my two cents

So glad you're taking this step!!  I believe Mike Stroud (former BYU or CES teacher...) has a podcast about this. Google it and share it with the bishop. Also make sure the spirits are sent where they can't come back.  You may also want your residence dedicated as well. Let us know how it goes.
Oh - you can also contact Bro. Stroud if you have questions.

So glad you're taking this step!!  I believe Mike Stroud (former BYU or CES teacher...) has a podcast about this. Google it and share it with the bishop. Also make sure the spirits are sent where they can't come back.  You may also want your residence dedicated as well. Let us know how it goes.
Oh - you can also contact Bro. Stroud if you have questions.

Here is the link: http://mstroud.podomatic.com/  The relevant podcasts are: 17, 18, 40, 57, 58.  Mike is retired after 30 years in CES and has gone on three missions.  He began doing podcasts a few years ago and has a pretty massive following throughout the world.  Last year there were over 800,000 downloads of his podcasts.  Mike is a very good man, very knowledgeable and very close to the Spirit.

So glad you're taking this step!!  I believe Mike Stroud (former BYU or CES teacher...) has a podcast about this. Google it and share it with the bishop. Also make sure the spirits are sent where they can't come back.  You may also want your residence dedicated as well. Let us know how it goes.
Oh - you can also contact Bro. Stroud if you have questions.

I don't really understand what it means to "validate feelings" so I'm not gonna touch on that.
So here's my 2 cents.
You've lived with your parents since birth.  You know them, you understand them, you have this "dance patterns" with them - a consistent action/reaction type of thing that you may not even be conscious you're all doing.  Your mom does X (as she always does) and you respond with Y (as you always do).  Now comes a new dance partner.  Mom does X, you do Y, she reacts with Z, throwing the whole dance off and you end up stepping on toes.  It becomes chaotic and you automatically think the Z is odd because that's not in the dance!  Well, the new dance partner has no clue what the steps are.  She just knows that when someone does X, it's a bad dance.
Now, your wife did not live with your mother since birth.  So, she follows a different "dance pattern" that may be in conflict with your mother's.  The interesting thing about this is that - you both are also still crafting your own "dance patterns" as husband and wife yourselves.  So, there's really no such thing as "wrong or right" feelings in this scenario.  There is simply a misunderstanding.  Now, your job as a husband is to bring your wife into the family tree (we're an eternal family after all) without stepping all over her toes in the dance.  You get to lead the dance - you may have to change the dance from a swing into a chacha to account for your wife's dance steps which means you have to teach BOTH your wife and your mother to chacha.  More often than not, the mother can't chacha no matter how hard you try to teach her.  Old dogs, new tricks ya know.  And that's just fine.  You just need to teach your wife that she can still chacha but when your mother joins in and does a swing, that's just the way she is and we just all need to keep our toes out of the swing pattern and love her enough to give her the freedom to dance to her own tune.  Meanwhile - it is your job to learn to both swing and chacha and to know what tune is playing so you know which dance you're on.  Do you understand what I'm saying?
And that's how you merge two families together into a harmonious existence.  After years of this especially after grandkids and you and your wife has exercised love for swing as you dance your chacha, I will guarantee you (hah!  like I'm a professional that you can sue if it doesn't come to fruition!  blech), swing and chacha will be like milk and cookies.  Different but exists in harmony.
 

#1 100% guaranteed easiest way to solve a pornography addiction:  Watch the eclipse without any special glasses!  Guarantee you will never look at pornography again! 

Then follow this logic...
God gave us the Word of Wisdom through his appointed Stewards.
God then had his appointed Stewards clarify how we should live the word of wisdom.  The Do Nots (Which the church had clearly and repeatedly articulated) and to make it a matter of personal study and Prayer (which the church has clearly an repeatedly articulated)..
That is it.  Full stop.   They have not declared anything about obesity, caffeine, energy drinks, vegetarianism or any of the other 100's of things people might do (or not do) to live healthier.  They easily could have if that is what God wanted them to teach the people.. 
Thus for you to come along and declare that you know better then the church leaders what God would have everyone do is a display of prideful arrogance that the church and God has repeatedly condemned as sin. So cast that Beam out of your own eye...  Then we can discuss the mote that you see in others.
As for Obesity and the 100's of other things... they fall in to the category of personal study and revelation.  Which means that God is going to work with the individual were they are and as a Master teacher make the call on what the individual needs to do.  Following the Lord in this matter is not sin. Whereas not following him is.  However an outsider with no stewardship declaring that they know better then God what the individual should be doing most definitely is.
 
 

POTUS mentioned Jefferson and Washington by using a classic slippery slope argument. Today it's confederate generals. What's next? Founding fathers who had slaves?
So, who's the idiot? The guy who says, "Look what's coming?" or the Leftists who jumped on his suggestion and actually are now making the argument for bringing down Washington & Jefferson?

It appears as though not all seem to understand that obesity isn't always about eating too many doritos. For some, extra weight is a protection. If someone doesn't feel safe in the world, this is a way for their subconscious to change that. For others, they aren't getting proper nutrition, so they're body is actually in starvation mode and stores excess weight for survival. There's also the factor of foods being manufactured to create cravings. I could go on and I'm not defending poor choices but please be mindful that there are factors you may not be aware of or considering so it's best to 'judge not'.
"For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." - 1 Samuel 16:7

Dorothy only wanted to get home, but:
The Scarecrow wanted a brain. The Tin Man wanted a heart. The Lion wanted some courage. So which of these three three is most like you?
I think I'm most like the Cowardly Lion. It would be nice to be smarter or more caring, but looking back I think most of my worst failures come down to a lack of courage 

The wizard didn't (and indeed couldn't) give them what they wanted, but that hardly mattered at the end. By then they had proved that they already had what they thought they were lacking.
 

What helps me is if I plan to do other things before or after that I'd prefer (ie stop at a store I don't get to very often, swing by the out-of-the-way place for a treat since it's on the way home, etc).

I don't have facts as I feel no need to go find them and don't believe for a second that they would change anyone's opinion in modern America.  (I think this must be like the creation / evolution debate - no one is changing their minds on it, ever.)  But I'll recount this anyway...  I once watched a debate between different medical researchers on the topic of obesity.  It was very interesting.  A very credible case was made that the problem is not obesity itself, but rather activity levels and nutrition.  A person could be fat by today's standards (and all you have to do is look at a picture of a supermodel to recognize that 99.99% of us are fat by that standard), and still be perfectly healthy, or even healthier than a skinnier person.  (And yes, historical standards were part of the conversation.)  But our culture has redefined attractive and attached "health" to the new definition, and thus, even those who are perfectly healthy, but not as skinny as the world would have them be, are labeled "obese" and unhealthy.  It was also asserted that current standards (like BMI) were created because they were easy to apply and measure rather than because they've proven useful or accurate.
All kinds of surface-level judgements are quite popular in our culture - and make life sooo much easier (for the one doing the judging).  Comparisons are a great way to make yourself feel better about yourself. </sarcasm>  (This paragraph is a comment directed at our society, not at anyone in this thread, nor at @Grunt, even though I quoted him.)
Does health matter to the Lord?  Absolutely.  Can we mortals look at a person and determine what the Lord thinks of their efforts to be healthy?  Probably not.  Does the Church / doctrine teach us to make healthy choices?  Yes.  Do the members always do that well?  Perhaps, perhaps not.  Is this the doctrine any given person should be most focused on right now?  That will vary from person to person.  I'm not prepared to make these judgements for anyone but me.
Given that there are only 24 hours in a day, the Church has to pick and choose which teachings get priority.  In my experience, this is done through the Spirit guiding the teacher in question, and it works surprisingly well.  Therefore, I personally am not going to question how much air time we give to health or other physical appearance issues.

I actually found out today that the Phoenix, Arizona area has a program called "ARP", the Addiction Recovery Program. I asked the bishop if this was a stake initiative or church-wide. He said it was church-wide but it is implemented at the stake level, but even then, the program and how it's implemented is fairly consistent across the board.
I also asked if it's just a group of alcoholics and if I'd be the only one showing up with a pornography program. He said no, there's a lot of different type of problems for which someone would want to attend like infidelity and so forth.

There has got to be some stuff being lost in translation here.  

Why on earth would you call someone out?  If someone wants to share their struggles that's their business.

We in the Church are very in favor of sex between a man and a woman who are legally and lawfully wedded (to each other).  (Is what @person0 meant.)
(We're not so much in favor of anyone having sex inside the church building... )

Sexual sins receive the attention they do because they directly interfere with God's plan of marriage between a man and a woman and that couple bringing children into the world.  Every sexual sin (porn, masturbation, fornication, adultery, etc.) either discourages (e.g. satisfies desire without going to all the bother of involving a spouse) or breaks marriage and/or having children.  Husband + Wife + Children is the basic unit of eternity.  This is how we believe God's kingdom is constructed.  The purpose of the Church is to support this family unit.  Anything which weakens or destroys or prevents creation of this family unit is pure evil.  Breaking up a marriage, separating husband and wife, was the very first attack Satan ever made, and he's never stopped that attack.  The scriptures which speak of the severity of sins rank sexual sins right after murder.  Thus, it gets a lot more "air time", as it should.
By comparison, obesity (or any health problem) is a distant runner-up as far as sin goes.  Are there happily married obese people?  Yep.  Do they have children?  Yep.  Do they serve in the Church?  Yep.  Are they productive members of society?  Yep.  While it may offend the eyes of modern man (though apparently not they eyes of men in ages past (depending of course on severity)), it is far less a problem than sexual sin.  And I doubt any member of the Church is unaware that God wishes them to do those things which would make them (more) healthy - it's just left to them to figure out what to do about it.  I will say that I've noted a trend in recent years that lessons on the Word of Wisdom focus more on eating healthily and less on avoiding the forbidden items (assuming there's time left after someone derails the lesson into the caffeinated soda debate).
You could also throw into that mix that the world is encouraging sexual sin and discouraging obesity - thus the first needs a counter-voice, while the second doesn't.

@clbent04That's great welcome back!

I attended church today for the first time in 2-3 years. Baby Madi came along too. Almost made it through the 3 hours, but I ran out of formula during the third hour and brought her back home.
Went back to church later in the day to meet with the bishop. Told him where I'm at and where I'd like to be.
Anyway, mostly just wanted to say thanks to everyone for helping me get engaged again talking about the gospel. I guarantee if I didn't find this website, there's no way I would've attended church today. This website sparked my interest in the gospel and giving it another shot. It's reminded me what I love and have missed out on in the church for quite some time now

I know, it's easy to say 'get over it' and it's the advice I'd give others too.  So no offense taken.  This just feels a bit different than a fling.  I was feeling like I was in such a slump, which is why I reached out on here. 
And Suzie is right, I need to just cut him out of my life.  We're still connected on all social media and he still calls me and sends me stuff to read, which seems nice, but it's not allowing me to heal.  Maybe he was only meant to be in my life to introduce me to the church.  I need to make new friends in my ward.

What helps me is if I plan to do other things before or after that I'd prefer (ie stop at a store I don't get to very often, swing by the out-of-the-way place for a treat since it's on the way home, etc).

What helps me is if I plan to do other things before or after that I'd prefer (ie stop at a store I don't get to very often, swing by the out-of-the-way place for a treat since it's on the way home, etc).

Drove to an area in the path of totality. Will spend a few days checking out the sites and will also find a Krispy Kreme for a special 'eclipsed' donut. You only live once!  

Had it with you humans.  In order to shake you out of your complacency, in four days hence, I will darken the sun as a sign for y'all to clean up your collective acts.
Should you wish to make the most of the experience, I recommend the following.
Leading up to the eclipse:
Eclipse - Pink Floyd
Bark at the Moon - Ozzy Ozborne
The Killing Moon - Echo and the Bunnymen  
When The Bright Lights Grow Dim - Eddie Noack
I put a spell on you - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers
Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Blue Moon - Frank Sinatra  
The Moon Rises - EileMonty
During the eclipse:
Total eclipse of the heart - Bonnie Tyler
Ring of Fire -Johnny Cash
Dancing In the Dark - Bruce Springsteen
Paint It, Black - The Rolling Stones
The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel  
Time - Pink Floyd
As the eclipse receeds:
Here Comes the Sun - Album "Abbey Road"   
Blinded by the Light - Manfred Mann
King Of Pain - The Police   
Why Does The Sun Shine - They Might Be Giants  
A Sky Full Of Stars - Coldplay
You are my sunshine - Johnny Cash   

Dillon, let us be KIND to those who are hurting.