The Truth About Excess Skin
If you have never been extremely overweight and lost a lot of weight, you probably have no idea about how uncomfortable excess skin is. Sure, I have done the easy part of eating right, living right, working out hard, & serving God. I know He is taking care of the hard parts, the things I can not do. The excess skin is still very annoying, cumbersome, and not to mention unattractive. I have more hanging excess skin than a flying squirrel. At least a flying squirrel has a purpose and a good use for theirs. My skin is truly an irritant, and makes wearing or shopping for clothes that much more difficult.
Still Dealing With Criticism
Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed this journey of reclaiming my health and my life by losing 250+ lbs. Even with all the hard work I have done and the fact that I am still killing it in the gym and pool while building lean muscle mass, I still hear adults and kids say things at times that can wound or hurt if I let them. Not to long ago, I had two such encounters. The first was while I was drawing caricatures at a gig and a young boy said, “Hey mister, what’s wrong with your leg?” I responded to him by saying it was nothing, just excess skin from losing a lot of weight. What a weird conversation; I to try to explain to a 7 year old why I had a beach ball size lump in my left pant leg.I had to explain that the lump was not my leg but excess skin from my lower stomach area. The second encounter was with two young girls who kept saying, “You’re fat. Your belly looks weird and your legs are stuck together.” Again, they only noticed the beach ball size lump of excess skin and tissue that hangs over my lower section.
Taking Negative Thoughts Captive
Kids this young don’t mean anything by it. I know these 2 girls personally. I can tell you, even though they didn’t mean anything negative or hurtful, when I was driving home the enemy of my soul was speaking negative words to me like, “See no matter how hard you have busted your butt and worked hard to lose 255 lbs in two years, kids still call you fat.” I felt a heavy heart and almost allowed these innocent children’s comments to bother me. Immediately, I started to pray and take authority over these thoughts and reflect on where I am. Six years ago I was a broken, shattered, individual who had lost everything due to his obesity. I lost a wife, family, friends, job, ministry, and health. Like a boxer, I have been on a comeback trail and God has restored everything to me and more, and it’s all NEW. It’s not that old life stuff anymore. That old Fat man is dead and gone, and the New MATTMAN is risen. God continues to make me a trophy of his Amazing Grace, and speak into the lives of others. I am grateful that He has chosen me, a simple man, to share His message and story about restoration and wholeness to the world.
Previously, I was on the TLC show “Skintight” - season 2, episode 10. I was suppose to have my skin removal surgery but that never happened. My surgery episode was never filmed and I moved on, got married, moved to OK where I am today.
Currently, I am moving forward in becoming the Man of God physically that He wants me to be. I am continuing to build my body into a vessel of honor and glory for my God. I continue daily to eat right, right, work out hard, and serve God. I got married and moved from Maryland to Oklahoma. God has given me a NEW wife, family, everything and I look forward to what this next chapter of my life has in store. Don’t worry, I am still going for skin removal in God's time, and of course I’ll keep my readers and followers up to date as things transpire. Comment below and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE for blog updates in your inbox.
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