health issues, size acceptance, and contentment with our bodies as women

[seldearslj]

I was participating in a conversation about size acceptance, prejudice, and living with ourselves. It was about body image, the food we eat, shape, size, and health, and the discussions were interesting at first

Comments

[renisanz]

Yeah, this is an issue for me, personally. I recently lost about 25 lbs, going from nearly a size 12 American, which is supposedly "average" to about a 6. I'm not gonna lie and say it doesn't feel awesome to be able to wear clothes and styles you couldn't before. I actually lost the weight pretty easily once I made a conscience decision to pay attention to what I was actually eating. I don't have "food issues" per se, because I'm don't eat a lot of junk food and snacks. My weakness was bread and pasta.

My mother has been overweight all my life, but I didn't notice really because she was my mom, and you're used to someone looking a certain way and you don't really question it until it's pointed out to you. And she's actually gained weight over the years. By some miracle, she doesn't have high blood pressure or diabetes, but she's over 50, and who's to say she definitely at risk for them.

So, whenever I bring home food that's like, a bacon cheeseburger or something relatively unhealthy, I just have to fix my face and ignore her when

[renisanz]

OMG, that was longer than your post. :o

[seldearslj]

But good points!

we eat too much and don't burn it off, we gain weight.

I think this happens with a lot of people - I see it in myself, too. I'm lucky in that I live a lifestyle that lends itself towards exercise and eating healthy. I have the choices which other people don't - fresh vegies, an easy-access gym, and once my metabolism gets re-started, it burns very well and I see results in a month or so.

Others aren't so fortunate.

There are several layers to the Fat issue - one is health, one is size acceptance.

Yes, many people need to lose weight for health reasons. The problem is that, for a lot of othem, the weightloss is also mixed up in the negative beauty messages we're told: you're not skinny enough, young enough, pale enough, primped enough, perfect enough - you're not a real woman unless you can look like sex onna stick

[renisanz]

One woman injured her shoulder because she overdid her first exercise stretch in a while.

My mom did something similar. If you're not used to exercising, no matter what your weight is, you need to take it easy. You can't just jump into a hardcore exercise regime expecting to see results faster or something. And then the injury puts you back because you have to wait until you've healed to exercise again.

[seldearslj]

As a friend noted below, there's an increasing lack of moderation in our lives and perceptions. You're either a health nut who's always on the go 100% of the time, or you're a lazy slob who parks their butt in front of the TV and never moves.

There's no 'middle ground' - and the "all or nothing" attitude doesn't do anything for anyone. You either burn out or don't bother to try, too daunted by what lies ahead.

[renisanz]

When I first decided to get serious about losing weight, I didn't have an exact number of pounds to lose in mind. I just cut back on the serving sizes and tries to make healthier selections. I didn't stress about it, and once the weight started coming off it was really exciting. I honestly didn't know if it was realistic for me to get back down to the size I was before.

It is important for the person to be realistic as far as what results to expect. I guess the important thing is to not to expect to lose the weight all at once. I'm sure if I had weighed myself everyday I would have been a lot more stressed about it, because I lost the weight over about a year and a half.