The Medical Community

Doctors evangelize thinness to the point that I wonder if fat isn't scapegoated. Doctors assume that you are overweight because you are overeating. Not only do they assume that you're overeating, they assume that you are eating bad things with sugar, cholesterol and trans fats. One doctor said that I was so lucky that my blood sugar and cholesterol are in the normal range. It was not luck. I don't eat sugar, cholesterol or trans fats. Why not give me some credit rather than assuming I am just a lucky fat person who eats bad food?

More than just a fat woman

I am more than just a fat woman. I am a wife, swimmer, writer, musician and Buddhist. Losing weight is a full time job and can take up a lot of head space. For just one minute can I forget that I am overweight and do my sitting meditation? Sometimes I am so obsessed with losing weight that I forget my other qualities.

Fashion for Plus Size Woman

I lose weight slowly so I have to live with that weight. I find reading plus size women's clothing catalogs really help me like my body better. I am a fan of MIB (Making it Big), Ulla Popken and Silhouettes. Their clothing is well made and reasonably priced for the quality you get. Avenue and Lane Bryant's stuff is cheap---tends to shrink and pill. 

Junonia is overpriced for the style your getting. Their style is either sporty or dowdy. I bought a fused fleece jacket from them on sale for 19.95 marked down from 49.95. Two years later, the fused fleece is separating and the seams are sprouting holes and I've only washed the jacket in cold water on the gentle cycle about three times. Their apple shaped pants fit well however, and they have sporty chlorine resistant swimsuits. I have had my swimsuit for two years and it wears like iron. Still, I could get a chlorine resistant swimsuit from Vermont Country Store for $40 less than Junonia. With the exception of the apple shaped pants, Junonia caters to a different kind of large woman. The Junonia woman is around 5'6" with big breasts, a defined waistline, large hips and thick legs. Lane Bryant also caters to this shape of woman. Which is great. But I'm not that shape.

MIB has a wide variety of cotton jersey knit pants: tapered, straight leg, wide leg and draped. They have a long option (33" inseam) that I always order. The pants go with everything, can be dressed up for work or dressed down for casual. They use large women as models so you can see how the clothes will really look. Their blouses are rayon or cotton in batik prints and rich colors and are so beautiful they will never go out of style.

If I have beautiful clothes to wear, that fit and flatter my body, I can like my body better. If I like my body, I am more likely to make good food choices. I shop for almost all of my clothes online, because I am tall as well as large. Most brick and mortar stores cater to the plump hourglass shape I mentioned before. and to petite women.

Slacking off a little

I forgot to bring home the forms that I use to write down my food. I have not written my food down for a whole week. I'll start fresh on Monday.

My nutritionist wants me to stay between 1600 - 1800 calories a day. Guess what? Food has a lot of calories and I've had to streamline my food choices. All my dairy products are non-fat and I gave up butter for Smart Balance. I downloaded the Weight Watchers Core Foods guide and follow it for my food choices. I only eat bread once a day (bread is forbidden in the Core Foods program) and eat moderate amounts of unlimited grains like quinoa and rolled oats.

My husband brings home these fabulous bagels from a bakery near our house. My nutritionist says they have the calorie equivalent of four slices of bread, which they do, but I let myself have one on the weekends.

I eat 4 oz of lean meat (salmon, chicken, lamb) once a day and usually have non-fat cottage cheese at night. Three servings of fruit, steering away from bananas and two generous portions of vegetables: spinach, carrots, green beans, broccoli, occasionally asparagus.

Now if I can stick with this plan, I lose weight. But lately there's been some temptation. Pumpkin pie and molasses cookies. I had two slices of pumpkin pie for two days in a row and three molasses cookies on Thanksgiving night. Eating sugar can boost your triglycerides, which is not good. But sometimes I eat first and think later. 6 cookies with orange frosting - Oh my God, my triglycerides! How about those triglycerides.

Some people advocate taking a break but I gain weight so easily. Weight is much easier to gain than to lose. So I have been doing less of those breaks.

Apple Shaped Woman

I am 5 feet 10 and weigh 274 pounds as of this date. I am apple shaped so all of my weight goes to my stomach. People with fat bellies are prone to any malady...kidney stones, diabetes, heart disease, cancer to name a few. Carrying extra weight is hard on my feet. I can stand or walk for only so long. I was thin in my teens, twenties and thirties and started putting on weight in my forties. I am now in my fifties and have been living with extra weight for over 10 years.

I am seeing a nutritionist, writing down the calories, fat and carbohydrate of everything I eat and I swim 4 times a week, usually for an hour. So far I have been beating the odds as far as cholesterol and high blood pressure. What I am trying to do is live with extra weight without hating myself.