Weight Loss Information |
Personal Space: Life After Lap-Band Surgery
Have I become invisible or are people just aiming right at me? It seems to me that in a crowd these days, whether at the grocery store or 5th Avenue in New York City, people will walk right into me if I don't step out of the way. Or they stand so close to me I have to step backward in order to breathe. Now, I have never felt that I have such a small area of personal space. A busy street or mall never bothered me. I could walk through the crowd at a museum or a concert without being trampled. Only since losing 110 pounds have I begun to notice how the shrinking personal space has begun to bother me. When I weighed 277 pounds I always felt emotionally invisible; that no one truly saw me or knew I was there. But while I felt emotionally invisible, I knew I was always physically there. I didn't get bumped into, people didn't stand so close to me that I felt the need to step away in order to maintain personal space. In the mall or on a San Francisco street, people gave me a wide berth. Bus passengers would hesitate before sitting down next to me judging just how much space they would have for their ride home. When a thin person sees a fat person, regardless if the fat person is attractive or not, a bit of uneasiness runs through the thin person; "If I wasn't working out everyday that could be me." "Thank goodness I don't look like that." "Ok, salad again for lunch." According to ABC News, the American public spends $33 billion on the ever elusive quest for non-fatness. The billions are spent on fat-free products, exercise equipment, gym memberships, and weight loss programs. Spent on anything and everything not to become that fat person they see on the bus.So it is no surprise that when the one thing they work so hard to avoid is right in front of them they steer clear of it. As a newly thin person I see the overweight person. I wish I could stop them and tell them how I did it-- that I was once overweight and have broken free. But I can't. So instead I make eye contact. I smile. I sit next to them on the bus without hesitation. But it is a different life I am in now. Today I feel like I am physically invisible when walking those crowded streets, and that people are going to literally walk right into me if I don't step out of the way. I feel like they no longer see me; or maybe they are just no longer ill at ease. Maybe I am now like everyone else and I need to get the hell out of the way if I don't want to get run over. Robin McCoy was banded on February 3, 2004. She has reached her weight loss goal of 110 pounds. Robin is Vice-President and Senior Writer for Lapband Lifestyle, a resource and support group for LapBand patients. http://www.lapbandlifestyle.com
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
7 Keys for Reducing Calories While Eating Out Here are seven tips for getting the calories out of restaurant meals while still ordering your favorites.1. Even Gastric Bypass Patients Hit Weight Loss Plateaus Sometime, during the phase of rapid weight loss after gastric bypass surgery, many patients may find their weight loss is stalled. Talk about discouraging. BuildingMoreThanBodies: Best Proteins For Burning Body Fat and Building Lean Muscles and Strong Bone Lean turkeyLean ground beefChicken breastFish, halibut, orange roughy,More fish, shark, red snaperLean hamLean deli style meatsTuna in waterCottage cheese, (regular or low)Egg whitesWhole eggsShrimp, scallopsSoy based proteinsEggbeeter** Serving size 3-6 oz per meal.These are a great start!!Joel Mosley http://www. Avoid These Five Common Weight Loss Mistakes Mistake 1: Not changing your calorie plan as you lose weight. The fallacy of the "1200 calorie diet" plans and the like. The Milk Diet -- Is it Your Solution for Losing Weight? For sometime now, you've been hearing about the Milk Diet and it's benefit in helping you lose weight. I recently searched on Google for the Milk Diet and could only find vague references to milk as a supplement to help you lose weight. Fast Weight Loss - 7 Day Diet Program for Quick Weight Loss Do you have a big event coming up? Perhaps you have a great dress that you bought in the hopes of losing ten pounds, but just haven't gotten around to losing enough weight to fit into it. In addition to supplements and other weight loss products, maybe the solution to your problem is a seven-day diet. The Atkins Diet IntroductionThe history of The Atkins Diet goes back to the Dr. Atkins' theory that over-consumption of and hypersensitivity to carbohydrates is the root of our problem with being overweight. Low Carb Diet Secrets Revealed! You may be considering a low carb diet program, but wonder if they really work, and if so, how well?Let's take the mystery out of low carb diets by giving you the 3 most important elements to their success.First, you need to bring your carboydrate cravings under control. Weight Loss Myths Every regime has its supply of useless folk lore and half-truths that gets passed on down the line from person to person. But I'd put weight loss up against any of them for what has to be the most time wasting and even the most dangerous myths out there. Unearth the Weight Loss Values in an Egg At the University of Illinois, a new research found that eating high quality protein such as protein found in eggs can help weight loss. An essential amino acid leucine reduces muscle tissue loss, promotes body fat loss and stabilizes blood glucose levels. Before & After: A New Look at New Years Resolutions Have you seen the ditty below that's roaming the Internet these days? Before you read it and fall for its 'humor,' consider this. Each year, thousands, even millions, of people engage in an after-the-holidays ritual of self-denigration and punishment - to make up for the pleasurable indulgence of a very special time of year. Top Thirty Weight Loss Tips and Tricks Here are some everyday, helpful hints to get you started, keep you going, and help you stick to your diet.1. Diet Information - Dieting and Weight Loss Myths That Will Keep You From Losing Weight You've heard them before and may even have believed some of them, but there are some dieting myths that are sure to hinder your weight loss efforts. Keep in mind the following facts when embarking on your weight loss journey: Some hard-core dieters will swear that drastically cutting calories will produce fast weight loss. Diet and Exercise Evolution: Adaptation (part II) -- Examples and Practical Advice Understanding the theory of adaptation (see previous article, Adaptation I) will give you the tools to evaluate your diet and daily routine. If you have any question about whether something is good for you, always examine both the immediate effects and the adaptation effects equally. Why Should I Lose Weight? According to the BMI chart, if you are overweight, you may be more at risk of developing disease. That should be reason enough to lose weight. 3 Secrets Your Diet Book Wont Tell You Are you wondering why you're not losing weight? If you're like me, you've tried every fad diet imaginable, and nothing seems to work - at least not long-term. I've personally tried Weight Watchers (that worked great until my schedule changed and I was no longer able to attend meetings), Atkins (not easy to follow for someone who travels a lot and loves to dine out), and crazy fad diets like the cabbage soup diet, the grapefruit diet, juice fasts, and countless others. Online Weight Loss - Fact or Farce? Over the past 5 years, online weight loss programs have become increasingly popular. One such Internet-only weight loss program claims to have over 1. Water and Weight Loss Water is useful when we are trying for losing weight. Water suppresses the appetite and helps to reduce the body fat. Breakfast and Weight Loss Some people think that skipping breakfast will help them lose weight. It won't. How Body Mass Index Works - Set Your Weight Loss Goals Many people want to lose a few of those annoying pounds, but they just don't know where to start. If only there was some sort of guide that would help dieters to set goals. |
home | site map | contact us |