14 Things Every Fat Girl Absolutely Needs to Hear - WorldLifestyle

14 Things Every Fat Girl Absolutely Needs to Hear - WorldLifestyle

That 4 Letter Word That Makes Adults Cry.... DIET

That 4 letter word that makes adults cry.... diet,
GASP! I said it!
  Americans are obsessed with dieting. According to 20/20 in an article called Losing It: The Big Fat Trap there are some outrageous numbers associated with dieting in America. $20 Billion is spent annually on diet books, diet drugs and weightloss surgeries. 108 million people are on a diet usually trying 4 or 5 attempts a year. 85% of those dieters are women. $500,000 to $3,000,000 is spent on celebrity endorsements for diet plans!
  To me that is absolutely ridiculous!  Why are diets so damn expensive, complicated and hard to follow? Our attention spans and self control must be really bad or we are being set up for failure.....hmmmm. The AlterNet.org article Why Diets Make You Fatter And What to Do About It says the "diet industry keeps offering new programs and plans. Low-fat, low-carbohydrate, and low-calorie diets get recycled with new names, claiming that they aren't a diet (since, as we all know by now, diets don't work!), but a way of life. Fitness clubs ready themselves for the onslaught of new members, counting on the fact that these exercise enthusiasts will work out religiously for a month or two and then drop out, fleeing the tedium of Stairmasters and treadmills.The common cultural notion that anyone can successfully lose weight and keep it off with enough hard work and commitment mirrors the values embedded in the American Dream. Yet despite this collective belief -- and the short-term weight loss that occurs with just about any type of weight-reduction plan -- the most frequently cited statistic is that 95 percent of dieters will regain the lost pounds. Given that a few percent will maintain the weight loss, we all know someone who can claim "success," yet the vast majority will regain the weight. Although the blame -- and shame -- for the failure is usually placed at the dieter's doorstep, strong physiological, psychological, social, and even economic forces make dieting a losing battle."
  Frankly, it is overwhelming with the Eat This, WAIT, we changed our minds, now it's now bad for you.... so Eat That instead! It is honestly enough to make me scream! It is overload and most people think they are too busy to spend the time to eat healthy, to eat fresh, work out and put in the effort it requires to be successful. That 20/20 article also says that of those who kept off 30 pounds for at least 5 years were the people who put in a minimum of 1 hour of exercise daily. It honestly is not all about the food. People say they are on a diet all the time but it has to be more than what or how you eat. Put any label you want on it, spin it with a fancy name or have a skinny celeb spout off a bunch of lies but losing weight all comes down to some basics.
"All diets work by restricting calories. Since simply telling people to eat smaller portions doesn't sell books, most commercial diet plans are built around a nutritional trick that makes it easier to restrict dietary intake. Food is made up of four basic components (so-called macronutrients): water, fats, protein and carbohydrates. Therefore, it follows that telling people to avoid fats or cut out carbs will automatically eliminate a lot of food choices. Low-carb diets, for example, are effective, because they remove an enormous number of potential foods such as bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, etc., from a person's diet." According to the PBS article Frequently Asked Questions About Diet & Health by Jon Palfremon.
  Save your dollars!  Use that money for fresh veggies and walk your happy butt the long way around the store! You don't need some fad diet or book telling you to skip fruits because they are high in sugar. That is insane! It's FRUIT! Use your brain! You don't need some celeb with a personal chef telling you to buy a prepackaged diet food because we both know this is NOT what they are putting in their mouths everyday! Or EVER for that matter! i am learning we should really KISS our life! Show your body you love it, Keep It Simple Stupid....KISS.  If it is fresh, if it is a lean protein, if it is something you will eat then go for it! What is the point of an expensive name brand labeled diet type food if it tastes gross and you will never eat it. Or the ones full of fillers to trick your body into thinking you are eating more?
  So, I am sticking to my theory. One I did not have to pay a fee per pound for or choke down a slimy frozen entree to be able to say I'm sticking to a diet. Forget that! I am going to attempt to love my body (which I know is NOT easy). I am going to KISS it and fill it with as little preservatives or artificial crap as I can! It worked for me before surgery then I am going to focus on it again. Can't hurt..... I am going to start by cleaning up my use of those 4 letter words...by no longer saying I am on a DIET, I am just focusing on my new lifestyle instead! so, GOOD LUCK my friend, it's crazy out there!

Food Obsession

  I have a food obsession. Not the kind most people think a fat girl would have. Mine is quite the opposite. I have become overwhelmed by the idea of eating the right things, the right quantity, at the right time and making sure it don't mess up. My whole day feels like it revolves around food. Despite being 375 pounds is was never an emotional eater or a bored eater. I was more likely to skip eating all together just so people would not judge me. In fact, this has not changed. I am stuck at 220 pounds now for awhile and I have been told it is because I am not getting in enough calories to burn so my metabolism has shut off.
  Part of me is like "great now what!" While the other part is like "well, if I go long enough maybe my body will have no choice but to eat itself. Afterall, there is still plenty to eat" While not the healthiest attitude....it's mine. I own it.
  Food obsession is not just the impulse to stuff your face. It comes in different forms. Mine is the new eating to live not living to eat that I still have not mastered. Most. People struggle with eating all the fast food and junk they can get their hands on instead of the filling their bellies with nutrients that fuel our bodies. We crave salt, sugar, crunchy, chewy, so we seek out those temptations in any form readily available despite the awful fat or artificial ingredients contained in them. I have the opposite issue. I have become so obsessed with making sure I get in my protein and water and nothing bad that honestly I miss even those basic goals daily. Now, I have to worry about my hair falling out and my waist staying this size because I can't get over myself and get done the basic things I need to. I obsess over every calorie, every gram of fat, every gram of sugar and my body is now officially starving. Lab tests say so. But, I am stuck in the old mindset of eat less, you will lose weight. Despite a nutritionist and Bariatric Surgeon telling me otherwise,  I am stuck.
  I tried eating extra fat (I actually was not getting in a single gram daily for weeks) and tried getting out of my 300 calorie day slump. All it has done is make me feel like a failure. A big fat failure. I am struggling with exhaustion and knowing what I should be doing but I am apparently too dense to get over myself. I have researched it. I have studied options and alternatives but I don't have cravings or hunger to contend with. Mine is setting a damn clock to tell myself to eat. I feel like a slug if I stray from my fresh fruits, veggies and protein shake regimen.
  A friend that suffered from eating disorders told me I sound like I might be suffering from a form of Othorexia.... WTH? I had to look it up.  "Orthorexia is the term for a condition that includes symptoms of obsessive behavior in pursuit of a healthy diet. Orthorexia sufferers often display signs and symptoms of anxiety disorders that frequently co-occur with anorexia nervosa or other eating disorders.A person with orthorexia will be obsessed with defining and maintaining the perfect diet, rather than an ideal weight. She will fixate on eating foods that give her a feeling of being pure and healthy" according to Timberline Knolls. Their site also says "How are Orthorexia and Anorexia Nervosa Different.
Obsession with weight is one of the primary signs of anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders, but is not a symptom of orthorexia. Instead, the object of the orthorexic's obsession is with the health implications of their dietary choices. While a person with anorexia restricts food intake in order to lose weight, a person with orthorexia wants to feel pure, healthy and natural. The focus is on quality of foods consumed rather than quantity."
  Okay, maybe in a few examples I could possibly fit this..... but I think it's a bit far fetched. I'm just not hungry.  So, I can't bring myself to eat when I am not hungry. And if I have to eat I only want the good stuff in my body. to be honest, it's driving me absolutely insane!
  My day consists of trying to remember to get a protein in and enough water... I try but half the time it just sits on my desk or in my cup holder in my car. For lunch I usually read and snack on a few cherry tomotoes and sugar snap peas. That's if I remember to take them with me. I add in cheese which helps with the protein and calcium but I would be perfectly content with popping a handful of vitamins if I didn't have to eat anything all day.
  I have a follow-up with the surgeon in a few days.... and another round of lab tests were drawn yesterday. That was the easy part. Guess I should go make a shake and clean house. My reward for cleaning will be a 2 hour work out tonight.  I was told to take it easy and try implementing a reward system for planning out my food intake like I do my work out routines....okay. Let's see how this goes. Anything has to be better than being obsessed with when and what I have to eat next.