Looking for critiques! The last part I got from an unknown source, I hope he/she doesn't mind my using it.
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What it is like being overweight, from one persons perspective.

Being overweight can be caused from many different things: overeating, eating the wrong things, emotional eating, low metabolism, thyroid problems - from repeated dieting or even years of not eating enough! Sometimes it is one or more of them, but not necessarily the same one all the time. We think we have "solved" one problem, and then another pops up. Very frustrating, but unfortunately, very common.

If you are overweight, people have a tendency to think you are lazy and just have no self control. They don't think you could possibly be a hard worker - otherwise you wouldn't be overweight. All of these assumptions are just from looking at you, not actually knowing you. If the way you look is the sole reason someone makes an assumption, well it is there loss, not yours. Some people don't like looking at fat people, we become invisible members of society. If people do look at you, it is in disgust - just how could you let yourself go? Being overweight is one of the last "acceptable" forms of discrimination.

People may say "Just stop eating so much". Well, news flash, it's just not that easy. If you eat the wrong things, it can cause cravings, which cause you to be hungry, which causes cravings... you get the idea, catch 22. Then there is the emotional eating - you aren't really hungry, but because some believe that food will make everything better. NOT! Food tastes good for about the first 10 seconds, and then it is gone. The question I had to keep asking myself: "Is that 10 seconds really going to make things all better?" Answer: of course not! Often times I think I am hungry, and I am actual just thirsty. I drink water, wait 30 minutes, if I am still hungry I eat.

It's also harder to find fashionable clothes, it is getting better, but it is still hard. Why on earth to clothing designers think that just because you are overweight that you will automatically want to wear flower prints ALL THE TIME?! No we have fashion sense too, and finally manufactures are starting to realize this.

In school, I remember the snickers of laughter cast in my direction. I remember that no boys asked me out. I lost 30lbs over one summer - then I got asked out. But thinking back on it, I wonder if it wasn't me thinking that since I couldn't possibly be attractive, that I was scaring people off by my downtrodden and shy personality. I still find myself discounting myself, because of weight, my skin condition etc - and I still wonder if some people treat me differently because I treat myself differently. I still have problems with my preconceived ideas about myself, but I am working on it. Like I said before, if "they" don't like it, it is their problem, not mine.

In work, where people are supposed to be adults, I still get treated like the 5th wheel. I consider myself to be very competent in what I do, but there are still those few bullies (and they are bullies) that associate my looks with my smarts. I am afraid to look for another job in order to advance my career because of fat discrimination. Also, I don't think I've quite gotten my self confidence to the point where I believe in myself no matter what.

The bottom line is, be happy and healthy. Be comfortable in your body and in your mind, not matter what your size.

Did you know ...

...that you're a terrific person, no matter how much you weigh? That you are magnificent, interesting, and deserve love, no matter what your dress or slacks size?

Someone may have told you differently, that your getting love was conditional on your being a certain body type, a certain shape. That person may have acted out of helpfulness...or nastiness...or most likely, out of sheer ignorance.

Bigotries proliferate through ignorance. All bigotries--racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, religious bigotries, whatever--are passed along like head colds at the school yard, from there to home, and back to school again. Children hear "fat" being used to insult...and they believe it is an insult, that there is something inferior about the condition. They are just children; they need guidance in this. And if they do not have a wise parent, teacher, or counselor to correct them, they go through life with their bigotries intact.

What a wise parent would have told them is this: we are all brothers and sisters, and if we are to judge at all, let us judge on the content of a person's character. What we can see from a distance is a tiny part of who a person is. Wait, listen, pay attention to that person, don't judge, use your ears and heart and mind as well as your eyes before you decide about the person.

The truth is, you are an incredible one-time miracle in a vast, vast universe. Billions of species have existed on this earth, with billions of members each...and every planet far out there that has life has trillions of beings...yet among all this, you are unique, the only you that ever was.

Your weight now, the rate at which you lose, the natural size you will balance out to eating healthily is a tiny, tiny part of who you are. You are valuable and wonderful and fascinating for so many other things; you are loveable simply because you are you.

Remember this. Remember