I am fat, and quite frankly there is nothing to hide about it. Not that looking fat matters that much to me as much as some people tell me, but there are other things that matter.
There are the obvious health and fitness concerns. Not only does being obese increase one’s chances of heart attacks, diabetes, and other diseases which will hamper me in the long run, there are also immediate impacts such as going out of breath when I walk fast. I can run little without having to stop to catch my breath. My general body flexibility is lower than normal, and my body spends more time supporting the extra mass than it does doing anything else.
My being fat has less to do with my genes and more with my habits. Being the foodie that I am, I enjoy eating a lot. However that also involves a lot of fast food and other unhealthy foods. My physical work is quite low to balance the intake of so much calories. While I have been ‘chubby’ and ‘healthy’ for quite some time now, but it didn’t matter much in the initial days as I used to get at least an hour of volleyball every day apart from the fifteen minute warm up run. With the decline in the amount of time I spent in sports, my fitness levels fell.
Sometime after starting work, I did join a gym. In the few months that I did go to the gym (and did all that the instructor asked me to) there was very little loss in weight. But my fitness improved greatly. The amount of time I could spend on the treadmill and the elliptic trainer without puffing kept increasing steadily. Of course it is poor on me to say that, I haven’t been to a gym since long.
Apart from these there are other things to worry about. I will like an outfit, but it won’t be available in my size. It feels cramped while sharing seats on public transport, and in some cases one has to be really careful with old and weak furniture that might collapse.
It’s not just a matter of going to the gym or being part of a sports team. Quite a few people I know who can’t make it to the gym as well, but take up cycling or running to improve their health. So I guess it’s not just a better body I want, but better lifestyle choices that will in turn lead to a better body.
Written for Day 4 of the Write Tribe: Festival of words
And I write 
How refreshing to read an unvarnished opinion on one’s current state and a simple wish of where they’d like to be.
Sadly, gym is one place where most dreams go to die.
General physical activity is something we miss almost totally these days. So many things can be done online that we rarely need to get up from our chairs. We must make a conscious effort to move around more throughout the day. Also some ‘tricks’ like generally taking the stairs (not the lift), parking a bit away from one’s destination so that one can walk a bit, etc.. Finally, the one simple thing that most of us find very difficult to implement: eat less, eat healthy.
It gets so difficult to schedule in some physical activity these days. I used to gym, some years back. Now I prefer walking. Atleast I seem to be able to do it more regularly. All the best to you.
All the best intentions to get physically fit, no matter what the shape / weight aspect is, is always met with sudden death, most often, a few weeks/months after one starts. In my case it is when I start feeling really good, and better, and think I can take a few days off. The rest as they say, is history. Working towards a fitter, healthier self should take a high priority in our list, but getting started and being consistent is more the key, than the intention.
This prompts me to do something about my degenerating lifestyle. Sigh. Thank you.
Fellow.. I once went shopping with a friend who is like x small.. and believe it or not.. she couldn’t find a single dress that fit her.. I go crazy hunting for my footwear, the size is 3-4. a better body is terms of a healthy body yes.. not a slimmer body and slimming by fast track methods should not be a dream… and as for the Indian market, they cater to the medium size, the larger population and conveniently forget there are other sizes small and big… I exasperated and asked a shoe showroom saleman, if you keep every shoe in sizes 6-7 what would people like me do!! sheepish grin he had.. what could he do..
Pins…
umm .. I need to loose some weight too .. like you besides the health issue the things that irritate me the most is liking an outfit and not getting the size !