Fat People Are Like Snowflakes

All different.  I have been asked to just "be happy" with myself as I am and not to focus on my goal weight or the size of my clothing.  I have read an article on a dieter who, after many struggles and the loss of 100's of pounds, is still OBESE.  My weight falls in the "High Overweight" BMI range.

The BMI chart.  I lost 80 pounds in 2007.  I went from obese to overweight.  I would have had to lose another 20 pounds to get to the high end of Normal.  I looked like a dead woman walking at minus 80. No one wanted me to continue.  And I was unhappy and angry.

Guess what?  Losing the weight hadn't magically made me any happier.  I started eating as I had always eaten and, because I eat a good healthy diet, it took three and a half years for me to pile on 40 pounds. It has now taken 18 months for me to lose half of that.  I am guessing as I don't have a scale.  It has been many, many months since I experienced any weight loss.  I am maintaining which is a VERY GOOD THING in weight loss.

I am writing about this since the reasons for the weight loss, weight gain and maintenance is all a great big problem in this country.  Something is wrong.  With humans.  With the food we eat.  With the manufacturers of clothing.  With the images we see of ourselves and others in media.

We are making ourselves sick.  Or crazy.

IF I ate the very same foods (I have my food diary from all of 2007) today and for the next months, I would probably gain weight.  Not lose weight.  Crazy, isn't it?  I know it is.  I HAVE tried it.

I try, all the time, to seek a more normal way of eating.  And by normal, I mean eating things that everyone else eats.  Simple things like oatmeal, bananas, apples, butternut squash or white potatoes. Yes, those are the simple things I try adding to my food list.   Not pizza or loaves of bread, donuts or cookies. Never pasta.

 I have had oatmeal for breakfast for as many days as it takes to empty the large box of Quaker oats.  The waistband on my pants is snugger.  I am not as comfortable wearing the pants I have worn for months.  Nothing else in my diet has changed.  Just oatmeal.  I will not be buying another box.  I will give up on thinking I can eat oatmeal for breakfast like I did everyday in all of 2007 and lost 1 to 2 pounds a week.  Like clockwork.

This morning I had baked squash for breakfast.  With butter and cinnamon.  We'll see.