When the world isn't made for your weight.....

[Jeeshcristina]

Originally Posted by BigCutieBonnie

I guess I am not massively big at 225lbs but I managed to break my friends toilet seat....haha which was a little bit awkward!

Lol, been there, done that. It's always an uncomfortable moment!

[TexasTrouble]

I don't believe I've ever broken anything (knocks on wood HARD). Growing up, I had a cousin who was over 10 years older than me and I remember hearing a story growing up about how one time (before I was born), she came over to visit, sat down hard, and broke my parents' couch. Apparently the wood along the front of the couch cracked or something. So that's always kind of haunted me in the back of my mind and I try and sit down pretty gingerly.

Last week I did realize how had it must be for people of a certain size going to college. In my class, I had students doing presentations. During them, I sat in the back of the room so I could watch the student and alert them if they went over time. In the first class, the room had long desks and chairs, which wasn't a problem. In the second, though I had to sit in one of those chairs with the desk built onto it. It's been years since I've been in one of these things--YUCK! This model had two big metal "buttons" holding the chair back to the frame and they pushed against my back the whole time. The poor kids.

[ChubbyPuppy]

Originally Posted by TexasTrouble

Last week I did realize how had it must be for people of a certain size going to college.

Ugh, THIS times 1000. In high school we had tables with chairs and that was fine, but since starting college I have had to squeeze myself into so many of those ridiculous desks it's not even funny any more. Just one more semester and then never again!

On the toilet seat issue, my skinny ex-roommate managed to snap ours completely in half one time when I wasn't home. The thing was made of particleboard of all things. Some stuff just isn't built to last for people of any size.

I personally broke not one but two of a friend's dining room chairs (in two different visits, guess I didn't learn my lesson.)

Also, I'm always kinda amused when I don't fit in a booth at a buffet. I guess they think us fats will eat all their food for $8. So not true in my case. I once dated a very skinny FA and when we went out to a buffet he would go back for seconds... then thirds, fourths, fifths, and dessert. Meanwhile I was done after one plate. Silly stereotypes.

[mz_puss]

I call my 80inch ass/belly the MASS ASS OF DESTRUCTION!!! i have broken so many chairs at my old work, it was the worst when i worked in a call center, as the loud snap would reverberate thru the entire office! I begged my manager to get a stronger chair for me and eventually 9 crushed office chairs later they did.

Another time I broke a couch at a nightclub right in front of the club owner I actually sprained my wrist doing it, i don't know how, The owner started telling me I needed to replace the couch. I advised id be delighted to as soon as she paid for my medical bills, she was quite nice after that and i didn't have to pay.

There are also dinning room chairs, numerous beds, toilets and toilet seats, computer chairs, car seats, an exercise bike and on one special occasion a door frame. I'm quite possibly the most clumsiest person ever.

In America tho you guys are lucky to have stores like living xl and other stores that have plus size furniture, i know its not cheap, but its great that its at least on offer. I would certainly pay a few hundred for a really good computer chair, i have been thru so many, but unfortunately those stores don't post to Australia

[imfree]

Originally Posted by mz_puss

I call my 80inch ass/belly the MASS ASS OF DESTRUCTION!!! i have broken so many chairs at my old work, it was the worst when i worked in a call center, as the loud snap would reverberate thru the entire office! I begged my manager to get a stronger chair for me and eventually 9 crushed office chairs later they did.

Another time I broke a couch at a nightclub right in front of the club owner I actually sprained my wrist doing it, i don't know how, The owner started telling me I needed to replace the couch. I advised id be delighted to as soon as she paid for my medical bills, she was quite nice after that and i didn't have to pay.

There are also dinning room chairs, numerous beds, toilets and toilet seats, computer chairs, car seats, an exercise bike and on one special occasion a door frame. I'm quite possibly the most clumsiest person ever.

In America tho you guys are lucky to have stores like living xl and other stores that have plus size furniture, i know its not cheap, but its great that its at least on offer. I would certainly pay a few hundred for a really good computer chair, i have been thru so many, but unfortunately those stores don't post to Australia

I've been using this Carex Bath Seat chair at my computer for about 5 years, now. It was a little over USD 40, at Wal-Mart, back then. It's white plastic, rated at 400 lbs, and I'm 441 lbs. It isn't a pretty desk chair, but it's holding up really well!

[fritzi]

Originally Posted by BigCutieBonnie

I guess I am not massively big at 225lbs but I managed to break my friends toilet seat....haha which was a little bit awkward!

I have total toilet seat phobia since at the age of 2 - and I was only a chubby, not really fat 2 year old, so we're honestly not talking about a lot of weight - I broke several of our toilet seats in Greece!
They made them out of this really soft plastic and the rims would get little tears that would then pinch my butt cheeks. Trauma for life!

[Schnauzer1124]

Last time I checked, my hips are about 100 in. around and my belly stretches about 2 ft. out. I often get stuck in doors. For a while I had a system, which was to turn sideways. But now I am too massive for that move. My hips are too wide because my house is so cramped and they might knock things over. I hate having to squeeze through my houses doors. Trying to fit thru a door that slim usually causes bruises and scrapes on my sides. However my boyfriend is a construction worker and is in the process of widening MOST of the doors in my house. But one door that can't be widened is my Master Bedroom which connects to my one bathroom which is also too slim for my gigantic butt to fit in. I guess squeezing through tight doors will soon become an everyday thig as I need to go to the bathroom and I have to somehow fit into small doors to get there. Also, my butt is so big most of the time it either breaks or can't fit on the toilet.

[tonynyc]

[/color]

Originally Posted by imfree

I've been using this Carex Bath Seat chair at my computer for about 5 years, now. It was a little over USD 40, at Wal-Mart, back then. It's white plastic, rated at 400 lbs, and I'm 441 lbs. It isn't a pretty desk chair, but it's holding up really well!

As long as it is 'functional' ... seems like you got a good buy there

Originally Posted by Schnauzer1124

Last time I checked, my hips are about 100 in. around and my belly stretches about 2 ft. out. I often get stuck in doors. For a while I had a system, which was to turn sideways. But now I am too massive for that move. My hips are too wide because my house is so cramped and they might knock things over. I hate having to squeeze through my houses doors. Trying to fit thru a door that slim usually causes bruises and scrapes on my sides. However my boyfriend is a construction worker and is in the process of widening MOST of the doors in my house. But one door that can't be widened is my Master Bedroom which connects to my one bathroom which is also too slim for my gigantic butt to fit in. I guess squeezing through tight doors will soon become an everyday thig as I need to go to the bathroom and I have to somehow fit into small doors to get there. Also, my butt is so big most of the time it either breaks or can't fit on the toilet.

"When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature. "
- Ernest Hemingway (1898-1961) American Writer.

[Windigo]

Originally Posted by BigCutieBonnie

I guess I am not massively big at 225lbs but I managed to break my friends toilet seat....haha which was a little bit awkward!

Heh I weigh 220 lbs and have broken my own toilet seat, and have been too broke for a repair so now I have to explain that to all my vistors lol

[VeronicaVaughn]

I find as I'm gaining weight how few things are actually made for fat people. Walking through the isle of buses and hitting people accidentally with my hips or having to turn to the side. Taking up more than one seat. Feeling how delicate things are under my weight. Bathroom stalls are becoming increasingly hard to get into now and its really frustrating. Its kind of sad and scary but interesting to see how even those things aren't designed for anyone over a certain weight.

[bigjayne66]

Originally Posted by Windigo

Heh I weigh 220 lbs and have broken my own toilet seat, and have been too broke for a repair so now I have to explain that to all my vistors lol

I am over double your weight,I bought a resin toilet seat ,seems to support my weight ok,
As for the outside world,if you are bigger than 400 there are obstacles everywhere

[bbwprincess]

i hate movie theater seats

[CleverBomb]

Originally Posted by TheKayDee83

Yeah, I am starting to notice little things like that happening lately. Most recently I went to use the restroom in our room and yeah...toilet sank into the floor...beautiful situation and thoroughly embarrassing. Our Lan Lord must think I am a huge fatty now but F him. I pay my rent and take damn good care of this place. But it is still extremely humiliating so I feel your pain. But don't let it get you down. Stuff happens like that to everyone, no matter their size. Just seems to happen to us bigger girls more frequently, hehe. Or maybe we just complain about it more? Who knows.

The toilet sinking into the floor is likely a result of water damage to the plywood floor under the linoleum. This should not happen with any reasonably sound floor structure.

One possible source of the water (if there isn't an obvious drip from the water line coming out of the wall) is a leak in the toilet base gasket (that is, at the joint where the sewer drain pipe in the floor meets the outlet from the bottom of the toilet). In addition to the leaking water damaging the floor, it's also a bit... unsanitary.

It needs to be fixed as soon as possible.

-Rusty

[jafura]

This is a very insightful thread. Nice that people are sharing these stories.

[instantkarma]

Originally Posted by bbwprincess

i hate movie theater seats

Oh my goodness, yes. I've had movie theater seats (and arena seats at hockey games) pinch my thighs and hips so bad I was covered with bruises.

[cl6672]

Not many people can say they broke a bus! (glad you're alright).

[Aust99]

Airplane seats!!! Grrr..... The 23 hour plane trip to London from Aus (with stop over) left one of my thighs red hot and bruised for days....

[biglynch]

Originally Posted by Aust99

Airplane seats!!! Grrr..... The 23 hour plane trip to London from Aus (with stop over) left one of my thighs red hot and bruised for days....

i hear that! my flight to NYC with delta was cramped as hell. The thing that really anoyed me tho was the seat belt. It was like it was custom made to just not quite be long enough.

[sarahreign]

Easy solution to anything I break,spill or knock over with my tubby self: Run fatty run!!! Lol. That seems to work for me for the most part...unless its my own couch I break....then Im just pissed! Lol

[minerva]

So here's an unusual thing to break: the mud steps cut into the bank of the Madre de Dios River. I was on vacation in Peru and went to a small resort in the jungle. Any excursions required, generally, in and out of a (small, wobbly) boat, and up and down either dodgy looking wooden steps or steps cut into the mud riverbank. When we were coming back from a canopy walk (I was nervous about that, too), we had to climb down some dodgy looking mud steps cut into the bank to get back in the boat. The worst looking step was the last one, and totally gave way under me. Slammed an ankle against the boat and got another foot stuck in the mud below. Mud all over my pants. Had a bad bruise but otherwise was okay.

The chairs in the dining room at that resort were not made for fat people, either.

[CaitiDee]

I don't think I've broken anything in public yet (KNOCK ON WOOD). But I'm pretty conscious of my weight so I sit down gingerly in chairs I'm unsure of, and tend to step lightly at first. Sounds like the bus thing was unavoidable though. Glad you're okay!

[Fish]

Just broke a little stool for the shower by sitting on it wrong. I was leaning back against the dryer behind me and warped the metal legs.

[Critters]

Two winters in a row, I went to Cuba. At both resorts, they just had narrow metal stacking chairs with very rigid metal arms that made sitting in them terribly painful for me. These damn things were *everywhere*, from every restaurant/bar area in the resorts to around the pool and around the stage, even in the hotel rooms and down at the beach (and whose dumb idea was that?? Narrow little metal chair feet SINK in sand! Even my mother, who is a damn size 4 and weighs about 90lbs was sinking. I didn't have a hope in hell!) and unless you were lucky enough to snag a lounge chair by the pool/on the beach, they were the only seating options beside the ground.

By the end of both those trips, I had big purple bruises on my hips and thighs that took weeks to fade.

As far as breaking stuff, I'm autistic and have some problems with my proprioceptive sense (I can't estimate how near/far I am from things, am clumsy as hell, I can trip over air, and I constantly knock stuff over), so I often collide with the edges of tables and knock glassware and knick-knacks off onto the floor. I avoid stores with expensive, easily broken merchandise, and I avoid those with narrow aisles and cluttered pathways.

[kaylaisamachine]

I went to Cedar Point yesterday. Was about to ride the Millenium Force for my first time ever. I was terrified to the point I was shaking, but I wanted to do it. I was in the front car, about to ride with my friend, start trying to buckle the seat belt. It wasn't fitting. I'm sure if I got in another cart or something it would have because it was so close that it was unbelievable, but the chick told me I had to get off. Why can't they make roller coaster seats more fat people friendly? We like to ride too, damnit.

[seavixen]

This is such a constant thing for me. I'm semi-terrified of going to other people's houses, for fear of destroying their furniture. Seriously. Ugh.

I've broken two bed frames that were supposed to hold 1200+ lbs. Um, right. Chairs / stuff that you sit on, even "heavy duty" ones that are supposed to hold 2x my weight or more. Toilets - you know those wall mounted ones? Omigod. They're so terrifying. Woe unto whoever thought those things up and then put them places.

I won't go into a restaurant without someone casing it first for seating arrangements, because I'm NOT going to try to wedge into a booth, and if there are arms on the chairs - well, forget it. The last time I didn't check the seating before I went somewhere was probably 15 years ago, and it was to a symphony thing, and I really, really thought I was going to be stuck in that seat. I sat there in terror the whole time, and in awful pain, wondering how I was going to get up when it was over.

I mean, who makes public seating that even normal sized people are uncomfortable in? What the heck? How does that work?

Planes - I'm not even going to talk about those. I flew to Maui in '06, and it was awful; even the skinny passengers in our group had sore spots on their legs from pants seams and such. I also rode around on a bus there, and I thought I was going to get stuck in the aisle. Blarg! I'm really shocked that I haven't managed to break one of the step thingies on a bus or truck yet, because I seriously think it's going to happen every time I use one.

I stepped on a deck that's made of that composite wood stuff a bit ago, and the board totally came up on the end from bending under my weight. That was embarrassing... at least it didn't break, though, right? Geez.