Why are people so concerned with weight-loss? page 33

[sbhikes]

Leida, you are so preoccupied with food and your body. I swear you have the mind of someone who is literally starving. No amount of weight loss or physical perfection can possibly be worth that.

[Leida]

Sbhikes, I have the mind of someone who starved once, rather than the mind of someone who is starving now. I grew with food shortages and very limited choices, then was over-whelmed with the bounty here in the West (do you know I first tried broccoli when I was 23?), then the harsh CW experience, and now the self-imposed restrictive diet that eliminates the only nutritional attachment I have left (fruit). So, I do not starve. I can have all the coconut oil I need to feel full. But I cannot have what I like eating the most even though it is all around me. It is worth it for me though, because I have seen myself overweight, and I can't go there again, at least not now.

[kkratz57]

This thread has certainly been interesting to follow!

I'm going to boil it down to this:

If you want to expend the extra energy to get to some Hollywood ideal instead of simply leading a healthier existence, fine. Knock yourself out.

If you still make assumptions about those with some pounds on them, I feel sorry for you.

Life is more than just how you look. It's how you feel, how you treat others, how much fun you're having, how generous and caring you are. Eating better, moving more, getting adequate rest sets us up to be able to wipe our own a$$es at the age of 85 and lessens our chances of being on 500 pharmaceuticals just to eek out some additional semi-miserable years.

That's why I consciously choose to not worry about the weight loss. It's extremely liberating. I'm LIVING my life. I have extra weight on me that's slowly coming off. It's not the end-all be-all for me anymore.

Besides -- in 1000 years, we'll all look the same. A big pile of f*cking dust.

[sakura_girl]

Sbhikes, I have the mind of someone who starved once, rather than the mind of someone who is starving now. I grew with food shortages and very limited choices, then was over-whelmed with the bounty here in the West (do you know I first tried broccoli when I was 23?), then the harsh CW experience, and now the self-imposed restrictive diet that eliminates the only nutritional attachment I have left (fruit). So, I do not starve. I can have all the coconut oil I need to feel full. But I cannot have what I like eating the most even though it is all around me. It is worth it for me though, because I have seen myself overweight, and I can't go there again, at least not now.

Maybe because you lost weight too fast, so you are still technically in that once-starved phase.

[Leida]

I lost weight 3+ years ago. The mindset though generally stays with you for a very long time. When my mom and I were doing week long fasting by choice, my grandmother could not accept the idea since she survived the famine during the war. Once you seriously face the threat of not having food to eat, and not just in your house, but in the stores, it does change you. Eating a limited diet and not by choice changes you. That's why I am unable to accept the idea of a 100 miles diet - as much as I like local food. As a kid I stood in the multiple-hour line-up as the second set of 'hand' since it was X amount per person you could buy, to buy bananas that they 'brought out' for like once in a year occasion, and having the fruit to ran out before your turn came up... I now stand before the meters of shelves full of bananas any time day and night, and next to it are the fruit and vegetables I did not know existed... holy cow. Pineapples! Strawberries! Grapefruits! Holy COW! Supermarket is my childhood version of Eden.

[meepster]

I think it depends on what you find attractive if you are not prompted by a nutritional philosophy of one kind or another. If I cleaned my mind of any knowledge of nutrients and what not, and just concentrated inwards, and started eating what I am inclined to eating/craving, what I will end up with would be something like:

Hot buckwheat or millet or rice porridge with milk and sugar or quark with home made berry jam for breakfast; fruit and cheese with veggies sandwich for lunch; meat and veggie soup with pumpernickel and mustard bread and sour cream or potatoes with fish fried in oil (not deep fried) or stew with something pickled for supper and more fruit and a pastry/candy with tea or kefir with fruit and bread. All food would be home-made, even bread. I would go for walks, lots of walks and work in the garden. And sit in the office the rest of the day.

That's neither CW, nor PB, nor paleo, nor vegetarian, I don't think it's even SAD... and I will gain weight on that kindda 'normal' eating like crazy. I probably will be overweight before the year was out if I started eating like that tomorrow, gaining 40 lbs. I keep telling myself I will be eating that way once I no longer care; before I thought it will be when I am 60 yo. Now I doubt that number.... I was reading this book yesterday, and a character that is in AA there says that she was told by others that an alcoholic would always miss alcohol. So, I guess, I will always miss that way of eating, as I cram in coconut oil, eggs and seaweed, skip meals and train myself to use Authoritative NO when I walk by a tree full of ripening apples.

Leida, are you Russian? Your diet sounds like that. I'm from Russia too - and you know what, the SRD (Standard Russian Diet) is nowhere near as unhealthy as the SAD. What you described doesn't sound all that horrible or all that unhealthy. And since when are apples non-Primal?

[meepster]

This thread has certainly been interesting to follow!

I'm going to boil it down to this:

If you want to expend the extra energy to get to some Hollywood ideal instead of simply leading a healthier existence, fine. Knock yourself out.

If you still make assumptions about those with some pounds on them, I feel sorry for you.

Life is more than just how you look. It's how you feel, how you treat others, how much fun you're having, how generous and caring you are. Eating better, moving more, getting adequate rest sets us up to be able to wipe our own a$$es at the age of 85 and lessens our chances of being on 500 pharmaceuticals just to eek out some additional semi-miserable years.

That's why I consciously choose to not worry about the weight loss. It's extremely liberating. I'm LIVING my life. I have extra weight on me that's slowly coming off. It's not the end-all be-all for me anymore.

Besides -- in 1000 years, we'll all look the same. A big pile of f*cking dust.

Yup. Exactly.

[meepster]

Leida, you are so preoccupied with food and your body. I swear you have the mind of someone who is literally starving. No amount of weight loss or physical perfection can possibly be worth that.

I'm getting that impression too. This is why I hate the "fat=unhealthy, thin=healthy" thinking, btw - that someone whose every thought is about food, who dreams about ripening apples (and what on earth is wrong with apples?), and who is so obsessed with food that she has to exercise iron-willed control every single moment is "healthy". This is not health. This is not what we should be striving for.

Weight is not everything. If you want to lose weight really really quickly, lopping off a leg is probably the quickest way of doing that - but it sure won't be "healthy", right? Neither is starving yourself like that.

[annedawso]

This thread has certainly been interesting to follow!

I'm going to boil it down to this:

If you want to expend the extra energy to get to some Hollywood ideal instead of simply leading a healthier existence, fine. Knock yourself out.

If you still make assumptions about those with some pounds on them, I feel sorry for you.

Life is more than just how you look. It's how you feel, how you treat others, how much fun you're having, how generous and caring you are. Eating better, moving more, getting adequate rest sets us up to be able to wipe our own a$$es at the age of 85 and lessens our chances of being on 500 pharmaceuticals just to eek out some additional semi-miserable years.

That's why I consciously choose to not worry about the weight loss. It's extremely liberating. I'm LIVING my life. I have extra weight on me that's slowly coming off. It's not the end-all be-all for me anymore.

Besides -- in 1000 years, we'll all look the same. A big pile of f*cking dust.

Totally agree with what you say in theory. I am the healthiest, though not the slimmest I have ever been and feel so much better.
However when I see my backside in the mirror I feel shocked that it looks so big and it makes me feel down.
It is too easy to get drawn into ideals.

[sakura_girl]

I lost weight 3+ years ago. The mindset though generally stays with you for a very long time. When my mom and I were doing week long fasting by choice, my grandmother could not accept the idea since she survived the famine during the war. Once you seriously face the threat of not having food to eat, and not just in your house, but in the stores, it does change you. Eating a limited diet and not by choice changes you. That's why I am unable to accept the idea of a 100 miles diet - as much as I like local food. As a kid I stood in the multiple-hour line-up as the second set of 'hand' since it was X amount per person you could buy, to buy bananas that they 'brought out' for like once in a year occasion, and having the fruit to ran out before your turn came up... I now stand before the meters of shelves full of bananas any time day and night, and next to it are the fruit and vegetables I did not know existed... holy cow. Pineapples! Strawberries! Grapefruits! Holy COW! Supermarket is my childhood version of Eden.

I think because you lost weight too quickly and stayed there, your body is still in starvation mode thinking. On top of lots of stress you're putting on your body right now, you're definitely going to stay there forever until you loosen up.