Why did god make me fat?

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Walks The Fire:
Its not fair. Why did he make me this way. When I was growing up all I wanted was to be a wife and mother. It will never happen. People just feel sorry for me. They walk up to me and give me diet tips. My doctor wants to put me on diet pills. What is the reason? I am struggling here. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I am sorry you feel the way you do, but there is no reason to be so hopeless. I have a family member that struggles with the same thing. She doesn't feel anyone will like her because of her weight. One thing I can guarantee is that you don't want someone who can't look any further than looks. I bet you have some really great qualitites that are being covered up because you are ashamed of your weight. How you feel about yourself projects to others. Try to think more positive. Maybe going on diet pills wouldn't be such a bad thing if it will make you feel better about yourself. You need to understand that people will love you for who you are and not what you look like, if they don't it is their loss.

 

its not just a woman thing. I am overweight (I've gained 100 pounds since getting married 19 years ago). My wife hates it and it really turns her off. I have done every diet in the world and nothing works. I know what you mean about everyone's reactions to you.."you just don't have will power" and even "if you really loved me you'd lose that weight".

 

Walks the Fire,
I'm sorry that you are unhappy. You are in my prayers.
I don't know why God made you fat (for all I know you are skinny and only think you are fat). But I do know this: God created you in his own image. You were designed to be like him. So you are made how he meant for you to be made.

I agree with Kelissa-finding a husband and having children is not out of your reach. But first you have to realize that they are not essential to your happiness. First you must be happy with yourself.
How do you do that? By living the life you were meant to lead-a life in Christ. Visit churches, find one where you are at home. Speak to a pastor or other spiritual counselour. When you find your true self, that self that is re-born in Jesus Christ, you will begin to know the life you were meant to lead.
Once that happens, you will feel better. Maybe you'll lose weight from treating your body as the temple of God. or maybe you won't. But you will be happier and more "attractive" b/c you will be the person you were created to be.
Don't be surprised if this transformation doesn't lead to marriage and children. But even if it doesn't, it will lead you to new life in Christ, and family in his church.
And that is the life of true happiness.
Good luck to you, sister. We are praying for you.

 

I too struggle with my weight but I don't think God made me fat any more than I think God made some people smokers, some alcoholics, drug addicts, etc. It's our sinful nature we struggle with. As with all of our bad habits, we will never be free until we fully give them over to Christ. I even feel (this is my opinion) that my weight problem keeps me from having a closer relationship with God. I feel that I have made food into a "god" if you will and I serve that god all the time. Don't get me wrong, sharing this information is very hard for me. I just don't want you to blame God, He didn't make us this way, we made ourselves this way. We need to lean on Him for EVERYTHING and allow Him to work in our lives...I guess I should take my own advice here.

Kathy
&lt;&gt;&lt;

 

Kathy, Amen and thanks for sharing! Many of us are struggling and indeed it is not easy to talk about! I gave up one drug for another. I don't smoke now, I just eat a lot. I am working, however, on turning that over to God too. You are sooo right. We must depend on God for everything!

Don't blame God and don't waste time blaming yourself. Let's just try to focus on getting it right from here on out. Day by day, one step at a time. If I wasted time blaming myself or God for everything I didn't like about myself or life (well..I do that sometimes) I would get no where! God forgives and forgets, sometimes we need to remember it's ok to forgive ourself and move on and if we fall don't worry. Remember we are in God's hands not our own.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Psalm 37:23 If the LORD delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm;
24
though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

~Lorelei

 

I, too, have struggled with my weight for years now. My husband simply says I have no willpower, but that's spoken like a true male. Sometimes I get cravings that are unbelieveably strong. Sometimes I will hold a glass of water, and every time I think I need to eat something I drink some. I end up making many trips to the restroom, but it does help and it keeps me full.

Another thing I have done is that I simply do not buy bad things at the grocery store anymore. I buy tons of fruit, though. The first couple of days without bad things are hard, but eventually you WILL find yourself craving an apple instead of cake.

Once a month I have a week where I simply could eat everything in the house. I keep some Dexatrim around for that week and it helps tremendously. I find that I feel VERY full quicker and I don't have that unbelievable need to eat.

I am slowly losing weight. It's hard, but if you make some small changes it will happen. What I'm hearing from you is a deeper problem than just bad eating habits, however. I have had overweight friends who seem to always have dates. Simply being overweight will not keep you from dating, but a negative self-image will. If you keep telling people you aren't worth anything because you're fat, they're going to start believing it.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mark:
its not just a woman thing. I am overweight (I've gained 100 pounds since getting married 19 years ago). My wife hates it and it really turns her off. I have done every diet in the world and nothing works. I know what you mean about everyone's reactions to you.."you just don't have will power" and even "if you really loved me you'd lose that weight".<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Studies have shown that diet alone is NOT a good way to lose weight and keep it off. Exercise is more important than diet. Increased activity and a mild reduction in calories should take weight off of anyone, barring the physiologically malfunctioning.

And aerobics may not be the best either. Moderate strength training burns calories, increases muscle mass, and causes the metabolism to burn calories at a higher rate for hours after the workout.

5-7 basic exercises, done for 3 sets fo 10, three times a week is a good weight reducing regime.

 

I would encourage you to read Job.

 

A friend of mine was so troubled by her weight, she started to take phen phen and something else, and ended up dying because of taking these diet pills, this is not what God wanted for her life, but satan wanted her to focus on her weight so much that it bothered her to be heavy, satan enjoys getting people all caugh up in their emotions so that their focus in on self and not on God, please focus on God and His word, study it meditate upon it and let God through it shape your life, your physical body will be the better for it.

Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,whose mind is stayed on thee:because he trusteth in thee.

 

Dear Walks the Fire,
I struggle with my weight as a result of my illnesses (back problems & fibromyalgia). Even tho' it is difficult (finding clothes, being at peace with my appearance, dealing with critical people, etc.) I have found that my peace comes not from dieting but from looking directly at my Lord!
"I am fearfully & wonderfully made" the Bible says. Hallelujah! God knows my frame: He made it, and did so out of love.
No trial I walk through is without purpose, it is to create godly character inside of me. And really, God is more interested in our character than our dress size.
That doesn't negate our need to eat properly, get our rest, drink lots of fluids & exercise (as we are able--some of us aren't physically capable of doing alot). But those things aren't what give us stability. Looking unto Jesus, the Author & Finisher of our faith (Heb. 12) is what gives us joy & stability!
A great book has helped me tremendously:
Jerry Bridges' Trusting God Even When Life Hurts (NavPress). Please see if you can get a copy of it & savor it slowly with your Bible.
As we come to rest in God's sovereignty in every area of our lives, we are stabilized in His love. Our peace grows, and joy bubbles forth.
May you find that you are loved with His everlasting love & treasured as the apple of His eye!
In His love,
Tami (javalady)

 

Hi, I'm glad you found us. Welcome aboard.
I know exactly what you are going through. I alwasy thought people wouldn't like me because of the way i looked. Well I have gotten over that. If soeone doesn't like the way I look I daon't care, they are someone I want to like me anyway.
I've been married 21 years and was over weight then, and am more now. My husband loves me just the way I am. I've been working on a christien program called Thin Within, it's about becoming obedient to God, it wasn't Him wwho made me fat, but me who made me fat. I am God's temple and I have mistreated His temple. Remember all the things the Bible says about the O.T. temple, in all it's beauty, thats what we are to God. He loves us, He loves you.
Heres a link, email me if you want and we will talk about it, I have really been loosing weight and have not dieted once in T.W. (a total of 37 pounds so far as I know, I rarely weigh and it's been at least a month) http://thinwithinonline.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anewbeginnings/?yguid=78959768

[ February 16, 2002: Message edited by: katie ]

 

You have gotten some great advice, here! I had struggled immensely with vanity issues, especially in high school, to the extent that I behaved as a social outcast. I felt tortured and mocked and criticized through my teens and early twenties. I can look back and see just how attractive I actually had been...I had had opportunities to be with my current husband 20 years ago, but I traded in hope for insecurity.

I don't know what makes some of us secure while others of us suffer over every blemish, but I do know this: people ultimately see who we think we are. I think David Cooke really addressed your situation well. There's much hope in the immediatefuture that does not depend on weight or hair color or skin condition. You deserve to feel uplifted NOW, not by physical but by spiritual means! Whether you believe in Satan or simple human shortcomings, you have the power today to focus on how you want to serve the Lord.

He never turns away from us, no matter what we look like. Like the others above have suggested, God makes us all different and perfect in our own way. You don't owe society an explanation.

God bless you and I hope that you learn just how much of a blessing YOU can be to others who are still suffering as you have been. May you experience peace with yourself today and in the days ahead.

-Margie

 

At the risk of alienating every single person here, I would suggest that if we lived in Africa or China none of us would be carrying extra weight...

If and when we learn to treat meat and fats and sugars as condiments and not as three separate food groups, I think we will have a decent part of the battle won.

And get physically active. Just a little at first if you are really overweight. Walk. Park your car at the FAR end of the parking lot and walk. Get two five pound 'barbell' weights and put on some favorite music for only ten minutes and just move your arms around while holding those weights, SLOWLY. Move your arms together and differently up and down and around and back and forth for ten minutes if you can. You might be surprised that you might not last ten minutes. Start with what you can do and work up. In less than half an hour a day and eating better you will be surprised at how much better you will feel and look.

500 calories a day less and that means a pound a week off. That's 52 pounds a year and over 100 in two years. That is a VERY safe rate and very doable.

In other words, God did not "make us fat." We have done it to ourselves, for the most part, as a culture. Yes, there are medical reasons for some -- and I have one. My spleen and half my pancreas were kicked into pieces by an upset horse when I was 21 and I have "brittle hypoglycemia" now. When it kicked in I gained forty pounds in two years and panicked.

Panicking didn't help. I ate more.

I gained more.

I will never be what I once was physically. But I'm strong and healthy and reasonable now. I can live with that. I can't walk for fun because I have a 22 year old artifical knee under the skin of my left leg! But I work hard in the yard and do all the housework and also do that weight thingy. It works pretty well as long as I don't hit the cravings.

Which usually come when I am tired.

Take naps! I always plan to -- get about three a week. Anything helps.

 

I agree with some of what others have said.

God did not make you fat.

And despite glandular problems, which in most cases, as I have heard say by doctors and dieticians, are the result of obesity and not the cause, no one can create more body mass than what has been ingested.

No one can gain a pound by eating merely an ounce of meat.

Wont happen.

Can't.

Impossible.

You are overweight because you are eating more food than you need.

That's the long and short of it.

Now, is the solution simple? Not by a long shot. Folks can be in bondage to overeating just like they can to any other vice. Being set free from something like that takes divine intervention. I often pray, "Let me glorify You in my eating." When I pray thusly I have much more strength to resist the temptation to overeat and can stop when I'm simply not hungry.

[ February 16, 2002: Message edited by: Aaron ]

 

I know very few adults that don't have some extra pounds to lose. Something else I've seemed to notice is there seems to be more teens and young people that have weight problems now, compared to when I was a teen. Which leads me to believe there is way too much McDonalds, Burger King and other fast foods, plus a lot less active lifestyle, Play Stations, computers and television. I never had a weight problem until I hit my late 30's and I know the reason. I slowed way down, my children were in junior high and high school by then and I wasn't outside playing baseball, basketball, softball and football with them anymore. We had stopped walking to the lake or park, as we did when they were younger. I didn't do these things for my weight or health, they just always wanted me with them but as they became teens they spent more time with friends. I probably eat as much or even less than I used to but I know what I really need, activity! I really hate exercise, so I guess I just have to get some more kids to play with. (My husband doesn't think that is too funny.) LOL
Another thing...I'm always getting these weight loss ads in the mail. They come in envelopes and are endorsed by some doctor. I don't order these things that advertise miracle pills that eat away your fat! So...why are they sending them to me? Are there skinny people out there turning in our names? I mean, how do they know that I could stand to lose 20 to 30 pounds?
Sue

 

I might just throw in here on the issue of exercise. All of us could use some more I am sure.

1. When you are at the mall or walking through a parking lot, pick up the pace a bit. Force yourself to walk faster than normal. It's not much but a start. And the idea of parking at the far end is a great one. There are time for leisurely walks but I find that creating a little urgency changes my mindset toward other physical activity.

2. When in a multi-story building, use the stairs not the elevator. I always do this at hospitals. It usually quicker plus it gets me some exercise. You just have to pause at the top before you go in the person's room breathing like you have just run a race.

3. If you use an escalator, walk up, don't ride.

These are things that all of us do virtually everyweek. The biggest thing is changing our thought process to discipline our bodies. Don't let the body be the master; make the body the slave.

Walking is great time for prayer and worship, but walk fast. It is also possible to walk and read at the same time on a back road or in a park. The main thing with exercise is doing it.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SuekieLyn:
Another thing...I'm always getting these weight loss ads in the mail. They come in envelopes and are endorsed by some doctor. I don't order these things that advertise miracle pills that eat away your fat! So...why are they sending them to me? Are there skinny people out there turning in our names? I mean, how do they know that I could stand to lose 20 to 30 pounds?
Sue<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

LoL Sue! I know what you mean, but I think it's a great business gamble here in America because more and more of Americans are obese than ever before. With all our weight conscienceness, diet foods, diet pills, shakes and drinks, prescription drugs etc., our focus is on our looks and as Christians, it's a bad thing to take your focus off of the Lord Jesus Christ (as someone else stated).

We should all join Katie over at the Thin Within support group on Yahoo and encourage each other, huh?

Kathy
&lt;&gt;&lt;

 

The moderators have discovered that Walks the Fire does not list a denomination in her profile so I am closing this thread in this forum and will move it to "all other discussions. We, the moderators of the Baptist Board, empathize with the plight that Walks the fire has and this move is due to our Baptist only policy in this forum, not a lack of compassion. I, personally wish you the best, ma'am, and I pray that you find peace.

Clint Kritzer
Moderator

This thread may be picked up in its entirity at the following link:

http://www.baptistboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=24&t=000481

[ February 16, 2002: Message edited by: Clint Kritzer ]