What I Don't Miss About Being Fat

I can honestly say there isn't a single thing I miss about being fat.  As I lost 75 pounds, there were a bunch of improvements I noticed along the way.  Problems that I was living with that I didn't really notice, but became clear as they went away.  

This list shouldn't be a comfortable one to read.  It needs to hurt to inspire me to stay fit, to inspire you to either lose weight, to stay fit yourself.  Hopefully you can relate or think of your own frustrations.

Here's a quick list:

• Not being able to see my feet.  My belly was so large that when I looked down, I couldn't see my feet.  Or for that matter, my weight on the bathroom scale.  
• Heartburn.  Eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted sounds fun on the surface but it came with a price.  I had to take a heartburn pill every night to stave off heartburn and reflux, and that didn't always work.
• Weak legs.  I remember every time I got out of the car having to plant my leg firmly on the ground in order to support my weight as I got out.  If I didn't do it just right, I would feel slight twinges of pain and weakness.
• Not being able to wear T-shirts or polos.  I know plenty of overweight people wear T-shirts and polo shirts, but they don't look good.  They make you look fat because you are fat, and they just aren't as flattering as cotton shirts.  So cotton it was, day in and day out for 20 years.
• Breathing hard and feeling winded.  We have a two story house, and just walking up the stairs would make me huff and puff.  Any significant activity really wore me out.
• High blood pressure.  My blood pressure high, and I was taking two medications to control it.  After a couple of months of exercise and eating right, I was able to drop them.  While they might have helped keep my blood pressure down, they caused me to have brain fog.
• High cholesterol.  I had high cholesterol due to my poor eating habits, and was taking medication which yet again had adverse side effects.
• Sleep Apnea/snoring.  I had just been diagnosed with sleep apnea, and my wife said I was a severe snorer.  I don't snore anymore at night.
• Feeling self conscious.  I felt self conscious about my weight.  Actually, I was a bit in denial until I caught glimpses of myself in mirrors or photos and realized how bad my problem was.   I really don't judge other people who are overweight. The most I feel is a bit sorry for them, since I now know what they are missing in life.
• Lack of activity.  I didn't swim, I didn't play with my kids, I didn't bike, I didn't swim, I didn't go on hikes.  I was pretty sedentary.  I would come home from a desk job at work exhausted and tired, have dinner, sit on the couch and fall asleep.  Now my wife might say that I still do that on occasion, but I do feel a lot more energy in general and am adjusting to a more active life. 
• Not fitting.  I remember being extremely uncomfortable on planes, spilling a bit over my seat and almost to the point where I needed an extender.  I got into our old car one day (that our children now use to drive around)...and I didn't fit, I was crammed in behind the steering wheel and could barely drive, even with the seat back all the way.  At cultural events with bleacher seating, I remember my knees jamming into the back of the seat in front, and having to shift constantly to avoid knee, bum and leg pain.
• Short ties.  I know this sounds funny, but when you're fat, your tie has a longer way to go to meet your belt buckle.  I would have to tie my ties almost to the end to get them to the normal length, and the short part behind couldn't be tucked into the tie itself because it was too short.
• Brain Fog.  Whether it was due to all of the excess fat or the medications I was taking, I had a significant amount of brain fog which clouded my thinking.
• Rubbing thighs.  The inside of my legs rubbed together a log when I walked, and caused chafing and soreness.
• Ballooning clothes.  Because I was a bit in denial, I chose not to go to larger sized clothes, instead feeling incredibly uncomfortable and tight in the clothes that I had.  I had to buy a size 56 suit for my daughter's wedding in May of 2013 because I wanted to be comfortable.  It was depressing, because I went to Macy's and they didn't have a single suit in the entire store that fit me...that had never happened to me before.  I had to go to a specialty big and tall store.  I also wanted to not appear as fat as I was, so I bought one of those slimming T-shirts to shape my upper body a bit better.  I tried it out for a day before the wedding and was so uncomfortable I just made due.  I also found that my cotton work shirts were starting to rip quite often, very puzzling. Not very puzzling at all...I was fat, and I wasn't buying clothes that were large enough.
• Wearing a bath towel.  This sounds funny, but it bugged me that I couldn't actually fit a bath towel around my waist.  I had to wear a huge, hot, uncomfortable robe getting ready every morning.
• My wedding ring.  My wedding ring was wedged into my finger.  Since I was quite a bit thinner when I got married, ballooning to 290 pounds made my wedding ring look like a hoop that a tree grew around over the years.  Not that I wanted to take it off, but it couldn't come off.  And it was red and raw underneath.  Now it slips off with ease and doesn't pain me.  Not that I want to slip it off (did I say that before? ;-).
• Hygiene.  Ok, I've always been a clean guy, shower every day and very hygienic.  But I'm sorry, when you're that fat it gets hard if not impossible to reach certain places to clean.  I know, TMI.
• Not caring about myself.  It's strange, but since I wasn't eating right or exercising, I didn't care much about my clothes, my hair, my teeth, my skin or my general appearance.  A general lack of concern about my body, inside and out.
  

Problems like I listed above happen gradually over time and you really don't notice them, that you aren't living up to the potential of the sacred body and life God gave you.  Yeah, there is some sacrifice involved in controlling what you eat and learning the discipline of exercise.  But how small of a sacrifice are those compared to all of the many, many problems brought on by being overweight?  A small sacrifice indeed.  

If you are overweight and have some of these problems or others, I encourage you to think about your quality of life.  I promise you that being healthy is worth it.