You Can Do Anything: You’re a Survivor!
18 / 09 / 13
Blog
If you’re seriously overweight or obese, chances are that it didn’t happen all at once. You may have put the weight on slowly, over time. You may have started out life as an overweight child and seen nothing but fat in your future. Whatever your particular circumstances, weight has been a feature of your life for a long time.
We all know that being seriously overweight or obese is bad for your body in myriad ways. But what does it do to your mind?
It turns out that the damage there may be just as bad. Low self-esteem (either because of others’ reactions to you or because you feel disabled), feeling outcast, becoming depressed and/or anxious-these are all serious problems.
Before we go any further, however, know one thing: you are a survivor. You have survived more than most individuals who maintain healthy weights ever have. You are strong and that alone says everything you need to know about your future.
That said, the reality is that life has not been easy for you as an overweight/obese person. You’ve had to deal with social isolation, probably from an early age dealing with the cruelty of schoolmates and then, as you grew up, with the social denigration of adults.
What all this has led to is probably a cycle of social isolation, emotional withdrawal, more overeating, depression, inactivity, and further weight gain.
Since you’re reading this, you’ve probably decided on-or are considering-a bariatric medical procedure to help you lose weight. And this is where the really good news comes in. After your weight-loss surgery, you will in fact drop a lot of weight. You’ll start finding it easier to get around, so you’ll go to more places. People will stop staring at you, so you’ll feel more sociable. You’ll stop avoiding mirrors. You’ll start thinking of yourself without the word “fat” anywhere in your self-description.
That same survivor mentality that has enabled you to endure terrible things is what is going to help you lose weight and keep it off. You’ve already survived so much that adhering to the new programmes of your life-healthy eating, exercise-will be easier for you than they would have been for all the people who criticized you in the past. Bring that mentality with you to your surgery, and you’ll be delighted at what you can accomplish in the weeks and months that follow!