I’m going to take a moment to stray from sex blogging to talk a bit about weight and body image. Since February 2010, when I started a concerted effort, until now I’ve lost about 50-55 lbs. (I put the range because my weight can fluctuate a couple of pounds up or down on any given day.) I live in a society (the United States) where weight loss is hailed as unequivocally a “good thing.” But a friend recently forwarded me this excellent blog entry about weight loss, and why you shouldn’t assume anything about it: Dear People Who Comment about Weight Loss.
I think that overwhelmingly my weight loss is a positive thing since I did it healthfully and gradually. (I averaged 2 lbs. every 2 weeks when it was going strong. After a few months of plateau I seem to be losing again.) With 50 fewer pounds to lug around, my knee issues have all but disappeared. My father was diagnosed with diabetes last year, and if I stayed obese that was pretty much inevitably my destiny too. I feel better and I’m glad I did this for my health. A huge part of the weight loss is due to improving my diet. At various points in my life having a serving of fruit a month was usual, now I eat fruit daily as much as possible since it can fill me up without a lot of calories. I eat more whole grains and vegetables now, and I’m sure my body thanks me for it. When I calculated the amount of calories I had to be averaging a day to maintain the weight I was, I was dumbfounded. (I’ve read you need 12 calories per pound of body weight a day to maintain your current weight.) No wonder I was fat! And eating in pretty much any restaurant in the United States will help you keep weight on. (For most of us. There are people who are thin and wish they could gain weight. This needs to be considered and these people treated with the same respect as the “average” and the fat.)
Counting calories and changing my diet was a lot of work, but now that it’s become habit it is much easier than before. (DeeDee’s cooking healthfully for MasterDoc and I has been a HUGE help.) I still have to be vigilant, however. This is a trade off I will probably need to do the rest of my life – count calories to make sure what I’m eating on average is reasonable. I’d like to thank my parents around now for the terrible diet habits I’ve had. (Sarcasm.)
But the idea that losing weight is 100% a positive experience is just not true. I thought it would be, but I’ve been caught by surprise with the difficulties. Having to buy an entirely new wardrobe, not once but two or three times, as I dropped clothing sizes has been difficult. I’ve scoured clearance, sales and the local thrift store but without that I don’t know what I’d be wearing right now. I seem to be on the verge of another size drop, so the pants I bought two sizes ago (and less than 6 months ago) and really liked are now ridiculously big on me. Clothing that I loved to wear doesn’t fit any more and I have to say goodbye to it. I have a corset and a waist cincher I need to put up for sale on ebay as they’re too big. The belts I purchased to help with my pant issues are nearly on the last hole just months later.
I’m sure before the weight loss I would have just felt envious over this “problem” I’m having, but the weirdest thing is feeling like a) my body isn’t my own/familiar anymore and b) while I KNOW I’ve lost weight and clothing sizes, I’m fat/flabby in the same places and don’t feel like I’ve changed as much as I have.
Remembering one of my favorite novels as a pre-teen, There’s a Bat in Bunk Five by (the fabulous) Paula Danziger, there was a scene where the main character, who had lost a lot of weight since the previous novel, The Cat Ate my Gymsuit, is at a store in Woodstock, NY and asks for a t-shirt that is clearly (to the salesperson) too big for her. The salesperson comments on how the main character must have lost a lot of weight and that people who do so have a hard time visualizing their bodies as they now are. I go clothes shopping and think, “That’s a large, it won’t fit me. I need 1x.” but then the large fits me wonderfully now. I had developed an identity as a young woman who wore size 18 or 20. Now that I’m in size 14 and needing to check out size 12 pants, my identity has been skewed. On some levels I see my body as it was. I’m still flabby in the same spots (yet according to the terribly imperfect BMI, I’m just on the verge of being in the “normal” weight category, after being in the obese one for my entire adult life thus far). Regular exercise has helped me feel better and has clearly improved my stamina during sex, but I still have an “imperfect” body by so many standards. If I don’t manage to tone up, a part of me will feel like I didn’t quite succeed. I realize this is sad. I realize that at nearly 40 years old this is tougher than it could have been 20 years ago.
And the times when I notice the changes in my body, I’m thrown off. Various sections feel kinda bony now whereas they never did before. I caught sight of myself in the mirror before a shower recently and I was shocked to see the definition of my ribs in my back. (I was slouching, that “helped.”) I feel like I’m in someone else’s body. “I’m plus size, what’s this nonsense about shopping in the non-plus size section?” The stores I’ve shopped in for years don’t carry my bra band size. I’ve had to figure out where other women get their bras. While I haven’t lost cup size, my boobs seem saggier, less dense and flatter than before. I don’t like this.
I don’t know if the flab I see is mere flab that I could lose via continuing to eat healthier and exercise, or if it’s loose skin. And if it’s loose skin do I want to pursue cosmetic surgery to remove it? I’ve been hoping that through such slow weight loss my skin would adjust.
I get more male attention now than before, and while it’s flattering it’s also weird for me. Men eye me on the street who wouldn’t have given me a second glance before.
Perhaps I’m most disturbed by the fact that I feel like I’m somehow “normal” now that I’m down to size 14 (or perhaps a size smaller now). I can shop in “normal” stores (although plus size stores carry my size quite often and I still shop them). I’m tall and not inclined to being skinny so being a size 6 is totally unreasonable for me, but to be within the “small – medium – large” paradigm after so many years is strange. I have a large bag of 1x and 2x size clothing to get rid of. I don’t think I should feel any more normal now than before, however, and this is poisonous cultural programming rearing its ugly head.
I’m all for fat acceptance. I have a hard time with people who totally ignore the health issues that can come with obesity, but on the other hand we all should have the freedom to do with our bodies what we wish. If you’re happier being fat, then you shouldn’t be treated badly for it. If you’re truly healthy at your heavier weight, then why change? Also, weight loss is not easy – I didn’t do it for nearly 20 years of being technically obese (I was in total denial about how overweight I was too) – I’m not here to judge anyone who is struggling, or has given up or just refuses to live their life on a diet. That’s their choice. And being fat does not make one stupid, lazy, or any other a thousand things our culture ascribes to obesity. We need to treat people as human beings – regardless of what they look like.
I’m happy I’ve made these changes, but my body feels so foreign right now.









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