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.