Flying Fat

I traveled on my first work trip of the New Year last week. I left on Monday for El Paso for a 3-night trip. There were only 2 flights out of Atlanta that day- one early in morning and one late in the evening. Needless to say, I had to take the later flight because there were only middle seats left on the morning one (this is what happens when you do not book your flights until 1-3 weeks before you fly). After a full day and it being so late in the evening, I was seriously falling asleep while waiting at the gate. I made it to my window seat, settled in and then my seatmate arrived… all 400+ lbs of him. As the other folks loaded the plane, I came to realize just how obese we are as a society. The guy in the seat in front of us was massive too…. Every time he moved in his seat, the seat would hang back into the belly of my seatmate by a good 6 to 10 inches. My seatmate could hardly put his tray table down because of the lack of distance from his front to the back of the seat overextended into his space from the guy in front of him! When I analyzed all of the folks around us, the majority of them were overweight. The three people across the aisle from us were so big that the guy on the end was sticking a good 6 inches out into the aisle! Every time the flight attendants walked by him, they would tell him to move into his seat and out of the aisle. Another problem was the arduous task of getting their seat belts buckled… my seatmate took forever trying to buckle his and even after he finally did, he had to have had bruises from it! The attendants told him and the guy in front of us that if they had to have belt extensions, then they would have to change seats… (I could not figure that one out). I spent a long time at the beginning of the 3.5-hour flight thinking about how hard it must be for them to fly at that size. I know how much I hate sitting in those cramped seats for 3+ hours… imagine flying those long flights at their size. It just saddens me to see how much we abuse ourselves with food and stress. It is all the more reason to kick my fitness and food plans into another gear. And believe me, I am trying to. This will be my first full week at boot camp and karate together. And I am starting my 1800-calorie plan this week too. I just feel so much better each day that I exercise and eat right. And every since I had my gall bladder removed, most foods that are bad for me make my stomach ache or give me seriously bad heartburn. I am not complaining about the stomachaches though… I am still very happy with my surgery results- internally I feel great! I just need to lose some excess baggage off my frame so my endurance and fluidness improve in my exercise. I have a long road ahead of me…