I grew up Methodist, was married by a Unitarian minister, and was born again 10-16-99 in a Baptist church. I was young as a Methodist and, although always overweight, never gave it much thought during that period of my life. I was never involved in the Unitarian religion so could not voice any opinions there, either. Since I have been attending Fellowship Church, I now understand that I am made in God's image and that my body is a temple and that I should try to keep it as pure as possible. With all of the outside pressures, and with my body makeup, it is somewhat of an added pressure to try to please Him. However, I know that I owe Him everything and want to be obedient and in trying to eat correctly and exercise more I feel closer to Him spiritually - not to mention how much better I feel physically. My image used to be one of disgust, but now that I know the Lord personally, I take it more in stride. I know that I am pleasing to God no matter how I look and that lifts me up and makes me want to look better for Him. I think that all bodies are the image of God. True, He made man first, but I feel that He has both a male and female aspect to Him or why would He have made us different? He could have done anything so one sex could have procreated in a different way than we do now. I think that many people feel that the male body reflects the image of God better but I think we are equally important. He did choose Mary to bear His Son. He could have just made Him appear or anything else He wanted, but He chose her - a woman. I have always been overweight and had an eating disorder. I have dieted all of my life. I can remember my Mother giving me diet pills before the age of 6 because I had not lost my baby fat. She was a very conservative woman and would not have done anything to hurt me but, because she overweight most of her life, she did not want for me to go through what she had gone through. I have yoyo'd from weight to weight being as high as 334 and as low as 145 (for a VERY short period). When Oprah went on the Optifast program and lost a lot of weight, I tried it as well. I did not eat solid food for six months! I lost a lot of weight but as soon as the meetings stopped and I began eating in the real world, I gained it all back. I always heard that it was a learned existence to eat to live rather than living to eat, but until I came to a saving belief, I either did not want to hear it or ignored it. I am not looking for the "perfect" body as some would see it because, since I am saved, I have already been made perfect by God. I just want to look nice and not be at a weight where people stare or laugh. I know I will never wear a bikini and, quite frankly, I do not care to ever wear one because I do not feel that is what will glorify God. The person that I am inside is what is special to God so I work on that "body" everyday in obedience to Him.