Please don't let others affect you. If you are staying at a given weight that you feel good at, and not gaining learn to enjoy it! You have an awsome husband and a great way to spend your free time. If you mess with dieting the end result is almost always a higher weight sneeking back after you loose and a hard time keeping it from escalating. I wish someone would have told me this when I was a 16. Most men like a particular body type and thank God their are plenty who like us. Your husband's opinion is the only other person's that matters. I'm a 22 and the cruel comments come from within my family never aquantances. I have only gone lake diving, almost certified. I clicked on you strand hopeing it would be about wetsuits and found useful info in the answers you got. I was feeling like the lone ranger when it came to size because the dive shops within 70 miles all sell puny stuff. Your question and all of the answers have made me more anxious to get my certification done and go dive! Thank you all.
I would like to hear from overweight female divers...
- Thread starter luvspoodles
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This is slightly off-topic, but I thought I would share. We went diving in Coz just a couple of weeks ago from the 17th - the 24th of Feb. The captain and first mate on the boat started calling me "gordita" and I was starting to wonder whether I should be offended. They were always so sweet to me and I understand enough Spanish to realize they weren't calling me a Taco Bell menu item. So, on the last day of diving, I asked the captain exactly what "gordita" means. He looked at me with a big smile and a friendly gesture and said in English "It means 'fat'!"
I looked at him and said in the best Spanish I could muster, "Estoy gordita, pero estoy bonita tambien." (I may be fat, but I'm also pretty.) The captain and first mate laughed even harder and agreed wholeheartedly with me, and got their point across that they prefer larger women. We then chatted a while in Spanglish and learned each other's names, and for the rest of the day, they couldn't stop grinning at me.
Later that night, I asked my friend who is native to the culture (and a divemaster who works with them frequently) whether I should be insulted and he assured me that the guys felt comfortable enough with me to use the term as a familiarity, and that with new groups coming through all the time, all of the dive boats he has worked with have a tendency to make nicknames to use among themselves to keep track of all the divers, and that Mexican men are much more appreciative of zaftig women.
And I never imagined I would feel proud about being called fat.
I looked at him and said in the best Spanish I could muster, "Estoy gordita, pero estoy bonita tambien." (I may be fat, but I'm also pretty.) The captain and first mate laughed even harder and agreed wholeheartedly with me, and got their point across that they prefer larger women. We then chatted a while in Spanglish and learned each other's names, and for the rest of the day, they couldn't stop grinning at me.
Later that night, I asked my friend who is native to the culture (and a divemaster who works with them frequently) whether I should be insulted and he assured me that the guys felt comfortable enough with me to use the term as a familiarity, and that with new groups coming through all the time, all of the dive boats he has worked with have a tendency to make nicknames to use among themselves to keep track of all the divers, and that Mexican men are much more appreciative of zaftig women.
And I never imagined I would feel proud about being called fat.
For what it's worth, "Gordita", or "Little Fatty" is a pretty common nickname among Spanish speaking folks. I've heard it lots of times, and always in a positive connotation. They weren't being insulting at all, quite the opposite. And it's frequently not meant to be taken literally. Just check out any Intro to Spanish book. Most of them mention Mexican nicknames and the peculiarities of their idiom. I love Mexican Spanish, it's full of humorous little tidbits like that!
Take care, Gordita,
-Grier
Take care, Gordita,
-Grier
Luvspoodles
Thank you so much for starting this thread. Im not embarassed to say Im sitting here all teary eyed so pls excuse any typos. I have never felt so excited for my next dive. Its like you all have taken a huge weight (no pun intended) off my shoulders. I am 37, size 22, smoker with a rebuilt knee. I wanted to reply to so many individual posts it became impossible. Thank you all so much for being so supportive. It has given me a much needed boost to work on my fitness level, not for size but for health reasons. I dont want to gab your ear off so just one more thing. My preferred bathing suit is swim shorts and a modest takinni top. Lands end has a great selection of suits and mix n match pieces for all size woman
Thank you all again, your great!
Thank you so much for starting this thread. Im not embarassed to say Im sitting here all teary eyed so pls excuse any typos. I have never felt so excited for my next dive. Its like you all have taken a huge weight (no pun intended) off my shoulders. I am 37, size 22, smoker with a rebuilt knee. I wanted to reply to so many individual posts it became impossible. Thank you all so much for being so supportive. It has given me a much needed boost to work on my fitness level, not for size but for health reasons. I dont want to gab your ear off so just one more thing. My preferred bathing suit is swim shorts and a modest takinni top. Lands end has a great selection of suits and mix n match pieces for all size woman
Thank you all again, your great!Mama Mynet
Contributor
You can do it! One thing that really helped me lose a lot of weight was taking my dive lessons. The snorkeling in the pool is an excellent workout that reinforces skills, uses every major body area, improves your cardiovascular system and is NO IMPACT so your knees won't hurt. I highly recommend it. Especially if you 've had your knee replaced. If you can find time to practice snorkeling in the pool a few times a week you'll start to shed weight and feel better and improve skills at the same time. Feel free to PM me if you want. I just finished reaching my goal weight and size and lost 50 lbs in 6 months. Now I've gotta cut the nicotine nastiness as well. Ahhh. baby steps. Working on that now though.ScubaTwo:Luvspoodles
Thank you so much for starting this thread. Im not embarassed to say Im sitting here all teary eyed so pls excuse any typos. I have never felt so excited for my next dive. Its like you all have taken a huge weight (no pun intended) off my shoulders. I am 37, size 22, smoker with a rebuilt knee. I wanted to reply to so many individual posts it became impossible. Thank you all so much for being so supportive. It has given me a much needed boost to work on my fitness level, not for size but for health reasons. I dont want to gab your ear off so just one more thing. My preferred bathing suit is swim shorts and a modest takinni top. Lands end has a great selection of suits and mix n match pieces for all size woman
Just wanted to take a minute to say - You Go, Ladies!!!
I love to see such self-confidence and power...sometimes I feel the world is against us - we're either too fat, too tall, too agressive, too beautiful, too ugly, too wimpy, too short, too family oriented, too work focused, too something...it's nice for the reality check that we aren't "too" anything - except fabulous
And it's nice to see all the support from various quarters, "the world is against us" thing is obviously just random bouts of paranoia lol
I love to see such self-confidence and power...sometimes I feel the world is against us - we're either too fat, too tall, too agressive, too beautiful, too ugly, too wimpy, too short, too family oriented, too work focused, too something...it's nice for the reality check that we aren't "too" anything - except fabulous
And it's nice to see all the support from various quarters, "the world is against us" thing is obviously just random bouts of paranoia lol
Amen, alcina.
One more word about Lands' End swimwear. I realized two weeks before my trip that my swimsuit was so worn, it was nearly transparent, so in a panic and because no swimwear was in stores in this area yet, I bought the Lands' End tugless tank without ever trying it on (usually a big no-no for plus sized clothing - especially swimwear) and I absolutely love it. I also got it for a very reasonable price.
One more word about Lands' End swimwear. I realized two weeks before my trip that my swimsuit was so worn, it was nearly transparent, so in a panic and because no swimwear was in stores in this area yet, I bought the Lands' End tugless tank without ever trying it on (usually a big no-no for plus sized clothing - especially swimwear) and I absolutely love it. I also got it for a very reasonable price.
Let me start off with I am not a woman. Here is what I dive with now and I couldn't care less what others think.
I am 50 years old and just got certified. (Too old? Who cares)
Last June 24th I weighed 417 pounds. (Too fat? Maybe, but who cares)
I am Diabetic. (Medical issue. I overcame it so who cares)
3 years ago I was living in a chair after 5 failed back surgeries. #6 worked and now I can walk. (Crippled? Who cares)
I have now lost 160 pounds and my present to celebrate was going on a dive trip to Roatan/Belize with my wonderful, understanding wife. (Worth the work? Absolutely)
My point is, I am a living testimate to who shouldn't dive if there is such a thing. I started at 50, am Diabetic, have both Liver and Kidney damage, have had 6 back surgeries and a large percentage of my spine is now fused solid. I was and still am overweight (now 260# but still losing) and guess what? I have better breathing control than anyone else who dove with us. (more air left) I appreciate it more and will probably continue to dive farther into my old age than anyone else on our recent trip we took. Add to this the fact I live in Idaho (no oceans here) and had to pack 28 pounds of lead in salt water and you see what I mean.
Do what makes you happy. If you want to see ugly, imagine the loose skin I have after losing that much weight. I pulled off my t-shirt and pulled up my wetsuit. Those who looked and cared???? Screw them...
Have fun, enjoy diving, make it part of your new healthy program and live. It beats all the alternatives.
I am 50 years old and just got certified. (Too old? Who cares)
Last June 24th I weighed 417 pounds. (Too fat? Maybe, but who cares)
I am Diabetic. (Medical issue. I overcame it so who cares)
3 years ago I was living in a chair after 5 failed back surgeries. #6 worked and now I can walk. (Crippled? Who cares)
I have now lost 160 pounds and my present to celebrate was going on a dive trip to Roatan/Belize with my wonderful, understanding wife. (Worth the work? Absolutely)
My point is, I am a living testimate to who shouldn't dive if there is such a thing. I started at 50, am Diabetic, have both Liver and Kidney damage, have had 6 back surgeries and a large percentage of my spine is now fused solid. I was and still am overweight (now 260# but still losing) and guess what? I have better breathing control than anyone else who dove with us. (more air left) I appreciate it more and will probably continue to dive farther into my old age than anyone else on our recent trip we took. Add to this the fact I live in Idaho (no oceans here) and had to pack 28 pounds of lead in salt water and you see what I mean.
Do what makes you happy. If you want to see ugly, imagine the loose skin I have after losing that much weight. I pulled off my t-shirt and pulled up my wetsuit. Those who looked and cared???? Screw them...
Have fun, enjoy diving, make it part of your new healthy program and live. It beats all the alternatives.
carldarl:
:jump013::yelclap:
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