Everything I have read so far has touched on my own list too, but I will add :

1) I want to live - serious illnesses which resulted in weight gain, which resulted in more serious illness which resulted in....etc etc...has made me terrified to not lose weight. I want to have a healthy life here on this planet for as long as I am able to and losing weight is a huge step on that path. After having won a round of serious health problems and finally out of bed, I have a burning desire to keep on going forward. I know I will have a much better chance of winning the wars on organ failure if I am not morbidly obese at the same time. Wanting to have a better chance to live longer is the biggest motivator but...

2) I am tired of feeling ashamed and embarrassed for how I look, and very tired of hearing friends say " it's so very sad what happend to you ever since you got sick - you have to feel so terrible". I do feel terrible, but the sad part is that I should be feeling only good for having survived these health problems at all but I can't entirely because I can see the horror in the faces of friends who have not seen me in a long while. No one has been cruel, but their efforts to hide their shock has not been successful and I feel less than great. I want my friends to share in my joy at my recovering... not feel sorry for me, so losing this weight will make that possible too

3) I want to feel like me again. I don't even recognize the face that stares back at me, let alone the body. I feel like "me" is imprisoned inside a body that isn't mine, so I want "me" back

I have yet to be out in public , since I have only recently been up out of being bedridden, but I am sure all those things everyone else mentioned would apply also when I am finally able to get out
and those things will only serve to motivate me even more after I get over the sheer joy of being able to go out at all

Joy

New member here.....love this thread. And Its often times difficult to find other men to relate to.

My list of why I hate being fat:

1. It almost killed me. Yup. It caught up with me (Congestive Heart Failure) back in April 2001. It took me 2 hospitals and a final convelescence in a nursing home to get home after that 4 month ordeal.

2. I need to get down to my best "low" weight in order to someday get knee-joint replacements. I used to golf, play hockey walk two miles each morning. I want out of my wheelchair that I have to have in unknown seating situations outside my house. I want to stand/walk for more than 5 min. at a time.

3. Fit in an Airline seat. Being homebound/near homebound for these past three years, has me wanting to travel and see the world again someday. And booths....yeah...Dang straight!! I never want to feel the humiliation of breaking a chair at my banker's office while trying to negociate a loan!!

4. I want to look in a woman's eyes and see love, for ME, and not pity or DISGUST.

5. Regain my strength and Stamina. I want to work again, and volunteer at a nursing home to help others in need.

6. I want to deflate the mythical power that food has had over me. No more stress eating, comfort eating.

7. I don't want to die. I beat Death once....ONCE. I don't expect another free ride in that department! LOL I want to feel safe and increase my chances for the healthiest, most productive time I do have left.

Welcome aboard Kerouac!

I can't claim to know what it's like to be at 600 lbs, as the most I'be been was 400 lbs and some! But I'm glad you joined us, and congrats on the 78+ lbs or so lost thus far That's a considerable accomplishment!

Please keep us posted on your progress

Wa'il

Love CaptXray and how he got his name. Love all the reasons everyone has given. They all seem to apply to me too.

My reasons: where do I start...? or finish ...?

On reflection I think I could simplify it to :

I hate being fat because it finally dawned on me that being fat means I don't love myself and if I can't do that how can I possibly truly love another or expect another to love me.

I want to live life. LIVING life means continually improving on my relationships, my activities, my abilities, my connectedness with others and with myself. Being thin(er) certainly helps. When I started I never expected to reach goal but now my self-esteem has grown and I feel I can reach it and help others to reach and maintain it.

Take Loving, Gentle, Compassionate Care.

I just want to say, "Keep up that motivation to control your weight and to lose!!! You all have great ideas and reasons for being thin (er)...let's see some more! I am pumped...I finally lost a pound after a seven (that's 7) week stall! I know I'm on the move downward, again! YES!!! I LOVE BEING THIN (ER)!!!! My motorcycle loves it, too! Even my truck is starting to list on the left side a lot less! I might even put on my official Captain X-Ray leotard (and, of course...mask, to hide my true identity!!!) and run throught the local mall screaming how wonderful I feel as I save the universe from the GIANT FAT MONSTER OF the PLANET, "GLOB" that has surrounded our Earth in a Death Grip!

Ok..wiping away the tears...mostly from laughter.

*tired of resenting Mom's well-intentioned comments, "The men will just fall all over themselves as soon as you lose some weight." "We'll go shopping and by you all of the prettiest clothes as soon as you are thin."

*don't want to be the sidekick. Which by the way, I take full responsibility of for putting myself in that role. I see myself as the sidekick, why should anyone else see me otherwise?

*don't want to be the friend that guys like to talk to most...about how in love with my friend they are...ugh!

*don't want to blame things on my weight that really have nothing to do with it. (Being overweight is a great scapegoat...lots of things I can blame on my weight thereby avoiding other issues)

*hate the uncomfortable, hot inside, feeling I get when in a group conversation and the topic turns toward someone's weight, the new food pyramid, the surgeon general's recommendations...anything at all even closely related to weight, health.

*dislike that when I hear somebody describe somebody else (oh, you know her, straight brown hair, works at...) my brain jumps straight to, "How would they describe me? Would they use the fat word? Chubby? The Bigger Girl?"

*don't like that I let myself off of the hook for things until I reach a certain weight

*want to feel petite

*want to stop thinking about my weight as much as men reportedly think about sex...in fact would much rather think about sex.

*hate that flying home for visits is ever so slightly tainted by waiting to see what registers in my mom's eyes as I disembark from the plane...really hate that it matters to me.

*hate being the pot that calls the kettle black when I think about my father and wish that he would do something to lose weight.

*hate that I actually convince myself that I only want a guy that will love and value me for who I am, not what I weigh...but then don't love or value myself. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

*don't like that I will have thoughts that start out as, "If I were thin I would..." Why should I wait until I was thin?

OK...I have a bunch more. But, I think I will save them for another day.

Thanks for listening to me vent.

Well first of all, I'm not exactly sure if I fit into the "triple digits club" but my goal weight right now is 90lbs lighter than my start weight, so I'm close enough to relate to a number of things...I found myself getting a little teary eyed reading this thread, finally people who understand! So I'll add my two cents about WHY I HATE BEING FAT:

*Shopping with thinner friends, and knowing I can't buy that sexy top because it will look terrible on me

*Getting the "standard" compliments, I want someone to just tell me I look great(I have a couple friends who do this, but one can never have too many!)

*Walking through a mall and saying "well there's no point in going in there, I can't fit into anything they sell" and doing that for a few stores, not just one

*The double standard in things like:
* skinny girls can wear a pair of sweat pants to class and look 'casual and confident' but if I did it, I would be the 'frumpy fat girl'
* my friends can order junky food in a restaurant and just be indulging but when I join them I feel like people assume I always eat like that

*I hate people assuming that ANYTHING I say/do relates to my weight.

*I hate even THINKING about my weight, I hate having to be concerned about my butt and where it is, or Constantly adjusting my shirts so that they're sitting right so I don't look fat

There are a few things to be thankful of:

1- I probably am more comfortable in my own skin than a lot of my thinner friends are, I have learned to love my body, my extra curves etc, I'm just me and who cares if I don't look like a model when I'm naked?!?

2- I am a more understanding person to others because I know what the pain of being teased as a kid is like

3- I have learned to understand that comparing myself to others just won't work...we're all different...I really realized that looking at everyone's goal weight on this forum...Some women just want to be 200lbs because that would be a lot of weight loss, some want to be 120 or even less than 100lbs (lol I think my skeleton is more than 100lbs!)

I am SOOOO proud of everyone who has weight, its a hard thing to do and people who have never had to lose a substantial amount of weight JUST DON'T GET IT! I think that this forum has been the ONE thing that has continually kept me motivated, and this time I AM going to do it, I'm not going to cop out and say its too hard, I will go shopping with friends and buy what I want to buy, I will be able to trade clothes back and forth with my friends...I will do it because I can...

And there are some of us who've grown past the "I just wanna look good" stage to the "if I don't, I'll die" stage. And who wants to be buried in a piano box!!?? I have never been thin since the day (probably hour) that I was born. Now I am finally motivated to live a while longer. (The older I get, the faster my time cushion erodes away.) My motives are a lot different at almost 60 than they were at 30 - and my weight is, too. Now that I am at last secure in the skin I'm in, I'd like there to be less to wrinkle. I'd like to be more active w/o being killed by exercise. I'd like, just once, for my hubby to see the person I feel inside my head, not just the plump one he married over 40 years ago. I have been old in my movements for years - now I am trying to get younger as the flab departs. Feeling old decades before my time has been one of the things I hated worst about being fat.

Top Ten Reasons I Hate Being Fat:

10. Can't wear corduroy slacks...the friction from my thighs slapping together would surely start a fire.
9. Could never really eat all that I wanted at a "All You Can Eat Buffett" for fear of people staring at the massive servings I could put away.
8. I am much too young to feel this damn old.
7. I don't recognize myself in pictures...surely that fat redhead is not me.
6. Sleeveless shirts. Nuff said.
5. Those bulges on my back from where my bra cuts into me.
4. I want to feel young at heart again.
3. I want to buy regular size clothing...without elastic waist bands.
2. I want to be healthy.
1. Promised my grandkids I would live to be 80.

I just sat here and read the entire thread. Must say I am a boob and had to cry just a little.

Maybe I am lucky, I discovered my carb addiction and how to live with it before I became any heavier. My reasons for hating being fat are the same as many of you.

I want to make one comment though.... A reason to appreciate how heavy I was. I will never give you "the look", I will never treat you with less respect, I will never make nasty comments or discriminate against you. These are the things I have taken with me from my experiences as a heavy person.

I hope I never forget what it was like so that I can be a better person because of it.

Libby

1. I get out of breath so easy.

2. I have such a big fat stomach that it gets in the way when I bend over to garden or do any thing.

3. I miss seeing my thin jaw line I had even at 180lbs.

4. I get tired so easy.

5. I miss the size 14 I wore when I got married 30 years ago.

6. I don't want my kids to only have fat memories of me.

7. I want to feel and know it's true that my husband is proud to have me by his side when we're out in public or at a party.

8. I want to be free for ever of my constant ADDITION to sugar and chocolate.

9. I want to feel pretty when I get dress in the morning no matter what I put on or wheather I have make up on or don't.
10. I want to sleep better and feel rested when I do wake up...and not hurt when I first step out of bed.

and so on and so on....

Boy, can I relate especially the part about catching sight of myself in a store window. Its hard to believe that the fat womyn who thinks she is gorgeous is really fat! My son is graduating from college June 13, so if only I can lost even 20 lbs. I'm so depressed right now, but reading does keep me from feeling too terrible. Thanks for everyones comments.

Libby, don't worry, as I said in my earlier post, I got teary eyed reading this thread too!

I have always been glad that I didn't show my weight, I look about 30-40lbs lighter than I am BUT I know how heavy I am...I've thought of a few more things I hate about being fat:

*I hate knowing I outweigh all of my friends

*I hate worrying about getting adult onset diabetes or heart disease, or having heart problems

*I hate hate hate being every guy's friend who's 'just like a sister', I want to be the one getting persued by a guy for once!

*I want my body to reflect the sensual sexy person inside.

*I hate that now that I'm getting close to 30lbs lost I don't want to tell people how many pounds I've lost because I don't want them to figure out how much I weigh

I have read this entire post and it is amazing how similar our experiences and problems are. All those years of feeling alone...

I have a couple to add for myself.

1. I truly hate that being fat made my entire time in grades school a living hell. I am one of the ones who has always been fat and always paid a price. School children and even some teachers were cruel. I loved learning and am intelligent (although spelling was never my strong point. Thank goodness.

2. I hate that I wasted four years of my life with a horrible abusive person because he was the best I could do.

3. I hated thinking that second rate men, clothes everything! was what I had to get used to.

4. I hated being afraid to hang out with other fat people because of getting the "oh look, cows really do travel in herds" look.

5. I hated being afraid to hang out with skinny people because I thought I was just there because of the pity factor.

6. I hate not being able to do the high adreline activities I crave.

7. I hated getting out breath from rolling over in bed.

8. I hated not being able to perform basic hygene the way it should have been performed.

To date I have lost down from 350 to 214. I don't post my orginal weight because I lost the first half with surgery. The things I am able to do now, not to mention the wonderful man I am married to are due to weight loss. I love thinking about what else I will be able to accomplish when I hit my goal.

I am so much more than what I weigh but it will take losing a bit more weight for me to truly believe it.

H

Rather than what I hate about being fat, I want to say what I will look forward to when I become fitter:

Wearing clothes I want to wear, and not just what fits.

Not letting my weight or fitness level being an issue in any activity in which I want to engage.

Knowing that I am living the way I was supposed to live.

Knowing that I am doing what I can do to ensure future health and well being.

Knowing that getting fitter is making my husband happier.