Today, the scale read 141 and I couldn't be happier. Eight months ago, I weighed myself and the scale read 141. That was eight months after I'd decided to lose weight on my terms. I'm not sure what I weighed 16 months ago, but it was probably somewhere between 175 and 180 lbs. I refused to weigh myself at that initial stage because I didn't want to fall into the same cycle of starving-and-binging that had me go from 180 lbs. down to 121 and back up towards 180 again.
Losing weight "on my terms" meant avoiding this punishing cycle and eating whatever I wanted, but doing it in accordance with my body's signals. Unfortunately, my body often signals me to eat burger combos and barbecue rib dinners. Still, I had managed to do this while still losing weight and keeping it off. So I was happy, and I decided to celebrate with, what else? A cheeseburger combo from Wendy's!
I went through the drive-thru and ordered a #1. When given the options of "small," "medium," or "large," I nervously ordered the small, hoping I wouldn't have to eat again a couple hours later to feel satiated. When I got the food, I was astonished at the sight of what was called a "small." I swear the size of my drink used to be considered a "large" 25-30 years ago. For the last couple of decades, it has been considered a "medium." Now it's a "small?" I can't fathom what would have constituted a "large soda" at Wendy's, not to mention how many people regularly convince themselves that they "need" to purchase all that extra food and beverage.
The pressure to eat more is omnipresent, especially when eating out. I recently went to a movie theater where I had to repeatedly turn down "encouragements" to enlarge my soda and popcorn. I was able to shun the larger portions, now, knowing how all those extra calories expand my waistline. But there was a time when I was less knowledgeable and would have taken the bait. Countless others still fall into this trap based on the same lack of awareness. And sometimes, they're not even given a choice of sizes and are forced to purchase larger portions. I recently had a combo at Rally's where the smallest soda was 32 ounces!
Screenshot of "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" showing America's increasing annual sugarconsumption over time as a result of the increasing portion sizes of products like Coke.
It's no wonder that the fast food industry is the first to be implicated in the increasing "obesity epidemic." But is the problem the food in and of itself or the portion sizes? The answer is obviously both, but I think the contribution that portion size brings to the table is overlooked. I'm thoroughly convinced that people can enjoy the foods they love--even fast food--and they can eat them on a regular basis, and not only maintain, but lose weight. I'm proof-positive of this. However, not enough people are aware of this, and they probably wouldn't believe it even if they were told because they're too brainwashed into believing otherwise.
What are they brainwashed into believing? That the only road to successful weight loss is to adopt the following lifestyle:
- Go hungry
- Have Spartan eating habits, vilifying normal foods (i.e. foods with fat, sugar, and flavor--the same foods that people in France, Italy, and everywhere else indulge in with nary a weight issue)
- Restrict calories or count Weight Watchers points
- Spend time and money meeting with others to talk/obsess about your (and sometimes their) weight loss issues
- Wile hours away at the gym
The last time I binged (and cried vehemently) was when I polished off an entire pint of Haagen-Dazs ice cream after failing yet again to lose that last stubborn pound that would have put my weight at the desired 120 lbs. That was the last time I swore I'd ever diet, and I haven't looked back since. I figured I'd rather be fat and happy than miserable and thin. It was only 16 months ago, that I followed the inspiration of effortlessly thin people and learned to eat and exercise reasonably in order to lose weight effortlessly.
I got my first bout of inspiration after watching a documentary called "Why Are Thin People Not Fat." Ironically, the premise involved an experiment where naturally thin people were encouraged to overeat in order to observe individual differences in weight gain. However, what struck me most in the documentary were the repeated explanations for why these people were thin. Every one of them said that they ate whatever and whenever they want, they just stopped whenever they were full. Simple logic, yet elusive up until the point of seeing this documentary and making the connection to the eating habits of some of my own family members, including my very own mother.
As long as I have known my mother, I have never known her to have a weight problem, and her dietary habits are worse than mine! I'd always figured she'd inherited her natural thinness from her father and I simply hadn't. Neither my grandfather, nor my aunts and uncles or their children have had healthy eating habits, yet they're all thin. What they all have in common with each other and with the people in the documentary is that they never overeat!
I, on the other hand, have always felt guilty at wasting food, and I feel like a failure if I don't finish what I've started. I've often unbuckled my pants in order to make room for more food. And, as embarrassing as it is to admit this, I've even, um, "relieved myself" in order to make room for more. As stupid (and gross) as this all sounds, it was a common habit of mine, and it's likely the cause of my lifelong issues with weight.
As someone who gravitates towards fast food, my "waste not want not" philosophy coupled with restaurants' astronomical portion sizes was a recipe for disaster. And as an increasingly iron-deficient person who believed that only the most exhausting exercise--that induced light-headedness and dizziness--would yield weight-loss results, I shunned exercise more and more as I could no longer sustain or even hit the 4 mph mark that I was convinced was necessary to effectively burn calories.
Not understanding the source of my weight-gain, I believed that it just wasn't in the cards for me to be thin, and that unless I fell for the hype of subjecting myself to punishing regimens, I was destined to be fat. It was only after looking at the aforementioned video and observing my relatives that I realized that punishing dietary and exercise tactics were not necessary and, in fact, were setting me up for failure.
Yet these tactics--among many other unsustainable gimmicks--are the only solutions offered through the media. People aren't aware of the interconnection between their specific body makeups and the environment in which they live. They are told that the only way to lose weight is to deprive themselves while being forced to live in a saturated environment where unhealthy foods are the cheapest, most convenient options available. What's worse (and from my experience, the most important factor) is that these unhealthy foods are being doled out in increasingly higher portions.
My conspiratorial mind inclines me to believe that it's all rigged. I honestly believe these restaurants and fast food eateries receive financial incentives (or something) to increase their portion sizes. Otherwise, why would they keep increasing them? Who's paying them to do this? Who knows! But my guess would be those who'd profit the most from this "setup": the weight loss industry, the health care industry, or some other segment of the PTB.
All I know is that none of us have to keep falling into this trap. Based on what I've learned and experienced, this is why I think some people are effortlessly thin and others are not.
We all fall somewhere between the two extremes, where effortlessly thin people possess all the factors in the left column, morbidly obese people possess all the factors in the right column, and the rest of us have some combination of both.Here's what I've determined to be the factors that led me to become obese.
The key to getting out of the obesity range, for me, was to learn what I'm working with body-wise (items 1-3), be aware of the environment I'm living in, and adjust my lifestyle (items 4-5) so that I could succeed at being a normal size within that context. I never go hungry and I still eat fast food. Hell, Wendy's was my 3rd burger meal just this week! And by "burger meal," I mean "beef" burger (not that worthless "turkey" or "soy" crap!) with cheese and mayo, a side of fries, and a full-caloried coke! The same kind of meal my effortlessly thin relatives would normally have. I've just learned to insist on eating only the amount of food that satisfies my appetite and to be okay with 30-minute walks that barely break a sweat. Basically, I follow these four tenets:
- Eat only when you're hungry; eat only what you're hungry for.
- Eat only when you're hungry; eat only what you're hungry for.
- Eat only when you're hungry; eat only what you're hungry for.
- Exercise 30 minutes a day, 3-4 times a week as rigorously as possible without getting exhausted or dizzy.
Am I thin? No, but I'm not obese or even overweight, and I actually enjoy shopping because the clothes look good on me now. Am I healthy? Honestly, no. But when I do decide to curb my fast food habits, it will be for health reasons rather than to lose weight, and I'll probably be more likely to stick with the healthier regime. Finally, since three of my rules direct me to eat according to my appetite, I never go hungry, and I am never miserable. I eat enough to get rid of my hunger, but now I keep my pants buckled. (And, um, that other embarrassing business is always kept to a minimum!)
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