Social Media Can Offer the Support You Need

I have, for most of my life, felt very isolated with my weight. I constantly feel that every person I meet is judging me and thinking negative things about me based on my appearance. When someone does give me a genuine compliment, it is easy to brush it aside because my self worth is so tied up in my weight.

I may be successful in every over part of my life, but because I am obese, I still see myself as inadequate and a failure.

In doing these posts and using my own personal Facebook and Instagram accounts, I have been able to finally open up about my struggles.

Doing that was the hardest thing, but I feel like a huge weight (no pun intended) is relieved since I started addressing my obesity openly and head on.

In fact, just saying it - obese, obese, obese - and openly acknowledging what I am struggling with has been such a good decision.

Trying to hide in shame and solitude were just driving me to be even unhealthier. By being up front, I am taking a risk - a risk of failure, of embarrassment, of ridicule - but I am gaining so much more in the support of my peers. People are naturally good-hearted and want to see others succeed, and the outpouring of encouragement I have gotten has been so meaningful.

Not only has the support been from my friends and family, but from strangers as well. I am in a Facebook group for weight loss support and it has been so helpful to see and hear about other people's struggles and successes. We don't know each other but we all have the same goal and we come together to help build each other up. You can also friend people on MyFitnessPal and on Fitbit to help you keep on track.

I am glad for this age of social media and we should all try to use the technology and resources we have to our best advantage.