Overweight concerns

[Divernate5150]

I know that when I dive, I loose weight. I think that it is a great way to stay in shape. Loosing weight will help with your air consumption. If you weight more, you will use more air.

 

[finley]

I want to move from snorkeling to scuba diving. Unfortunately I am extremely overweight. I was going to get certified a few years ago, but felt very uncomfortable being so large. The dive instructor did nothing to ease my concerns so I bowed out of the lessons (He stopped just short of openly calling me fat as some other students tried on wet suits). I tried a resort dive last year and had no problems. Well, I had problems staying neutral, but having no lessons, I think I did ok.

I am now working out 5-6 days a week. I haven’t lost any weight, but my cardiovascular endurance is raising steadily. I can easy pass the swim test involved (I can swim and tread water for hours). Here are my questions:

Should I wait till I lose weight to get certified?
Do they make wet suits for larger people? All the ones I found are a few sizes too small. I need a size 20-22 women’s.

I do most of my snorkeling in Florida, but I also want to dive in Missouri (where I’m from). The water in MO is cold at deeper levels so I know I’ll need a wet suit to really take full advantage of being a certified diver.

size 20-22 is NOT too large to scuba dive.....during the years that I have been cetified I have varied in size and the only difference was the amount of weight I need to sink. and if I would dive more often I could probably not worry about that. As far as a wet suit..I doubt you will have trouble finding one. if you do...check firehouse ..they supply firefighters and other rescue professionals. I myself seldom wear a wet suit as I am usually in warm water ( I know..protection, protection,protection)....SO GO GET CERTIFIED AND ENJOY LIFE..