Several years ago I was hospitalized from hypertension during pregnancy. With disgust the attending physician told me how my weight was causing the high blood pressure, and how being overweight was putting my baby at risk. I challenged the doctor right there and then, to carefully place me on a strict diet while I was confined to the hospital. Without hesitation he took me on.
The hospital dietitian prepared my daily menus, my food was weighed, portions controlled, sugar and salt were completely excluded, and furthermore they placed me on a schedule of monitored physical activity.
I was weighed twice a day, morning and night. I had such a strict diet, that the nurses would feel sorry for me and come at night to offer me fruit and juice, which I promptly refused. I was completely confined, and visitors were strictly monitored.
After three weeks, the doctor came to my room and with a somewhat subdued attitude informed me that I had not lost a single ounce, he apologized and then tried to convince ME to accept the reality that this is the way I would always be. I assured him that I had been convinced all my life, but instead, it was the medical community that needed convincing.
After knowing me for some for time, people become assertive enough to tell me how surprised they are to see that I actually eat like a normal person, and sometimes even less. I guess that being overweight, hurting my feelings is not a big deal.
I believe that such explosive issues of overweight do not apply the same for everyone. I know people that only have to consider losing weight, and they do. Who wouldn't love to get money for loosing weight, a new wardrobe etc . But the fact is that some people are built a certain way and that's the way they are. Diversity is not just about culture, it's about height, weight, color of skin, eyes, hair and yes, body shape.
I weighed ten pounds when I was born. I was born to a poor family in Mexico. We walked everywhere. We didn't have television. So I played, ran, jumped, I was physically active. We barely had food on the table, and snacks were completely unknown to us. A liter of milk was purchased once a week and was watered down to last the whole week. The only protein I ate was eggs, meat was something we had at someone else's house or only on special occasions, and we consumed only chicken feet because they were the cheapest! Yet, I was overweight. Growing up I was lovingly called by everyone " gordita" or chubby in English. My weight was never a significant issue in Mexico.
When I entered the fourth grade, the United States welcomed me by promptly placing me on a diet. My mother too was brained washed into thinking; I too could look like her if I would eat just salads with lemon dressing and a little bit of salt. My childhood, adolescence and adult life has been spent agonizing in knowing that no matter how much lettuce and tomatoes I eat, I still can't lose weight.
Companies make billions from gimmicks, machines, teas, cookies, every conceivable object is sold to people with the promises of instant weight loss. Businesses would not make empty promises to people with disabilities, yet for years it's been open season for the overweight.
It is dangerous to generalize, and unfair to make judgments. Do I dream of being skinny one day? No, not really. I've had a complete lifetime to get used to my body and my shape. Has it stopped me from being confident? No, being the best person I can be? Never!
Life is a precious commodity, and I can't afford to spend it trivializing about something as meaningless as my weight. A matter of health? My mother the thin and fit person she always was, died at sixty, from an embolism. Her brother, my very thin and fit seventy-two year uncle, smokes, yet he can climb running up the pyramid of the sun in Mexico City, not be out of breath, and leave all the youngsters behind. What is the secret then?
With so many things going on in the modern world, it is truly sad that here in America, we are so preoccupied with people's weight. I applaud all those who can lose weight and keep it off, I admire all those who have never known what it means to be overweight but for the rest of us mortals keep your chin high, a positive attitude and remember God loves you just the way you are!
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Comments: 11
I recently had a friend with the opposite problem. People were telling her she needed to put on weight. She says she is a size 4 and I see her eat regularly. I suspect people were either jealous of her or, to given them the benefit of the doubt, they remembered her when she actually was overweight. Now that she falls within her heights normal weight range (per her doctor), they think she is too thin. She actually made herself sick trying to eat foods that would help her put on weight.
My health was awful. I had (still have) Fibromyalgia, diabetes, high blood pressure, acid reflux, and a slew of other problems. Most which were weight related.
Feeling as if I had one foot in the grave at the ripe old age of 40 I decided to have gastric bypass surgery. I researched it for 6 months before taking the plunge.
That was almost 4 years ago. I have lost over 100 pounds, and have kept it off. Not only did the surgery save my life, but it enabled me to HAVE a life! I'm doing things now that I never dreamed possible... including taking care of stroke patients (one who is severly handicapped.)
The diabetes is gone. No more high blood pressure or acid reflux. I went from taking 15 pills per day to only 1 (plus my vitamins). I will always have the Fibromyalgia, but it's so much better now that I'm 100 pounds lighter.
Anyway... I wanted to thank you for sharing your story.
It's so easy for people to criticize an overweight person. They have a holier-than-thou attitude and try to tell you how to lose weight. I'm so tired of people telling me that I should lose weight. Who are they to tell me? Do they know me? My friends know what I go through trying to lose weight, it's the strangers that feel that they are "obligated" to say something that really gets me mad.
I have researched, pondered, sought counseling and at my age, 58 I have finally made up my mind to have a bypass done. I have been lucky so far. My health is still good. But I don't want to go into my old age crippled by my weight.
However, I believe that each person should do what is right for them. I also believe that people are born genetically predisposed to a certain size. I was thin, all my life. Through two pregnancies, never gaining more than 20 pounds, delivering healthy 8 pound babies. I never had a problem until.... until I started smoking, after 6 years I attempted to quit and gained about 15 pounds. At that time I weighed about 140 at 5'7". But, I dieted, yo-yo'd up and down using so many diets, name it and I have done it. Me and Oprah!
Now I will use this tool to help me regain my health and my mobility so I can live the rest of my life instead of just exist until I die.
I do know, however, that you will often hear someone say something like, "It is such a shame she got so heavy. She might have lived longer if she hadn't."
I want my children and grandchildren to remember me as someone active, the real me, instead of someone who was crippled. I am the woman who worked a ranch, bucked hay, hand dug my quarter acre garden, fed the cattle, chopped firewood, used a wringer washer for years to do laundry. I kept up with the men on the stocking crew at the store where I worked. I was active.