Posts Tagged Dieting

A news report and several articles over the last little while got me thinking about this new fad, the “Fat Acceptance Movement“.

First, like most girls growing up these days, I never really accepted the way my body looked, even when I was younger and thin.  I dieted obsessively and often unhealthily throughout high school (the “one plate of spinach with olive oil and vinegar per day” diet….) and got down to a very unhealthy weight.  Then, once I graduated started college (and quit taking dance class three times a week and started eating lots of fast food) I went too far in the other direction, getting up to nearly 250 pounds.

I think it was when my mom bought me that pair of size 24W pants that I said enough was enough and started watching what I ate.

However, a few months ago I woke up one morning and had what can only be described as an epiphany. I looked in my mirror and I liked what I saw.  I was happy with myself.

So reading about and seeing the news reports on this movement made me think of that moment, and how satisfying it was that, for the first time in my life, I was able to accept myself as I was.

That’s not to say I gave up on eating healthy and exercising, but I’m not “dieting” anymore. Honestly, I like healthy food, always have.  I’m a huge fruit addict. Most of the unhealthy junk food I would eat would be on some sort of emotional binge-eating cycle where I’d get the worst possible thing I could get and eat the whole box/bag/etc. in one sitting.

I’m still exercising, too…because I’ve got arthritis and being able to actually move around without pain feels good….and the exercise helps that and because I’ve found it’s actually fun.  I’m not exercising anymore because I want to be thin.

The not dieting is a good thing, I think…the constant dieting cycle is horrible for you anyway.  Unfortunately, I think a lot of people will look at these articles and stories and go “Oh, it’s okay to be unhealthy now! Fat Powah!”

… No, I don’t think that’s what this is about, exactly.  It’s good and healthy to accept yourself as you are, but you also need to take your health into consideration.  Not the way you look, but the way you feel.  That’s why I’m still exercising though I’ve embraced the way I look….because the exercise makes me feel better.

So I’m a bit of two minds of what I think about this “Fat Acceptance” thing.  It’ll be too easy for people to use it as a license to kill themselves.

Related articles by Zemanta

• ‘Young, Fat and Fabulous’ Shun Yo-Yo Diets (abcnews.go.com)
• Aussie Fat Pride ad sparks debate, controversy (the-f-word.org)
• Make War on Obesity – Not on Obese People! (drsharma.ca)

And the lists that go with it. Here goes:

Resolutions (ie. The things I need to Start Doing):

1. Update each of my blogs once a week. Even if it’s to say I don’t have anything to say.
2. Write at least 1000 words of fiction every day.
3. Do something involving physical activity at least three times a week. I’ve succeeded at the goal of changing how I eat. Now it’s time for the really hard part.
4. Learn to actually play my guitar instead of using it as a decorative household accessory.
5. Snuggle the cats and the BF more. Snuggle the keyboard and mouse less.

Un-Resolutions (ie. The things I need to Stop Doing):

1. No. More. Cats. Unless they’re outside. You’re bordering on crazy-cat-lady territory already, and can you really afford to buy more 20lb. bags of cat food and cat litter every week?
2. No more procrastination. True, it can wait until tomorrow…but it probably shouldn’t.
3. No more avoiding the hard stuff because it’s easier to just not do it at all.

Things I’m glad I did in 2008:

1. NaNoWriMo. I actually finished this year, and while it’ll take a lot of work to get it to a publishable form beyond the express 50,000 words, my idea seems original and actually marketable.
2. Putting up Yule decorations instead of being all scroogy and grrr during the holidays.
3. Learning to draw. I’m having a lot of fun with it, and getting better with each picture, and it feels like something worthwhile.
4. Discovering just how much I actually love cooking.
5. Going as green as is possible for someone living in a not-terribly-well-insulated house an hour’s drive from anywhere. It didn’t turn out to cost as much as I feared, and even ended up saving me some money in some places.
6. Finally, for the first time in my life, being able to look in the mirror and think “I am beautiful” and genuinely believe it.