Comments | attack_laurel: Who's Fat? I'm Fat.

attack_laurel

Who's Fat? I'm Fat.

Feb 19, 2010 11:54

I need to get back to my gluten-free diet; the insomnia is getting bad. It might help with my hair, too (though I still intend to do terrible things to it like go blonde. Hee! Fun with hair!). Yes, it tends to make me lose weight and stabilize at the lower end of my weight range, but that's the last thing on my mind. I'm feeling good about ( Read more... )

women's issues, rant, food, diet, deep thoughts, fat, history

Comments 77

hakerh February 19 2010, 17:31:13 UTC

Thank you for this post - I was never really a skinny kid to start with, but my father put me through a lot of the same stuff you mention (ridicule about size, strict food policing, etc). I think a lot of my weight issues came from the fact that my mom died when I was 8, my dad had no idea how to cook, and my grandmother is a candy-fiend who passed it out at every chance. (And when all you're getting at home is frozen pizzas and spaghetti, you chow down on anything else in range when it's available.) I'm amazed we didn't die of malnutrition.

By the time I was a teenager, I had no idea what hungry was. All I knew was that when presented with an opportunity to eat, I had to get as much in as possible before someone stopped me.

THIS. I still remember switching to a new school in 8th grade that actually had a decent school lunch program (one that included vegetables that weren't out of a can!), and how I would fill my tray with as much as the damn thing would hold. And the other students made fun of me for it. They didn't know I wasn't ( ... )

hsifeng February 19 2010, 18:10:10 UTC

I live on a farm, and my day routinely involves snowshoeing, moving firewood, and carrying 50lb bags of grain.

I grew up on a ranch, where almost everyone in my house would have been considered 'overweight' by medical standards. We all did a stack of chores every day, rarely had time to "just sit around" and could run circles around most of our urban friends.

There is something just *wrong* about this equation.

fieryredhead February 19 2010, 17:34:04 UTC

I'm not going to be able to contribute much to this post as I am

1) SEETHING that Mrs. Obama has implied her girls are overweight. SERIOUSLY?!?

2) Have just relived my childhood with you.

Currently at the heaviest I have ever been I am miserable but am doing something (several things) about it. My world has been so crazy for the past year (and especially in the last few months) I am just now feeling back in control.

BTW, what commercial system did you use?

Lastly, you look fabu.

attack_laurel February 19 2010, 17:56:55 UTC

I used Jenny Craig, but they're all the same - expensive, crappy food, no real proper diet advice, and no proper follow-up. My weight didn't really stabilize properly for about four years after losing weight, and only became stable no matter what I ate when I went GF. I had to learn on my own what hunger and fullness actually felt like - that kind of subtlety was way beyond JC. They used scare tactics like "after 25, it's much harder to lose weight!" and had no real nutritional training for their "counsellors", as far as I could tell.

You'd think, with generations of people telling the same stories about the horror of shaming, that people would listen. But no, shaming the fatties is more fun, I guess.

holygrenade February 19 2010, 18:42:35 UTC

I was successful on Weight Watchers in my 20's, 30's and then the 40's. But since my daughter was born 10 years ago, that program doesn't work for my anymore. I gained weight on it the last time I tried.

What works for me is portion control, vegetables and proteins with only a smidge of starch and sugar. Fruit for snacks and an early bedtime.

fiberferret February 19 2010, 17:35:37 UTC

Thank you for sharing. As Stah said you are beautiful and perfect in every photo. It should not be surprising to me how messed up parents can be about their kids, but still I am livid that yours did that to you. I am so glad you found Bob to give you love and support!

attack_laurel February 19 2010, 17:58:44 UTC

My mother has actually apologized at length for my childhood - her mother was fat-phobic to the nth degree, and she was actually trying to protect me from that by making me diet. I love her very much, and she's an awesome Mum, and I don't hold it against her. It's just history now, something that happened. :)

fiberferret February 20 2010, 00:46:48 UTC

That's good. It takes a strong and loving person to face up to their mistakes like that. I'm glad for you!

tania_gru February 19 2010, 17:47:07 UTC

Very well thought out. I love it. I am in the opposite side of the spectrum. I was always told to eat more, since I was underweight. I simply don't have a sense of when I am hungry. I eat because I have to and because I enjoy food, not because I am hungry. So when I get obsessed with a subject or feel depressed, I forget to eat. Since I am 5'1" and normally weight around 110, loosing weigh is not healthy and makes me look like a starvation victim ;-) I always lose weigh on my upper body and face, never on my hips where I might be happy to lose an inch or two.

Tania

eithni February 19 2010, 17:50:45 UTC

*sigh* I had a fascinating complication to weight-related brain weasles - at home, my dad constantly mocked me for being a "fatso lazy pig" (because I sucked at sports and they made me miserable) and at school I was mocked for being a "tiny twiggy geek" (because, well, I WAS a geek... I just own it now). My classmates were closer to having it right, but I still have underlying body issues two decades later.