The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[Karakuri]

i've been reading through a few posts throughout the site and have felt a bit sad.

you see, i've been a fat girl for a while now and have been doing what i can to feel good in a fat body. i

may not be what society determines as "normal", but i ask you this... what IS normal?

there have been recent studies on fat. studies showing that even the technically "thin" people have

unhealthy fat. i'd point to the articles, but i don't think we're allowed to share urls? (cannot recall)

at any rate, i was wondering how many of you truly dislike yourself for being a fat person? is there

anything really wrong in being fat? why do you feel the need to lose weight? is it for health or other

reasons?

for the past couple of months i've been a part of a community of fatties. i came to them because they were

such amazing women and men who do not feel disgusted by their bodies. who enjoy life regardless of how fat

they are. they aren't afraid to stand-up and say "yes! i AM fat and i AM happy with how i am!". many of them

are healthy even when others look at them as OMGSOFAT! if only i could be as strong as them.

my own reasoning for losing weight has to do with health. i suffer from chronic pain and both my knees are

messed up. that extra weight was not helping the situation one bit. so i've decided that losing weight is

best for my body to function better. otherwise, i don't overly care if people look at me and think i'm too

fat. i just want to feel better health wise.

so i ask again... what made you decide to lose the weight and what do you consider to be "normal"?

[Jan]

Hi There,
I think you're on the right track. We all like to look great in our clothes ... but large people can look great too. The main reason to part with the pounds is a concern about your health. You've named a concern which is greatly affected by our weight . That's a concern about the well being of our joints. As my friend the orthopedic surgeon says "you just can't carry 2 tons in a one ton truck... especially one with bad tires". Joint replacements simply wear out sooner if we don't part with the pounds and with each surgery the bone softens and the replacement becomes more difficult.
I don't know how old you are but I do know that our bodies will not happily put up with the extra pounds forever. Sooner or later other weight related illness begin to make an appearance. Even if we don't have them now and think of ourselves as "healthy" ... they are waiting and will appear.
One of these is diabetes. It will arrive and once a diabetic always a diabetic. We can manage diabetes but there is no cure. It's here to stay.
There are other things which may be waiting in "the wings". Certain cancers .. breast and colon to name a couple.. are weight related. Of course weight affects our heart and other organs as well. They are packed in fat!! It's just not a good thing no matter how we would like to rationalize. You're on the right path parting with the pounds and getting healthy. Good for you!!
jan

[Mike]

Great reply Jan.
The whole reason to lose the weight for me is definitely not for looks. I want to live a longer life. Given my past history and my family genes... I need to be healthy.
So, I strive to get to a "healthy" weight. I've been a "fatty" all my life, and although I feigned happiness with who I was so that I would not be depressed all day everyday, I definitely was not "happy". I simply got by, and as time went on, I began having health issues and my joints began to creak. So, here I am, healthier than I have been all of my life, and it only gets better.

[bikipatra]

I have a sister who weighs roughly 340 pounds, and I was catching up with her. I was about 100 pounds behind her but knew I could gain that in a year. We were talking once and I asked her a difficult question. "How many old people do you see around who are as fat as we are?" Not many. I wanted it to stop. The weight gain, the neuropathy (loss of feeling/tingling) in my feet and legs, the diabetes, the high cholesterol. Type 2 diabetes had ravaged my family with blindness, amputations and early deaths. Oh, did I mention I was tired of feeling ignored as a woman? I can't say that didn't play a part. I wanted to be hot AND healthy. What a great combination. Because I had been thin almost my entire adult life and abused my body with drugs, alcohol, bulimia-a host of maladies and poor dietary choices. Now I am healthy and I guess "hot" is subjective, but I'll take it.

[Serendipity]

I know, I've heard of people who claim to be happy with their fat bodies and that may be true for some, but NEVER for me. I was not happy for one moment while I was fat.

The health issues are what prompted me to finally do something about it, but I must say that my happiness now with myself is the best payoff of all.

As for what's normal? Well, I guess normal to me means lean, without alot of buldges and extra fat hanging on. I used the bmi charts to get an idea for a target weight and I feel pretty normal right in he middle of that chart.

[DogMa]

I was pretty healthy when I started, so health was not my primary reason for losing weight. I'll admit it; vanity was. If people are happy being overweight, good for them (although if they're happy being obese or morbidly obese and think they're healthy, I think they're fooling themselves).

Anyway, I'm now at a normal BMI, but no, I'm still not satisfied. Now I want a really tight, lean body. I want the best body I can get, and I want to be as fit as I can be without spending my life in the gym or living on steamed vegetables and chicken breast. I want to be strong. I want to be able to run and climb multiple flights of stairs without getting winded. And yes, I want to be hot. In my own eyes, at least.

[bikipatra]

Anyway, I'm now at a normal BMI, but no, I'm still not satisfied. Now I want a really tight, lean body. I want the best body I can get, and I want to be as fit as I can be without spending my life in the gym or living on steamed vegetables and chicken breast. .

Amen!

[Karakuri]

thanks for all the replies! i'll be sure to read through them later. in a bit of a rush at the moment. ^_^

[nickieluv]

I've been a "fatty" all my life, and although I feigned happiness with who I was so that I would not be depressed all day everyday, I definitely was not "happy". I simply got by...

This is very perceptive, Mike. I think it's great to be happy with who you are, but I just can't believe that someone could really be happy deep down with the extra weight itself. One thing I learned early on in my weight loss was that the person I was had nothing to do with the weight I carried. Yes, I could be happy with my LIFE carrying 100 extra pounds, I could be proud of who I was and the work I do - but that doesn't mean I was happy being fat.

I have a long way to go still, but I am only working on my body - my external qualities. Inside, I am still the same person, and as the weight leaves I can examine who that is more clearly without my lifetime of weight-related baggage and excuses. A scary thing, yes, but I'll be better for it.