10 Things You Probably Don't Think About Unless You're Obese

Photo courtesy of Michelle MeiklejohnWhen counseling clients who are obese or morbidly obese, I’ve noticed some of their physical discomforts to which I'd otherwise be oblivious. When I mentioned this to Emma, she completely understood and immediately jotted down this list for me. She doesn’t have to deal with these now that she’s lost weight but she will always remember each one. Number 8 stands out most in her mind. Emma's list may not be enjoyable to read but I wanted to post it just to increase awareness and sensitivity.

1. Sitting down in public places.  You scan a room before walking in to look for chairs with no arms and you study the sturdiness of the legs. I've been in a situation or two when I stood because I knew I wasn't going to fit into a chair comfortably.
2. Scales do not register.  Mine stopped at 333 pounds and I kept putting on the weight. It is always a horrible feeling, always.
3. Shopping for clothes.  Actually not just clothes but shoes, accessories and jewelry. Stylish plus-size clothes are hard to find, and when you do find them, they are expensive! I carried a lot of weight in my feet and it was hard to find wide, comfortable and stylish shoes. Accessories, like the straps on purses, extend only so much. Jewelry like rings are usually available in size 6 or 7. My biggest ring was a 10 and they are not easy to find. For bracelets and watches, the average band is 7 maybe 8 inches and my wrists were 9.5 inches. I eventually gave up looking for jewelry because it was so depressing and disappointing!
4. Seat belts in a car or air plane.  The seat belts were always tight, but what could I do? I needed them. I was in an airplane when I was 21 years old, at my heaviest. The first thing the flight attendant asked me was if I needed a seat belt extender. I almost died of embarrassment.
5. Grooming (cutting your toenails, doing your hair).  When you are very heavy, you cannot bend down and pick up something you dropped, let alone reach low to cut your toenails, which takes time and patience. When you have a lot of mid-section weight it just gets in the way. Sometimes my mom had to paint my toenails. It was also hard to do my hair; I had large heavy arms and it was hard to hold them up, even to put up a quick pony tail. This is why I usually wore short hair.
6. Cleaning yourself.  Now this one is embarrassing. Let's just say it's hard when you have so much body fat. Though I managed, it was a struggle.
7. Hard to move.  It's hard to get up and down or even move side to side without feeling winded or tired.
8. Sleeping.  It was so difficult to get a good night’s sleep. I always felt suffocated by all the extra fat around my neck and chest. I had to use three pillows to prop myself up enough so I could breathe right. It was an annoying but necessary process.
9. Finding sturdy furniture.  When I bought my bed when I was 17 I was 265 pounds and the first question I asked the store was how much weight it could hold. The answer? 500 pounds. I was relieved. I had had a couch and chair in my living room that had broken from sitting down too fast...you really can't do that when you are obese.
10. How hard it is to stop eating and start exercising.  People think that it's easy to stop eating a lot of junk food, and it's really not. I grew up eating a lot of crap. It's hard to change old habits. Think of it this way, it's an addiction. An alcoholic can avoid a bar or a liquor store but you have to eat to live. It's very hard to overcome a food addiction or eating disorder.