you
get socked in with snow, crash your car on the ice, or suffer a heart
palpitation shoveling snow, or suffer from freeze bite. The area is
hard to beat in the late summer and early fall though, esp. with all
the maple, oak and other deciduous trees. dkw