reality check

So I was watching Super Obese on the Discovery Health Channel the other night and had yet another dose of reality. Sometimes I catch myself thinking, "20 pounds isn't that much in the grand scheme of things..." This show showcased a hospital for extremely, super obese people. One very nice lady was not only quite large but had other health obstacles going against her as well (either because of or in spite of her weight). She had a huge growth on her leg that made the right leg a lot bigger than the left. She had a hard time finding a doctor to remove the growth and subsequent skin but she did and the show proceeded to show the first operation. They removed a huge section of her leg. I saw the mass and thought, "Well that should give her 50 lbs of relief off of that leg." They estimated the growth to be 18 POUNDS!!! This thing was huge! It really gave me a wake up call of how much extra weight I'm carrying around at 30, 20, or even 10 pounds of extra baggage. I have about 20 more pounds to go. I hope this image keeps me motivated to get it off and more importantly, keep it off.

Speaking of shows talking about overweight people. The Today show featured overweight women discriminated against either at work or in public. It really annoys me when a 300 or 400 pound person claims to be healthy at that weight. "Yes, I may be overweight but I'm a healthy 300 pound person." I have an overweight relative who claims the same thing. I'm sure your heart thanks you every day. Yet this same person forgets about the joint pain, the inability to do daily activities easily, the blood pressure, the cholesterol, etc. etc. They may have certain aspects of health going for them but I don't care what they say, it's not healthy. The lady on the Today show claims a personal trainer tried to break her for a week but couldn't. First of all, what kind of personal trainer tries to "break" an obese person or anybody for that matter? Second of all, what were the activities? Her blood pressure is fine but what about her heart rate, cholesterol, the ability to climb a flight of stairs? How are her joints feeling?

Disclaimer for the previous paragraph: I don't believe in any kind of discrimination. I just didn't understand why a particular lady didn't focus on that aspect. She had to make excuses for herself that didn't have anything to do with the topic discussed.

I've always been able to do more in the gym than some of the seemingly fit woment working out next to me. First of all, just because somebody's not overweight, doesn't make them healthy. Second of all, I have a whole host of problems that come with my extra weight including, but not limited to- the weakest knees ever, a belly, high cholesterol, upper back pain, fatigue, occasional depression, etc. etc. BUT HEY, I have endurance and I've always had low blood pressure. That makes me healthy, right??? I don't think so.