Rockin' the beer gut--confidence in yourself

I listen to all types of music and I've heard this country song "Rockin' the Beer Gut" off and on for several weeks now, sorry I don't know the artist who sings this. It's a very catchy song, but while at work the other day I was really listening to the lyrics. Contrary to what some may think the lyrics mean, my interpetation is that she's confident in the way she looks. She's apparently got extra weight in the stomach area, but instead of covering it up and being ashamed of how she looks, she's showing it off. That's being self confident in yourself and loving yourself for who you are. Everywhere we look these days, magazine after magazine, infomercials after infomercials, try to convince us that we need to be thin and well sculpted. Well excuse me for being average. I've never been a size 6 (except maybe when I was 6 yrs old ) and I'll never be a size 6, so I accept who I am and how my body looks. I've tried the "going to the gym" thing to look better for my husband, but what did I get instead, I continued to be ignored and a body that looked like a bulldog. I was working out for at least an hour, five days a week for several months. I didn't like what I saw in the mirror. There wasn't anything feminine about the way I looked and there wasn't any weight loss either. Of course they will tell you that muscle weighs more than fat, and it takes muscle to burn fat. Well I think my muscles and my fat became best friends, cause the muscles got bigger, but the fat stayed around like an unwanted house guest. I was so unhappy when I saw myself like that, I gave up on the gym and beating myself up about the way I looked. Once I decided that I didn't need society's idea of what we needed to look like, I felt better about myself and my body. I realize that the real me was on the inside and the outside was just a package. There's some people that only look at that outside package and they are missing out on the real person. This can work both ways though. I've seen some really great looking people in my lifetime, males as well as females, but once you talked to them, the real person came out as arrogant, self centered, egotistical, catty and the list goes on. To me these people were no longer good looking, maybe on the outside, but the real them wasn't. I'm saying that we all need to look at ourselves on the inside and accept what we are on the outside. If you're not happy with how you look, well my advice to you is have a check-up from the neck up. I'm not saying that if you're obese to accept your body the way it is, that needs to be addressed for health reasons( it could save your life). There again, if you take time to look inside yourself, you just might find out what is going on with you that you comfort yourself with food. Talk to a friend that you trust, to help you when you're going through whatever it is that is causing you to eat. Get yourself a support group (these should be people who know you and want to see you succeed). If you don't have this and feel comfortable with strangers, then check your local phone book for these types of groups. We all should feel comfortable with ourselves and let our inner self shine. You will be amazed at how your life will turn around for you when you let this happen. Life is too short to be unhappy (that's why the husband is now my ex). God didn't put us on this earth to be unhappy. Were that the case, we wouldn't have blue skies, different colored flowers and green grass in the spring and all the beautiful, different colored leaves in the fall. Even if you don't like snow and ice, you have to admit that to get up in the morning to a blanket of snow, everything looks so clean and fresh. To me it's so beautiful to see ice on the trees and power lines, when the sun hits them, they sparkle like diamonds. It's really breath taking if you get past the negative idea of " ugh, more ice or snow". So you see God has blessed us all with his gifts, it's up to us whether or not we choose to see the beauty or to be so self absorbed that we take it for granted and see the negative. He loves us all, no matter what we look like and we should love ourselves too. I've heard that you have to love yourself, before you can truly love someone else and they return that love. I believe this, you have to be open to love in order to receive it.
If I've offended anyone with my posts, I apologize, these are just my thoughts and opinions.

Health Care Reform

As everyone knows, President Obama is pushing for mandatory health care. The question I have is, " how are we going to pay for it?" With so many Americans out of work, there isn't as much income taxes being paid in as there was a year ago, so where do we get the money? I've read that he was considering taking it away from Social Security, what happens to the elderly then? They barely make ends meet with the economy the way it is, plus most have health problems and have prescription costs that are through the ceiling (Medicare doesn't pay 100% of their prescriptions ), so a lot of what they get from Social Security goes for medications. Then you have the ones that sit around and do nothing, then wonder why they put on so much weight. After awhile of being inactive, they get to the point they can't do much because of the excess weight, so they apply for Social Security disability. Most find doctors that will fill out papers stating that their weight has created health problems, and they can't work. Then some just hire an attorney after they have been denied so that they can get disability.
I was listening to the news on the Fox channel yesterday evening and they said that there were "rising health care cost related to obesity". They went on the state the complications of obesity, such as diabetes, heart problems, etc.
My thought on this, is instead of giving them disability payments each month so that they can continue to sit around and do nothing, let's get them the help they really need. Therapy for one, so they can understand why they are compelled to overeat (boredom, anxiety, stress, etc). Sign them up for one of the weight control groups, so they can learn to eat more healthier. Push them to get out and do something, even walk around their house instead of sitting around putting food in their mouths. I'm sure plenty of them will give up any kind of plan to help them lose weight if they don't see dramatic results in a short period of time. What they don't realize is that they didn't gain all this weight in a few weeks and it isn't going to come off that fast either.
Granted there are some that are physically limited to what they can do, not because of obesity, but because of physical injuries. I know about this because I have a pinched nerve in my back, but I work five days a week. It's not a physically demanding job, but I do work. I'm not slim and trim as I was in my 20's, but I'm older now and the ole metabolism just isn't what it used to be.
I still get out and do what I can, but I'm careful not to over do it. If it's something I shouldn't be lifting, well then I've learned to ask for help. I get bored the same as the next person, but instead of seeking out food, I find other things to do.

So if Obama wants to take away from Social Security, then I say, lets look at the ones drawing a check, because they let themselves go and now is a burden on the health care system. Don't take it from the elderly or the ones who have been injured and can't work. Take it from those who are milking the system.