Dealing with negativity towards my weight.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who think like that, and aren't afraid to say so. (I always hope that they're the ones who never had to worry about what they ate/how much they moved, and then suddenly, years of abuse will creep up on them in later-life, and they'll know how it feels!). The only thing you can feasibly do is a) ignore them - you know the truth even if they don't, and b) prove them wrong by getting yourself to the point where you meet the requirements, if that's what you want to do. Good luck!

My son went thru the same thing when wanting to join the Marine Corp. He was about 50lbs overweight. He was constantly made fun of in school and bullied. But his recruiter knew he had the determination and he worked out with him several days a week for 6 months till he fit their charts. Now he's been a Marine for 3 years and weighs in at a slim 175. Don't be discouraged by the negativity. Just make it your goal and you will succeed! Best of luck to you!

I was reading something last night that said all it takes to gain 50 pounds over 5 years is to eat the equivalent of one 100-calorie cookie extra a day. It's a myth that everyone overweight is lazy and don't care, just like it's a myth to say that all cyclists don't stop at stop signs.

When I see someone extremely obese in the grocery store, I try to think, "That person may have lost 100 pounds already and really be working hard to lose more weight, so who am I to judge them?" None of us know what other people have gone through or are going through.

Ignore unsupportive people and keep working towards your goals. You obviously care a whole lot and are anything but lazy or you wouldn't be here and you certainly wouldn't be working on your college degree.

Keep up all your positive efforts and don't let what others say or think deter you.

It is very sad that there are so many misconceptions about overweight folks. No one is in a position to negatively judge another person. We don't know what's going on in others' lives.

How to deal with it, though? Since most of these people are strangers, my best advice is to focus on approving of and liking yourself regardless of commentary you see/hear. You can't stop people from being malicious or judgmental, and there will be people around to make fun of just about everything you can think of. These people are trash-talking fat people, but others will make fun of clothing styles, musical tastes, ethnic backgrounds, political positions, religious beliefs or the lack thereof, and onward ad nauseum.

There is nothing to do but to embrace yourself and remember what you KNOW, which is that you are a great person and deviating from society's expectations for weight or anything else does not make a person bad.

I think any military type organization is going to require you to be relatively fit prior to joining. Your body is going to have to support you in alot of physically challenging situations. I don't believe it's a personnel issue, more like simple physics.

If your tasked to do a 600 meter rundown and then do a live fire drill at a moving target, trust me, your going to want to be in shape. It's just physics, you have to be lean and mean to accomplish the task.

You have lost 4 pounds already, stay focused, use your MFP friends to help you get to your goal weight. You can do this.

First off I don't want this to end up as a bash fest or go negatively towards anyone.
I was thinking of possibly joining the National Guard after I finish getting my B.A. but when I checked their qualifications I'm way out of shape and too overweight to join. So I was looking around their forums to see if I could find out if they were willing to help you get to where you need to be in order to join. All I saw were people saying we shouldn't be able to join and that overweight or obese people are just lazy or don't care. What I want to know is just how to deal with this? Not just the people in the Guard, but anywhere that people just assuming I'm lazy and dismiss me because I'm overweight. I want to fix it and I'm working to lose weight and get into shape. It's just a bit of a bummer when people don't understand each other and don't bother to try.
Again, I'm not trying to bash, or incite bashing, so please don't.

Try to rise above this one, this is frustrating you so much because you obviously aren't some callous jerk. Fix into your mind the law of attraction, and how it is already working in your life. People are attracted to energy, and you are clearly on a path that is bringing up your energy.

I am not a particularly religious gal, but I do find this sound bite helpful when I am ticked or feeling like people are against me. It may help you reframe your thoughts right now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2cuTnOwB8U

I was reading something last night that said all it takes to gain 50 pounds over 5 years is to eat the equivalent of one 100-calorie cookie extra a day.

365 * 5 = 1,825 days
100 calories * 1825 days = 182,500 calories extra
Calories in a pound of body fat = ~3500

182,500 / 3500 = 52.1 pounds

Yep. Watch those cookies!

Because some people can only make themselves feel good by making other people feel bad?

And, also, to put it very bluntly how the thought process often goes - whether this is "right" or "wrong" is a whole other issue:

Because, while not all overweight people are lazy, being overweight is a preventable condition in all but a few cases, and being overweight is a sign that you cannot take the time to take care of the most important thing you'll ever have - your health - and why should I trust you to have the ambition to forward the cause of my business when you can't or won't even take care of the most important thing in your own life?

^^^^ Let me reiterate, this is not how I *want* to think about overweight people, but this is an opinion I have heard many times in the past, both expressly and implied, and both from potential employers when I was very overweight and co-workers considering employing someone who is obese. It's also a thought process I had to consciously prevent myself from going down when I used to make hiring decisions.

Regardless of "why" people hate on overweight people, there are so many other benefits to losing weight (you can do more things, you'll tend to live longer) that it's a reward in and of itself. Ignorant *kitten* avoidance is a minor bonus.

I was reading something last night that said all it takes to gain 50 pounds over 5 years is to eat the equivalent of one 100-calorie cookie extra a day. It's a myth that everyone overweight is lazy and don't care, just like it's a myth to say that all cyclists don't stop at stop signs.

When I see someone extremely obese in the grocery store, I try to think, "That person may have lost 100 pounds already and really be working hard to lose more weight, so who am I to judge them?" None of us know what other people have gone through or are going through.

Ignore unsupportive people and keep working towards your goals. You obviously care a whole lot and are anything but lazy or you wouldn't be here and you certainly wouldn't be working on your college degree.

Keep up all your positive efforts and don't let what others say or think deter you.

Thank you thank you thank you. I think the EXACT same thing. I was running on a park trail near my house and someone yelled "Fatty!" out their window as they drove past me. I was SO discouraged and mortified. But then I thought, Hey! At least I'm trying!!! They have no idea my situation, my life, anything! I'm happy with my progress and my goals and that's all that matters.