:: love me just the way i am? ::

Ever hear these mumbles among people struggling with weight at church...
"I want a girl to love me just the way I am."
"God created me wonderfully and beautifully, I should accept my body."
"The right guy will look beyond my size. The rest are just shallow."

I agree that you are a beautiful person on the inside. I agree that someone could potentially look beyond and discover that beauty in you. But I disagree that we should do nothing about our health - because it's shallow to consider the externals. It is the easier thing to do, I'll admit, to hide behind God's unconditional love. I just call it laziness.

We were NOT created obese. We can look back in our lives and trace exactly how we became who we are today, every single cookie, every single decision. And what we will discover is that it has nothing to do with God - but everything to do with our own greed and lack of self-control that has brought us to this stage. More importantly, we should see that we can all do something about it and we are not condemned to a life of obesity. We will also see that there's nothing wrong with trying to become healthier so that your health is attractive to someone else. It is not shallow to not want to date an obese person... especially when life's experiences condition us. How many of us have seen the older generation suffer through heart disease? high blood pressure? etc etc. Should it be considered shallow to want to avoid this lifestyle and choose to be with someone that values the preservation of life?