I think all of you know I’ve been doing a lot of reading about fat and being overweight. I read a post the other day that I found particularly fascinating and thought you all might too. From Big Liberty: Moral Panics, Moral Crusades, and the Obesity Folk Devil
Her argument that the fake obesity crisis is actually a moral panic/crusade. Very interesting.
She also wrote The Tall Epidemic which I find hilarious.
A lot of this has come up because I was baffled by my body. When I was exercising every day of the week [cycling, gym, swimming] and being super careful with my diet I only managed to get down to 178. My PCOS doctor said he’d be amazed if I ever managed to get below 13 stone – 178 is below, but only just. Then when I got sick I stopped exercising and I didn’t really change my diet and I only gained 15lbs. Up to 10 of that could be attributed to the steroids and other medications I’ve had to take.
I have lately decided to just relax about food and only eat when I’m hungry and eat what I feel like eating. I haven’t gained any more weight and I get to enjoy breads, cheeses, cookies, cakes, candy, pasta and pretty much anything else.
So the idea of weight being like height [genetic] makes sense to me. Obviously if you eat 10,000 calories a day you’re going to be big, but if you eat a normal diet you’re going to be whatever size it is you’re supposed to be. On the flip side if you starve yourself [diet] then you’ll be thinner, but if you go back to a normal diet you’ll gain weight – plus some because your body starts storing fat out of panic thinking it won’t be fed for ages.
susanne3n said,
13 June 2008 at 11:41 am
Very interesting post, Amy, all of which I agree with! We’ve been discussing this at my gym (Contours Express), and they have actually joined in with a group called Thintuition, which I probably won’t do because it’s just too expensive. Many of the ideas they espouse are from a book called “The Overfed Head” by Rob Stevens, and said ideas have always made sense to me. I remember reading a book about the same concept probably, oh, 15 years ago!
Which is probably why I gave up dieting years ago. Lately I’m trying especially hard to eat differently, although my love for the taste of many things manages to still interfere regularly . . . *rme*
If I listen to my body instead of my appetite I can eat what I need and still enjoy the foods I like best.
And thanks for the link to Big Liberty . . . she has a very nice style of writing and makes good points. I’m going to go back and read her stuff again.