What It's Like to Be Fat
Updated on July 28, 2007
It's Just 10 Pounds
The next time you go to the grocery store, pick up a 10 pound bag of sugar or flour. Buy it. Put it in your backpack, and put your backpack on backwards, so the weight of the bag is in front of you. Now, walk around, jog, and jump.
What does it feel like? Does it jiggle or bounce? Is it putting stress on your back and neck? Are your knees, ankles, or hips getting sore? Are you getting out of breath or tired faster? Is it more difficult to bend over to tie your shoes? Would you want to do a vigorous workout with this weight?
This is what it's like to have 10 extra, useless pounds.
50 Pounds of Extra Fat and More
Now imagine having a bag tied to each thigh, one tied to your stomach, and one on your butt. That's what it feels like to have 50 extra, useless pounds. Of course, you could go on and imagine what it would be like to have 100 extra, useless pounds, and so forth.
Fat is Cumbersome
Being overweight, or fat, is difficult. It's difficult to be graceful when your encumbered by useless weight. It's difficult to be comfortable when almost everything is designed for thinner people (e.g. clothes, chairs, doorways, cars, etc.). It's difficult to feel attractive when almost all of the media emphasizes the attractiveness of thin people. It even difficult to be healthy. If you have emotional issues, it gets even more difficult.
Fat Makes You Self-Conscious
While some fat individuals love the extra weight and even flaunt it, most are more than just a bit self-conscious about their extra pounds. Nobody seems interested in you, and if somebody does flirt with you, you can't help but wonder if they are truly interested, just teasing you, or simply feel sorry for you. You even wonder if this flirtatious person is just interested in your fat, because that is a turn-on for some people, just as a women with large breasts always wonders if she would still get the glances and smiles if her breasts were less prominent. Sometimes you get comments about your weight, usually from people who think they are trying to motivate you but occasionally from somebody who just wants to hurt you. Sometimes you hear the comments made in whispers from one onlooker to another, or perhaps you get a disgusted stare. Let's not even get into how much you criticize yourself. Sometimes you even hate yourself.
Fat Makes You Feel Guilty
Then there's the guilt. You feel guilty for letting yourself get so big. You feel guilty for not getting rid of the weight. You feel guilty for eating or sitting down because you know you're just contributing to your obesity. You feel guilty for taking time to exercise at the gym or joining weight loss programs because it takes time away from your family, work, etc. and it costs money that you could be spending on something "more important". You may even feel guilty for giving your family healthy foods while they beg for McDonald's or for creating separate meals, one for you filled with healthy food and one for them filled with unhealthy food. You feel guilty for taking pills because it means your too weak to lose the weight on your own. You feel guilty for not taking pills because you wonder if they really would make the difference. You feel guilty about not taking care of yourself and wonder if you'll leave your family due to your early death, and you feel guilty for dying even before you're on your death bed. You feel guilty about not being able to participate in activities that require physical fitness with your family and friends. You feel guilty if you do participate because you slow everybody down. You feel guilty for being so big that you bump into everybody when you walk down the aisle on a bus or airplane, and then you have to say "excuse me." You feel guilty for feeling guilty.
Obesity Makes You Scared
Being aware that you could develop a serious complication and die from it is a thought that enters your mind every time you look in the mirror. It may be hidden behind thoughts of bathing suit season, but it's there.
I could develop a symptom, go to the doctor to find out why I have that symptom, and discover that I have yet another dreaded disease. If I can't control my obesity while I'm healthy, how am I ever going to control it while I'm sick? If I can't control it, what will happen to me? Which complication will kill me first? How soon will I die? What am I going to miss (e.g. my kids growing up, my grandkids growing up, my partner in life) because of my early death?
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