The "I am fat mentality"

When I was fat I would doubt myself a lot, for me being fat meant I was not good enough. I have missed opportunities just because I felt disappointed in myself, I have feared meeting friends because I was scared of being photographed, and I would avoid trekking trips, running games because I believed I would slow everybody else...

For a long time I thought it was only me, I thought I was alone but recently I noticed a close friend of mine changing, she has put on a few kgs and suddenly she has started questioning herself a lot, she has changed from a girl who loved being photographed to somebody who avoids it or deletes most of her photos, dressing up to go out is a huge stress in her life, she believes every joke anybody makes and it breaks my heart to see her go through what I struggled with for so long in my life...

I feel this is just the first stage when you worry only about looking fat but if you don’t get a hold of yourself you will go down a wrong path where you will not only hate the way you look but also hate the way you think or the way you feel and that is not the way to live life..

This is what I want to tell my friend  and anybody else who feels the same way

Don’t let being fat be the reason to doubt yourself and get scared

Scared of going to the gym?

The gym always has people of different sizes and fitness level, lot of the fit people in the gym at some point could have been unfit, fat or unhealthy so most of the people in the gym understand what you go through and 99% of the people in the gym appreciate the effort you put in..Personally when I see somebody regular do better in there workout it motivates me to do better, I don’t focus on how fat or overweight the person is but instead I focus on how much effort a person puts in to improve and that is admirable

Doubt you can ever complete a workout?

Even if you are overweight if your doctors say you can do a workout, you surely can. You might not finish in the same time as a person who has been doing it for longer than you and remember most of the exercises can be done both at beginners and advanced levels. So next time before you give up on a workout just because you doubt you can do it try the beginner’s version at least once...

Worried about being the slowest runner ever?

Even if you are slow you are moving, you are stepping towards becoming better and that’s what matters. I have noticed people encourage and appreciate you if you put in the effort..I remember one time when I was struggling to jog a person jogging past me smiled at me and said to me ‘doing good ..keep it up..’ at the exact moment I was thinking of quitting and going home because I was embarrassed but after that I was motivated to complete my round.

Don't let being fat decide who you are as a person

Just because you are fat or overweight does not mean you are not beautiful and smart, this is difficult to understand I know because I still struggle with this but the fact is if you are confident, happy with yourself you look beautiful.You might not always be able to wear the clothes that you love but that still does not mean you don’t look beautiful .Many times I have noticed girls bigger than me looking so pretty and carrying off clothes that I was worried to wear just because I was fat. Feeling good is never about size it is all about being happy with yourself

I feel if I associate my worth based on my size or weight I will constantly be evaluating things in the wrong way. I love talking and meeting people but I avoided people, at university I avoided participating in presentations because I was afraid everybody would laugh at me not because I can’t present well but because I was fat...that’s just wrong!!!

You are not alone

Go online you will find so many people in the same boat, even in the gym there are so many people who understand and go through such feelings, people who have managed to change, people who are struggling to change..you always find somebody who is in the same journey with you..you are not unique at least in facing this problem, you will always find company.

In conclusion...

Please don’t let your weight decide how you feel about yourself, let your weight not decide what you should do in life. Being fat or overweight doesn’t mean you are not good enough, beautiful, smart and loved.

Keep Reading I will Keep Writing 

Tanvee