It’s unreal how much your life totally changes when you go from a person who is labeled morbidly obese to an individual who is simply referred to as thin. These multiple changes that you encounter daily can range from minuscule to colossal, and for the most part they are all incredible. From my own personal experience I can honestly say that these incredible changes often create a blissful feeling that can last anywhere from a moment or two up to several days, months or years.
Newfound Abilities
When you lose a lot of weight, it affects all areas of your life. I was reminded of some of the things that change during a return visit to the Ford Motor Company last week. While I spoke with several people, there were three happy employees who eagerly shared their personal weight-loss stories with me. These are stories that I love, obviously, but what was interesting about these three was that they all had something in common.
Okay, now I hear weight loss stories quite often and yes, they often feature similar comments such as:
- “I love that I can wear the same size clothing as I did back in high school.”
- “My back pain is totally gone.”
- “I have so much energy now.”
- “I feel 10 to 15 years younger.”
- “I don’t sit back to watch my kids play, I can run and play with them now.”
- “I now have no trouble getting to sleep and I don’t wake up until the alarm goes off.”
- “I don’t hide from society anymore! I enjoy getting out and doing things now.”
- “I’m off my meds.”
(Obviously there are countless health benefits which occur when a significant amount of weight is lost. These include: decreasing your risk of many types of cancer, Type 2 Diabetes, sleep apnea, stroke, heart attack, osteoporosis, arthritis, and high blood pressure. These are the most important aspects of losing weight as far as I’m concerned; luckily I didn’t encounter these issues when I was 300 pounds. I’m sure that it was only a matter of time until I did.)
But one thing that these employees told me really made me laugh by the third time I heard it: “I can bend over and tie my shoes now!”
Small Things Add Up
Oh my gosh, it’s so true! It was one of those things that I almost forgot about until each one of the three mentioned it… all in the same day!
Yes, when you’re overweight it is very difficult to bend over to tie your shoes. I can’t say that I ever found this task impossible, but it wasn’t very comfortable at all. Actually it causes some mild pain to the stomach area and can force you to hold your breath, since your lungs feel like they’ve been flattened by all your organs that are being pushed upward by your belt. I’ve known many overweight people through the years who will only buy shoes that do not tie because of this problem. It’s much easier to slip your foot into a simple Oxford or boot — athletic shoes that must be tied are out of the question.
So you can imagine how quickly I agreed with them, and all of us enjoyed a bunch of healthy and fun conversation. We had a great time talking about how all these seemingly minuscule changes in your life, created by weight loss, can add up to a colossal amount of happiness!
Hey, it’s what it’s all about: being happy about your life!
Photo by Dave Hosford
