What followed is what got my gears grinding. A few woman were talking to me about this. All of them were overweight, none MORBIDLY obese, but still. The things they said made my head spin, one in particular. All of them had the same complaint; losing weight is impossible, they're happy with themselves as is and there's nothing wrong with being their weight.
Well, no, it's not... and if you are happy with your body, awesome! I don't judge because I am still a bit bigger than average and I used to be very obese. Also I don't judge because judging people is wrong.
The thing that got me going was one woman in particular. She went on this rant about how it's impossible for her to lose weight and how clearly I understand because I seem like I keep a healthy lifestyle and I've still got some extra pounds.
That's what stopped me. She's only known me for a few months. I know from what she's said that her daily life consists of sitting at a computer and eating takeout. Not even because she has no time, simply because she "doesn't feel like doing stuff."
She knows from what I've said about my life that I run long distance races, work out every day, eat healthier than your average person, and go for regular physicals at the doctor's. I don't understand where she thinks that we sit in the same boat. She was also under the impression that the only reason to lose weight was to look pretty.
That is NOT why I lost weight.
Before I get into this, I want to show you a picture of me from when I was in high school and a picture I took tonight. I used to be 265lbs. It was awful.
Before:
Now:
I've come a long way. And it's not because it's the North American standard or because I felt bad in my own body. Actually, if it was just how much I cared about how I looked I would probably be even heavier now. Did you see how I dressed? Seriously? It wasn't about image.
So this is my rant on health.
I am bigger than normal. I am still seen as a bit fat. I am above average weight for women, still. I couldn't care less about that. Honestly, if I had to put my feelings about my weight and my image into words, it would be "I don't give a shit."
Honestly, truly. I could still be as wide as I was up there, but if I was as healthy as I am now it wouldn't matter much. But I don't think that's possible. Whatever. Point being, it's not about weight, it's about health. And weight is deceptive in the world of health. This woman saying that we're on the same page is insulting, not because she's heavier than me or whatever, but because she is incredibly unhealthy and not doing anything about it. She has uneven, heavy breathing suggesting an unhealthy heart, and gets out of breath just walking.
Losing weight and being healthy is not impossible or even hard. You don't need to be on a huge exercise program with a personal trainer and eat like a rabbit to start losing weight. Once you start it kinda cascades into a world of health. But you start slow. Like... switch to milk in your coffee one week. Stop eating fast food but every once in a while, have a burger. Whatever. Just do it slowly. Maybe you start going for walks every day. Then sometimes you jog a teeny bit. Maybe sometimes you lift a bit of weights. Not much.
Sometimes you'll have to take a break from health and divulge and then you go back to it.
At this point I go for a 3 1/2 mile run every other day and I eat almost vegetarian but I didn't get there overnight. I took small steps and a few times got frustrated and tried to do it all at once and then fell off the bandwagon because I pushed myself too hard.
I did this stuff because my blood pressure was awful, I didn't want diabetes, and I wanted to ride horses competitively and you have to be in shape to do that. I wanted to be able to climb the stairs and breathe afterwards. I wanted to feel good and boost my immune system because I was sick of being SICK.
I had debilitating tendinitis in my knees. Some days it was so bad I needed crutches to walk. The seizing tendons were becoming so bad that they were slowly working my bones out out of their sockets and caused a dislocation. My doctor told me that unless I wanted to be in a wheel chair from 30yo on, I needed to take better care of my body.
I also have a slow metabolism (it runs in the family - both of my parents are overweight) so it wasn't easy and it's tedious and slow-going. But it's been 7 years since I made the choice to change. I was told by my tendon specialist that I couldn't run, walk too hard, climb stairs, battle snow, or do high-level biking to start out. I needed to swim, horseback ride, and do craptonnes of yard work in order to start it.
So I don't want to hear ANY bullshit about how it's too hard to lose weight. I did it with all of those restrictions and chronic pain in my legs and back from my effed-up knees.
When someone complains about how hard it is to lose weight because they have a cookie addiction or something and just don't have the willpower to introduce exercise, it just rubs me the wrong way. I was told I could end up in a wheel chair by age 30 AND I was told that I would not ever be able to run. I went for a year without running. A whole year, didn't run a step because I was so terrified.
Now I've run in long-distance races and I regularly run a 3 1/2 mile route.
Don't complain to me about overcoming your stupid Oreo addiction. Grow a pair and deal with it if it bothers you that much! Don't get pissed at society for telling you it's bad to eat a WHOLE BOX OF OREOS. Guess what? IT IS BAD. In so many ways. That stuff will KILL you. Literally.
Do not group me in the same area as yourself if you're unhappy with yourself but unwilling to change it.
Healthy saves lives, people! I'm not trashing anyone who looks any way, I'm just asking for people to not bitch about their health/weight if they aren't willing to work out how to deal with it.
Also, here's a picture of me and a friend of mine after the last 5k we ran together! I'm on the right =)
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