Why I'm fat
I had a really weird conversation in the weight room today.
My weight is up 30 pounds from the low I had when I was doing triathlons. The car accident in June 2008 that hurt my neck put an end to my running, and in the intervening two years I've just drifted up and up. The bout with Depression (with a capital D) no doubt exacerbated it. Closing in on menopause probably is involved, too. For whatever reason, I need to drop 300 calories a day from my diet or add 300 calories a day of exercise just to stabilize where I'm at. Even better would be to drop 300 calories a day from my diet AND add 300 calories of exercise and drop some of this weight. That's my current short term plan. My long term plan is just to eat 300 calories less every day for the rest of my life. Otherwise I'll get fat.
I happened to pick up this month's Atlantic Magazine this morning and read an article about how the reporter stopped being fat. He said that it wasn't possible in this culture to stop being fat because the food culture is so toxic that they can't help it. So he underwent bariatric surgery. As someone who lost 80 pounds by eating less and exercising more and kept (most) of it off for quite a few years now, I really find this conclusion incorrect. Not only is it wrong, but it's a huge disservice to fat people to tell them they are doomed if they can't afford expensive maiming surgery. Too many of them believe it and therefore decline to make the effort required to change. :-(
I was all alone in the weight room this afternoon and one of the trainers came in to chat with me. I told him that I was disappointed in myself for letting my weight creep up like this, and he told me that it wasn't my fault, that the food culture is just so toxic. I explained that I don't eat pre-packaged foods hardly ever: our pizza starts with yeast and flour! I have plenty of frozen veggies I put by on hand. I have barrels of brown rice and bags of dried beans and a root cellar filled with (currently fairly yucky) potatoes and carrots. I don't eat packaged foods all that often.
Well, he explained, restaurants serve such huge portions. Nope, bzzzz, not my problem. I rarely eat out, and when I do I divide my portion in half (or split one with a kid) and take the rest home. Our family routinely cooks one chicken breast (both halves) for the four of us.
Well, he reached, lots of people live in food deserts. Huh? My kid just got back from Nicaragua and told me they ate rice and beans the whole time. Every inner-city grocery store I've ever been in has at least wilted collard greens. Frozen peas cost less than tater tots. Oatmeal costs a heck of a lot less than anything but WIC cereal. (We buy rolled oats in bulk 50 pound bags.) I assure you, I'm able to find low-cost nutritious food.
This trainer at the gym was at a loss for words. He really believed that it wasn't possible for someone to just eat less. How pervasive is this point of view? It's pretty screwed up, if you ask me!
Nope, my problems with food have to do with eating too much because I'm bored, or sleep deprived and want the energy boost, or because I enjoy the flavor and am eating for entertainment. Also, because I can afford it. I guarantee you that I would not be this fat if I only could afford 1000 calories a day, or if my children were going hungry. Food is cheap and tasty, though, so I blow through satiation of hunger signals and eat too much. How do I know it's too much? Duh, my pants don't fit. This doesn't take a rocket scientist.
The solution is to eat less. Exercising more will help, as it helps so many other things. But primarily I need to find 300 calories to cut from my life. This is a solvable problem and I will solve it.
I'm so very glad I don't believe the bullshit that I'm just a victim of my "toxic" culture. Sheesh.
My weight is up 30 pounds from the low I had when I was doing triathlons. The car accident in June 2008 that hurt my neck put an end to my running, and in the intervening two years I've just drifted up and up. The bout with Depression (with a capital D) no doubt exacerbated it. Closing in on menopause probably is involved, too. For whatever reason, I need to drop 300 calories a day from my diet or add 300 calories a day of exercise just to stabilize where I'm at. Even better would be to drop 300 calories a day from my diet AND add 300 calories of exercise and drop some of this weight. That's my current short term plan. My long term plan is just to eat 300 calories less every day for the rest of my life. Otherwise I'll get fat.
I happened to pick up this month's Atlantic Magazine this morning and read an article about how the reporter stopped being fat. He said that it wasn't possible in this culture to stop being fat because the food culture is so toxic that they can't help it. So he underwent bariatric surgery. As someone who lost 80 pounds by eating less and exercising more and kept (most) of it off for quite a few years now, I really find this conclusion incorrect. Not only is it wrong, but it's a huge disservice to fat people to tell them they are doomed if they can't afford expensive maiming surgery. Too many of them believe it and therefore decline to make the effort required to change. :-(
I was all alone in the weight room this afternoon and one of the trainers came in to chat with me. I told him that I was disappointed in myself for letting my weight creep up like this, and he told me that it wasn't my fault, that the food culture is just so toxic. I explained that I don't eat pre-packaged foods hardly ever: our pizza starts with yeast and flour! I have plenty of frozen veggies I put by on hand. I have barrels of brown rice and bags of dried beans and a root cellar filled with (currently fairly yucky) potatoes and carrots. I don't eat packaged foods all that often.
Well, he explained, restaurants serve such huge portions. Nope, bzzzz, not my problem. I rarely eat out, and when I do I divide my portion in half (or split one with a kid) and take the rest home. Our family routinely cooks one chicken breast (both halves) for the four of us.
Well, he reached, lots of people live in food deserts. Huh? My kid just got back from Nicaragua and told me they ate rice and beans the whole time. Every inner-city grocery store I've ever been in has at least wilted collard greens. Frozen peas cost less than tater tots. Oatmeal costs a heck of a lot less than anything but WIC cereal. (We buy rolled oats in bulk 50 pound bags.) I assure you, I'm able to find low-cost nutritious food.
This trainer at the gym was at a loss for words. He really believed that it wasn't possible for someone to just eat less. How pervasive is this point of view? It's pretty screwed up, if you ask me!
Nope, my problems with food have to do with eating too much because I'm bored, or sleep deprived and want the energy boost, or because I enjoy the flavor and am eating for entertainment. Also, because I can afford it. I guarantee you that I would not be this fat if I only could afford 1000 calories a day, or if my children were going hungry. Food is cheap and tasty, though, so I blow through satiation of hunger signals and eat too much. How do I know it's too much? Duh, my pants don't fit. This doesn't take a rocket scientist.
The solution is to eat less. Exercising more will help, as it helps so many other things. But primarily I need to find 300 calories to cut from my life. This is a solvable problem and I will solve it.
I'm so very glad I don't believe the bullshit that I'm just a victim of my "toxic" culture. Sheesh.