Thursday 5 January 2012

Dieting makes you fat.

I joked yesterday that the only good news about seafood poisoning was that at least the post Christmas diet was unnecessary! The thought of food still makes me feel queasy!
Dieting used to be a constant for me...a way of life right through my adult years which I never questioned....if I wanted to stay slim I had to keep the diet under control...Eventually what I ate would have been hard pushed to keep a bird alive...I stayed slim but at a cost....of almost ruining my health since the body was starting to develop all sorts of problems caused by insufficient fuel to deal with the demands of a job and family.
A book came to my notice....It was called "Dieting makes you fat" I devoured it cover to cover and it made complete sense..It described what had happened to me in that whilst I was dieting I was subjecting my body to famine conditions and the way the body dealt with it was to store even more  fat against even harder times...
I had noticed the law of diminishing returns seemed to be holding sway with me..If we went away or it was Christmas and I ate normally my body used to immediately go into overdrive on the fat producing front.  I could return home from holiday  weighing  a stone more than I went.
The book made sense....it described the need to diet all the time as a chronic eating disorder...so what was I going to do?
I already walked my dog twice a day so exercise  was  in place.....it had to be something more drastic...
On my fiftieth birthday I gave up dieting for ever...
I didn't over eat, I just ate what other normal people ate and of course I got plump!  My husband was not best pleased with this new me at all....he preferred the slim line version but I persisted with not dieting.
After a year I was definitely fat....my body was talking its time to adjust to the new regime....I leapt from a size 12 to a size 16... so .a new wardrobe became urgent...
I wish I could say that after a year or so I became thin again but I didn't.  I did return to plump though and still am but this is healthy plump....my blood pressure is the best its been since I was young and by and large I am fairly fit for an old lady.
Thinking back now to those years when I did have an eating disorder I am grateful to have found the book and been able to act upon it...It took more determination to resolve not to diet than it did to diet and I had to be prepared to live with the results .  But I did and I am.... Thank you God.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wish more people would read this post. So many people spend so much of their emotional energy chasing their idea of a perfect figure, often at a high price. I'm trying to eat a bit less at the moment, but this was a timely reminder to me not to overdo it. Thank you.

Babs said...

Like you Jean I used to be slim but now a comfortable size 16, I am getting good at choosing clothes that disguise my flab xx

Revjeanrolt said...

Babs I remember you very slim and I am unable to imagine you at size 16.!
I always remember that beauty contest you won....for a perfect English beauty . Memory is a wonderful thing in old age!

Anonymous said...

I anticipated our recent holiday in India would lead to serious weight loss. It didn't! Maybe I should be grateful though?

Revjeanrolt said...

Its no good anon I only have one friend whose been to India recently!