Weight and migraines
I'm fat. Most of you know that already. It doesn't bother me much, and I like the way I look in the mirror. So it's just part of what makes up me. Fat, for me, isn't a negatively-loaded word, it's a description. I'm Deb. I'm female. I'm fat. I'm tall. Same sort of thing.
I've been fat for about a decade now - I started gaining weight after I finished high school (no more walking for half an hour twice a day, and boy did I gain swiftly), and stabilised a little after I finished my degree- about 10kg a year for five years, and here I am. But I've been about the size and weight I am now for a while. I'm used to it; and I like myself this way. Sure, I could stand to lose 20kg, but it's not impacted my health in any noticeable way, so I've let it be.
My doctor, who I initially started seeing about my migraines about six years ago, has always been great about my weight (despite the fact that many of her patients are there specifically for weight-loss). I said to her on my very first visit that I'd rather not be given grief about my size, or hassled to try the latest weight-loss regimes, unless my weight was having an impact on my health.
So, I got a letter in the mail from her today. A recent study, published in Medscape, has shown a correlation between chronic daily headache / migraines, and obesity. The weight, as she put it, has to come off.
*head in hands*
This has put me in a bit of a tail-spin. Have I been causing my own migraines by being the size I am? How do I fix it, if I don't have the energy to exercise? Does this mean a diet? How do I diet when I'm vegetarian already? Basically I've spent the afternoon in a shitty mood. Because everything is going to have to change, and I don't know if I want it to, how to do it, or what will happen.
Who will I be, if I'm not me as I am now? And how am I going to have to change to get myself there?
I want my migraines gone. No argument there. But I don't know if I'm strong enough for this.
I've been fat for about a decade now - I started gaining weight after I finished high school (no more walking for half an hour twice a day, and boy did I gain swiftly), and stabilised a little after I finished my degree- about 10kg a year for five years, and here I am. But I've been about the size and weight I am now for a while. I'm used to it; and I like myself this way. Sure, I could stand to lose 20kg, but it's not impacted my health in any noticeable way, so I've let it be.
My doctor, who I initially started seeing about my migraines about six years ago, has always been great about my weight (despite the fact that many of her patients are there specifically for weight-loss). I said to her on my very first visit that I'd rather not be given grief about my size, or hassled to try the latest weight-loss regimes, unless my weight was having an impact on my health.
So, I got a letter in the mail from her today. A recent study, published in Medscape, has shown a correlation between chronic daily headache / migraines, and obesity. The weight, as she put it, has to come off.
*head in hands*
This has put me in a bit of a tail-spin. Have I been causing my own migraines by being the size I am? How do I fix it, if I don't have the energy to exercise? Does this mean a diet? How do I diet when I'm vegetarian already? Basically I've spent the afternoon in a shitty mood. Because everything is going to have to change, and I don't know if I want it to, how to do it, or what will happen.
Who will I be, if I'm not me as I am now? And how am I going to have to change to get myself there?
I want my migraines gone. No argument there. But I don't know if I'm strong enough for this.