A thought for the new week

November 9, 2009

A thought for the new week

Recently, I read a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in which 300 “moderately obese people” were followed on three different diets: the low-carb diet, the low-fat diet, and the Mediterranean diet (healthy fats, some dairy products, abundant fruits and vegetables). After the first five months of tightly controlled dieting, the dieters lost an average of 10 to 14 pounds.

However, by the end of the two-year study, all the participants gained back some of the weight they had lost. Two years of strict dieting and the end result is that you lose 10 pounds and gain back four? Hmm. There’s gotta be a better way to spend your time.

There is. It’s called: Live the life you have. Love the body you’ve got. (This is not the same thing as: Give up and binge.)

— Geneen Roth

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Living 400lbs

I blog about what it’s like to be live life at about 400lbs. :)

9 responses to “A thought for the new week”

shyvixen

November 9, 2009 at 2:58 pm

I read the Good Housekeeping article that this quote is from and it’s pretty good. My bout with ovarian cancer is what lead me to fully embrace FA. Thinking about all the time I wasted hating my body and starving myself was depressing. After cancer, I appreciated my body and how strong it was.

My only hesitation is her last line about how she doesn’t mean “Give up and binge.” Give up on what? I’ve given up on dieting and self-hatred – isn’t that a good thing? After all that feel-good stuff about aprreciating life and accepting yourself she has to add that last line – why?

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jaed

November 9, 2009 at 4:36 pm

I read the give-up-and-binge line as being a preemptive dismissal of what some people would think she was saying. If you say to a lot of people, “I’m not going to diet any more, but love and care for the body I have,” they’ll often say something like, “You mean you’re going to give up on being Thin ‘n’ Healthy? You’re just going to start devouring donuts all the time?” So she’s saying “love your body” and “give up on dieting” is not the same as “give up on life” and “binge eat”.

At least that’s what I hope she’s saying.

I did start noticing, after a while, that every time there’s a trial of a Promising New Drug for Weight-Loss, or a Great New Approach to Giving the Obese Their Lives Back, or whatever, when they get around to the actual quantitative results it’s always something like, “Study subjects lost an average of 12 pounds over the 1-year study period.” One-year followup does not impress me. Twelve pounds impresses me even less. It is very typical to see minimal results like this touted as The Answer for the Obese, when even if it’s maintained it represents a minimal loss of weight. (At my height, 14 pounds is about two BMI points.)

(No, I don’t have any idea why I’m Sarcastically Capitalizing everything today. ;-)

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1. living400lbs
  
  November 10, 2009 at 12:40 am
  
  So she’s saying “love your body” and “give up on dieting” is not the same as “give up on life” and “binge eat”.
  
  That was my take on it too.
  
  Reply
Bilt4cmfrt

November 9, 2009 at 9:28 pm

Well, by itself, I think it could go either way. But considering the tenor of the rest of the article I’d have to lean towards a warning not to hit the buffet circuit rather than a preempt of the no diet = surrender to gluttony argument we usually get from the ‘Fatties got no willpower’ crowd.
The article is mostly positive and speaks to philosophy in direct contradiction to the FOBT and that ain’t a bad thing at all. How’s about this?-

‘Live the life you have. Love the body you’ve got. (This is not the same thing as giving up on Life. Just give up the Diet.)

-THERE! All fixed.

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MaryLeigh

November 9, 2009 at 10:49 pm

“(This is not the same thing as: Give up and binge.)”

Absolutely. It’s about respecting your body and taking care of it, and just because you’re larger than the ‘norm’ doesn’t mean you don’t do that. True FA involves self respect at its core.

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Lu

November 10, 2009 at 7:33 am

Loving your body is the key to health and joy. I mean that in the following way:

Love the body you have. Strive for health. Don’t beat yourself down.

I really like that you posted this.

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Ms. Pillowz

November 10, 2009 at 10:41 am

I really like that quote. I consider myself to be a pretty confident big diva, but I still have to put in the work every day to maintain that. As you all know, it can be pretty hard. Reminders that we are imperfect because of our size every second of the day doesn’t help, either. Seeing posts like this and reading comments such as the one by ShyVixen is a reminder to love and appreciate my body. Congratulations on your recovery, ShyVixen! Thanks for sharing!

Ms. Pillowz
BigDivaHq.com

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Chavonne

November 15, 2009 at 8:13 pm

I just came upon your blog and really love it! Thanks for being a strong, big woman thoroughly pleased with herself. I will be following you from now on. :)

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