I remember as a kid at school, getting ridiculed for being overweight
\nI didn\u2019t wanna get in swimming pools coz I was too ashamed to expose my frame
\nBack then I\u2019d deliberately forget to bring my kit with me to PE
\nAnd who\u2019dya think was the last man standing, whenever it came to getting picked for teams? Me.
\nI possessed every characteristic, of a classic bullying victim
\nShort and podgy, and I talked poshly, – I was like their walking wishlist
\nIt was only the fact I could draw, that saved me from all of the pain they inflicted
\n\u201cOi fat boy, wanna get your head kicked in?\u201d Wait! Let me show you this picture of Bart Simpson
\nBut even though I was spared the beatings, it didn\u2019t make me a happy person
\nMy self esteem was already low, and as I entered my teens it only worsened
\nI didn\u2019t think that a girl on earth could ever be attracted to a guy as fat as me
\nAnd I was too shy to chat to them so it became a self-fulfilling prophecy
\nAnd as my friends lost their virginities, I just came up with excuses
\nCoz back then sex felt to me like a private joke and I wasn\u2019t included
\nBut I denied that there was a problem, and acted like I was fine when I wasn\u2019t
\nSo I kept eating and drinking and stuffing my face with drugs \u2019til I hit rock bottom<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know much in life
\nBut there\u2019s one thing I know
\nI\u2019ve come a long way
\nBut I gotta long way to go<\/p>\n
I woke up one day and decided, there\u2019s no way I can carry on like this
\n– And for the first time in my life, I joined a gym and started exercising
\nThe results were truly surprising – I lost weight at a rapid rate
\nAnd within the first month alone, I\u2019d lost over a stone and was feeling great
\nEvery week I\u2019d jump on the scales, and without fail had lost even more
\nAnd every month I was buying new clothes coz I was too small for the ones the month before
\nBut the thing I loved most of all, was the reactions from friends that I knew
\nPeople double taking in the street like \u201cOffbeat? I barely recognised you!\u201d
\nAnd I won\u2019t deny that was nice, but with that prize there comes a price
\nI had to change my lifestyle completely and sacrifice all of the things that I liked
\nNo restaurants, no alcohol, no treats or home cooked meals
\nAnd at the time I justified it like \u201cNothing tastes as good as skinny feels\u201d
\nI\u2019ll admit I became obsessive, even my relationships were strained
\nCoz I couldn\u2019t go for a meal without stressing, about how many calories it contained
\nEventually I made a magazine cover, but still didn\u2019t feel satisfied
\nCoz I may have achieved my goal, but what\u2019s the point if you can\u2019t live life?<\/p>\n
So now I\u2019d completed my transformation, and been featured in a publication
\nI was getting emails every day from strangers saying I was their inspiration
\nAnd that was great but behind the scenes, I was feeling the pressure
\nAnd even though I was in the best shape of my life, I was more self conscious than ever
\nI began being tempted by all the food that until this point I\u2019d resisted
\nAnd bit by bit I started giving in, til I was binging on junk like a fiend addicted
\nAll the things that were once restricted, now weren\u2019t any longer
\nCoz the thing about depriving yourself of something, is it makes your desire for it that much stronger
\nIt took about a month to undo, a year\u2019s worth of achievements
\nAnd whilst I won\u2019t ever get that fat again, I know that I\u2019m not a gym freak either
\nAnd even though I invested all that effort, I don\u2019t regret it for a second
\nI had to do it to prove it to myself that I could and the process taught me a valuable lesson
\nIt\u2019s how you feel on the inside that counts, not how you look physically
\nCoz I\u2019d rather be happy and a little bit flabby, than ripped but living in misery
\nAnd I\u2019m much more fun to hang around with now – at least that\u2019s what my friends tell me
\nAnd while my diet might not be as good as it could – my attitude\u2019s a lot more healthy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I remember as a kid at school, getting ridiculed for being overweight I didn\u2019t wanna get in swimming pools coz I was too ashamed to expose my frame Back then I\u2019d deliberately forget to bring my kit with me to PE And who\u2019dya think was the last man standing, whenever it came to getting picked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamoffbeat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamoffbeat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamoffbeat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamoffbeat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamoffbeat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iamoffbeat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamoffbeat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamoffbeat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamoffbeat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}