part one if you haven’t read it.

My reason for boring you with that long dissertation is to say, I’ve got some ’street cred’. I’ve been on both sides of the coin. I know what its like to be on the pudgy side of the spectrum and I know exactly how hard it is/seems to be to change anything. There was a period of time where I did not own a pair of jeans that fit…I had jeans, and I was sure “I’d get back into them.” But I had work clothes for the week and stretchy for the weekend. Im so embarrassed to write that but its true. The thing is, nothing was going to change until I was really ready to do something about it. For me it took getting diabetes to be my wake-up call. The writing was on the wall for me if I didn’t make some profound changes in my eating and fitness habits. I don’t want to be diabetic and I didn’t want to wear stretchy for the rest of my life. This was ridiculous.

Several weeks ago I read something that got me all fired up and propelled me to write this (and Im intentionally trying to be vague, Im not trying to stir a pot). I was bothered by the number of people (and I realize this is only a small sample of the population) who were 1) plus sized 2) attributed their size to genetics/heritage 3) felt that size does not=health.

1) I went back to the US this summer. Whats more- I was in the midwest. The heartland. People are big and getting bigger. If I sat in the mall for an hour I’d say about 98% of the people that walked by would be somewhere on the overweight-obese-morbidly obese scale. What is even more concerning to me, is that overweight people are raising overweight kids. Its worrisome. I wonder what, if anything, will cause a shift/change? Im a sucker for TV shows that are medically related and recently I saw one on this morbidly obese man (1000-ish pounds) having to be physically removed from his house– they had to punch a hole through the wall to get him out on a stretcher because he wouldn’t fit through the door and I asked PC-how do you get to that point? No. I mean really. HOW do you get to that point? How do you get to the point that you have completely lost the ability to MOVE. How do you let yourself keep eating and eating and eating and not say WHOA. Not say STOP? I mean somewhere SOMEWHERE along the spectrum I just can’t believe, can’t begin to GRASP that people lack that much self control. That you can’t tell yourself to stop shoving burgers and fries in your food hole. I. don’t. get. it. Obviously that is an extreme case but my question is still the same– how does it happen?

I weigh myself every day. Im sure some people would disagree with this. I do it because it (along with the zipper on my jeans) is my “whoa” factor. I fluctuate about 5lbs. I accept that. Any more than 5lbs and we have a problem. I refused (esp. after diabetes) to be one of those women who “could never quite lose that baby weight.” I refuse to let myself hop on the scale 6 months from now and be like “damn….I gained 10lbs? How?” I don’t obsess about weight. I don’t freak out about calories. I don’t diet. I don’t deny myself any food. I do have a serious sweet tooth. I am at a healthy weight/BMI. I wear a size 8. I want to be healthy. I want to feel healthy and for the first time (meaning in the last few years) I do. After spending so many years NOT healthy.

The bottom line is that we are consuming way way more calories than our bodies can metabolize. That is the reason we are overweight. If we consumed fewer calories it would be better for our waistlines, our wallets and the environment.

2) To copy a line from somewhere else: We are all born with different body shapes and sizes but (aside from a medical condition) there is no reason for any of us to be seriously overweight. Our ancestors have nothing (or at least very little) to do with how big (round?) we are. I’m pretty sure that as a whole we’re several inches taller than our ancestors were (thats probably because of all the milk we drink with the extra! added! growth hormone! and calcium), and Im positive we’re a hell of a lot heavier. Dudes….we aren’t heavy because we came from “German/Dutch/Swiss etc. stock.” Furthermore– if you go searching on any other country on earth there is no population that is as overweight as ours. So, I think that also sort of discredits the ‘lets blame our heritage’ theory. In fact I’d say maybe the biggest familial factor in determining our shapes are the habits we learn and the things we’re fed growing up. I will agree that there is probably something in our genetics that may predispose us to certain things (ie alcoholism, being heavy, etc.) but I don’t think that necessarily means you are resigned to having/being X. I call bullshit on the ancestor theory. Its a cop-out. Its an excuse. Its interesting how with weight people use genetics as a reason to accept that “they can’t change their DNA” and yet when it comes to, say, being genetically predisposed to breast cancer women will go pre-emptively lop their breasts off (is surgery easier than a workout?) Yet both of those can kill you, why do something about one and not the other? And as a sidenote to this– Im almost finished with the book “In Defense of Food” and Michael Pollan says in numerous instances how much healthier our ancestors were and its our Western Diet that is literally killing us. (More on food/diet in part four).

3) Right now Im in the best shape I’ve been in. Wanna feel my bicep [wink wink]? I’ll get into the exercise portion a little more in part three of this four part series (did I get a laugh?) but while I wholeheartedly agree that just because you are thin doesn’t mean you are fit (and you can easily be heavier and be in very good shape as well) by and large the less weight you are carrying on your frame, the better. Right?

I like talking with people. I like helping and offering and making a difference where I can. I don’t want to cause any hard feelings and no one should take anything I have to say personally. I myself an am OVERLY sensitive person. I was just emailing back and forth with a friend the other day who was telling me she’s still trying to figure out her ‘calling’ and I keep finding myself circulating around these sorts of topics. I’ve seriously thought of going back to school for nursing, a masters in nutrition, some sort of health/wellness degree, physiology, environmental science, or maybe just getting a personal trainer certification (note- I have no interest in being a trainer, just interested in the knowledge). Im fascinated by the science behind food as it relates to health. I’ve always loved science and always thought I’d go to medical school. Chemistry deterred me. If I want any of those degrees listed above I know Im going to have to give chemistry another go. My point is I’d like to help people because I know its not easy. Weight loss is hard- its really really hard and that, I think, is why people don’t do it. Its not because of our ancestors. Its not because you’re taking a stance against the media making us feel we need to be supermodel thin. Its because its so damn hard. I know that is what held me back, I never appreciated that I had to push myself. Oh Lord I sound like a Jillian groupie but everything she says is right on, and when I want to stop running because I feel like I might throw up my left lung I hear her voice saying, “if you want change, its not going to come for free……if you want results you’re going to have to push” and I find the strength to go at least another 10 feet. ha ha

On one side of our fridge I tear out things of magazines or or write down quotes that I like. I particularly like this one from Dean Karnazes (and his book is next in my stack to read):
“Western culture has things a little backwards right now. We think if we had every comfort available to us, we’d be happy. We equate comfort with happiness. And now we’re so comfortable we’re miserable. There’s no struggle in our lives. No sense of adventure. We get in a car, we get in an elevator, it all comes easy. What I’ve found is that I’m never more alive than when I’m pushing and I’m in pain, and I’m struggling for high achievement, and in that struggle I think there’s a magic.”

Filed under: This Is My Life, fitness!