Potty Trouble at 30000 Feet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s guest post is from Deb Rondeau of Phit and Phabulous.  I met Deb through LinkedIn, where I was struck by her amazing weight loss of 250 pounds.  In her own words, Deb entered the world at just 5.7lb.  She was an active child, but yo-yo dieting begun in her teens had her tipping the scales at 430lb. in 2009 at age 55.  Between 2009 and 2011 Deb shed 250lb. and became the person that Deb 2009 needed to meet.  She is living proof that it is never too late to bring your “sexy” back!  Deb is sharing her story of how simple things like using the bathroom could fill her eyes with tears and her heart with shame.

Between the ages of 15 and 55 I think I tried almost every diet known to man; and I lost weight every single time!  I was a very successful dieter, but I would always gain back the weight… plus interest.  Let me share how an airplane ride lasting less than 3 hours triggered me to begin my final DIEt in 2009.

Most of us have been on airplanes and if not you’ve likely seen pictures of the airline bathroom.  Maybe you have been in one of those at 30,000+ feet?  I call it the room from h-e-l-l at 30,000 feet!

My discomfort on airplanes began the moment I walked through the door.  I was unable to fit between the seats so I would have to shuffle sideways down the aisle.  Then, because I could not fit into a single seat, I would share my husband’s seat.  Next I had to request a seatbelt extension.  If you’re reading this and you’re overweight you know how uncomfortable it is to sit in economy class seating.  Maybe you’re not at the expanded buckle size yet, but you know this is not made for even normal size people, let alone big people.  Think of your own discomfort; and if you are a big person, or someone who is obese, you know how bloody uncomfortable it is!

Well, once I got settled in that seat there was no way in the world I was getting out of it until I landed!  And my mouth might feel like it was filled with cotton, but I would not allow myself to drink any water because I knew if I drank water, I would have to go pee.

On this particular day, I had avoided water as usual, but my bladder had filled up from somewhere.  I realized I had to venture back down that aisle.  Now whatever size you are, you know that going down that aisle, you’re going to bump into people.  Even if everybody else is sitting down, you’re going to bang somebody’s elbow or foot.  So imagine trying to do that with a 250 lb. linebacker on your shoulders because that’s what carrying my extra weight felt like.  Just walking down the aisle to the bathroom was excruciatingly painful!  Can you picture how uncomfortable that would be?

I opened the washroom door and even though I knew the room was small, suddenly that smallness was a reality.  And I may have had a split second of thinking “should I just go back to my seat?”, but I knew I couldn’t; I had to pee really bad!  So I wedged myself in there.  It felt like trying to shove a football into a water bottle.  And once the football’s in there, it’s not going to be moving around!

I could see the walls coming in at me, like something from a horror movie, but there’s nowhere for me to go.  I’ve got to plant myself down on that little seat just below me.  You know how small those things are, but I manage to do it.  I push myself down onto the seat, and as I do, I can feel the sides of the walls scraping against my legs.

Can you imagine what that would be like for you?  If you can’t imagine what that would be like for you, imagine what it would be like for somebody you love…

The worst part was when I finished peeing and grabbed some toilet paper.  I quickly discovered I could not get my hand between my legs to clean up.

The washroom door was locked.  Nobody knew what was going on.  But I felt like when I got out, every eye would be on me.  They would know my secret.  I know that sounds crazy, but that is what was going through my mind!  Have you ever felt that?

I returned to my seat with my head down; certain that everyone was looking at me.  Inside my head I was screaming I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT MY WEIGHT!

Thankfully, shortly after that trip someone suggested a new eating program to me.  I was SO ready to give weight loss another try!  I signed up and between 2009 – 2011 I shed 250 lbs. of excess weight.  As you can imagine, my story does not end there.  You may follow me on Twitter,  YouTube, or Facebook.