Ha! It has been a long time since I could fit into the seatbelt on an airline. I've had to ask for "extension" belts for a long time now. On one trip, the armrests were solid and didn't more and it really hurt to squeeze into the seat. If that flight had lasted more than an hour and a half, I'm not sure what I would have done!

And then the look people give you when you say you're seated next to them. One old lady looked nearly terrified at me. Boy I'm I SORRY!!

Then at the restaurants I always have to ask for a chair without any arms as otherwise I have to sit on the edge of the seat. And forget the stadium seats. Yuck!

And I used to like to ride a bike, but at some point it just hurt too much to sit on those tiny seats. Boy will it be nice to ride a bike again!

But, I was able to fit into most of the rides at Disneyland. They must have a lot of overweight people that go there.

But the biggest thing for me is just to have the energy to do things. I simply can't do a lot of housework as it's just too hard. It especially hurts to kneel and do something -- so forget trying to tile the floor!

I would love to go camping and hiking with my kids and make it more than a mile or two. I would love to go swimming with them and not feel like a huge marshmallow. I would love to take my wife to Europe and enjoy myself.

And to think I put off losing weight when it has turned out to be relatively easy! How stupid I was not to do this sooner. But how grateful I am that at least I found out about this WOE now!

In short, life is hard when you're way over weight and you just can't do things easily. You're truly handicapped and embarrassed about it to boot! And you're killing yourself too.

Losing weight changes a lot. Losing weight and enjoying what you're eating is like heaven.

After I lose my weight, I'm going to take my son and go down to Brazil and perhaps go to the Amazon. I'm going to take my wife to Europe and Israel. I'm going to go skiing with my whole family, and camping, and canoeing, and bicycling, and mountain climbing, and hiking, and snorkeling, and... and I'm going to take my wife to the beaches of Hawaii and lie in the sun and try to surf!

Who says it's fun to be over weight? It's fun knowing it's coming off and there's no reason on Earth for it to ever come back!

Dean in Arizona