Life when you are overweight

I want to start off right from the first saying I am not writing this to get sympathy or anything, just simply talking about what it is like to be overweight in our world.

First there is the hard social challenges.  Being severely overweight like I am, I have issues when I try to go out to eat, does the place have tables as I don't fit in a booth.  Also when I try to go to concerts, shows, ball games, plays, etc.  Will I fit in the seats, do they have arms etc.  Also when riding in someone elsescar, will the seat belt fit.  I don't go to amusement parks anymore as I can't fit on the rides and often can't walk so much.  I often have problems doing many things so I usually just say no rather than be embarrassed.  It makes it hard sometimes because I don't want to tell everyone why I don't go to things and why I don't participate.  That then adds to the emotional baggage we all seem to carry as we feel bad about ourselves.  I know that my eating habits are the reason I am the way I am and there is no one to blame but me, but it still makes life so hard and once you get to this point, trying to reverse the damage that I have done is not easy.  That brings us to another problem, the toll the extra weight takes on my body.  I am just barely into my 40's and my health is really declining which brings me to a point I felt I had to face this problem head on and take drastic action to reverse this problem.  So this week I embark on a new journey to try to take off the weight that is killing my body little by little.  Am I doing this because I want to be skinny-NO.  I am doing this because I want to be healthy and be here for my family and friends for a long time to come.  I feel this is a decision that each overweight person has to come to on their own and I hope that the many others out there who need to do something about their health have the wonderful support system I do, my family and friends are the best.  The one thing I want to point out for sure is that no matter how much weight I might lose I will always believe that people deserve to be treated special no matter how big, how little, how tall, how short, how smart or how dumb they may be.  No matter their length or color of hair, no matter how many tattoos or piercings they may have, no matter if we like their bad habits or not, God calls us to love the person even if we don't like the things they do.  I hope I can continue to speak out for people and get people to understand that we need to love each other and care about people and reach out when we can.

Just Want To Be Accepted

If you are an overweight person or a person with many other things that society look down on I am sure you know what I mean by this.  As an heavy person there are many things in life that are harder to do than for average size people.  I have to think all the time because I don't want people to know that the reasons I do certain things or don't do certain things are because of my size, because that is embarrassing to me and because some people are not nice about it.  For instance, going to shows, concerts, football games, plays, church and places where you have to sit in small seats is hard for me because I never know if I will fit, so sometimes I just say no or sometimes I buy two seats so I have room.  Even going out to dinner can be hard if the place we go has chairs with arms or if they only have booths, it is hard for me to sit in them.  I like to drive mainly my own van because I know the seat belt in there will fit me, I don't fly because I am pretty sure i will not fit in the seat, even going to the bathroom in a public bathroom can be hard if they are too small and I don't like to use the handicap ones unless I have to because someone else might need it more.  About now some people are probably thinking, well it is your own fault you have these problems what are you griping about.  I am not griping, just pointing out that because of my weight, there are things I deal with that make life hard and it would be nice if people would not put me down because of it.  I realize I have a problem and I need to get healthy and I have been fighting the battle for a long time, more often failing more than winning.  I am sure many overweight people can understand that.  I guess I just don't understand why it is people who don't even know us can judge us and call us lazy, worthless, losers, ugly and more just by our size.  We like all people are different and some of us try really hard to no avail to lose weight, and some of us can't cope with other problems in life so we drown our sorrow in food much like some people do with alcohol or drugs, that does not make us or them bad, just needing help.  My best friends are the ones that love me for my heart and who I am on the inside and don't even see my weight.  I am a beautiful person under all this heaviness and someday I hope to be free of it all and be healthy but in the meantime, get to know me before you judge me and don't say hurtful things.  Just like you should not judge people because of the color of their skin, or the background they come from, or the family they grew up in, or they problems they may have, we are all sons and daughters of God and He accepts us as we are and loves us, then works to help us overcome the problems we have.  I think we should take a lesson from Jesus and be friends to the most unlikeable people and look past the problems and the outside of a person to see the inside.  You know sometimes the most beautiful people who seem to have it all together and are well to do, have a very cold and bitter heart and are selfish, I would take a heavy person with a good heart over that any day.  Just sayin, don't judge the book by the cover.