How did I get so fat!
It can come as a shock to many of us to discover just how much weight we’ve gained over time. But it doesn’t go on overnight.
How did I get so fat is a question I often ask myself about my previous sky-high weight. I’m using the f word here which I know some find offensive. They may prefer overweight or just weight. But I think language that obscures reality isn’t helpful. I’m not about fat shaming which definitely isn’t helpful. But nor does it help to avoid the word entirely. I was fat. I gained weight because I ate more than my body needed. I’m still overweight despite taking off four stone (56 pounds/25 kilos). Ideally I need to lose a further stone (14 pounds/6.5 kilos). Instead of continuing with my loss I gained half a stone (7 pounds/3 kilos) over Christmas and it’s stubbornly stayed on.
That got me thinking as to how I ever got so fat in the first place. I think what happens with many people, and certainly happened with me, is it goes on a bit at a time and we either don’t notice, are in denial about it or don’t care. A gain of seven pounds over Christmas or a holiday is not at all unusual. No one wants to diet on holiday or a festive time. And the seemingly small weight gain doesn’t seem so bad. Most frames can take another seven pounds without too much affect on their health, waistlines or having to go up a size in clothes. And so it stays on. And then comes another Christmas, holiday, wedding, birthday, anniversary. Or a hugely stressful time in which you eat for comfort and BANG! Another seven pounds slips on almost unnoticed. So now you’re a whole stone overweight but you shrug. You don’t feel that different, your clothes may be a bit tighter but hell you needed some new clothes anyway and doesn’t everyone get a big bigger as they get older.
A year or two goes by. Another two occasions when seven or so pounds slips on unnoticed. You’re not really over eating. You eat what you need; maybe have a few treats but you’re not really eating that much more than you need. Maybe you’re taking in 100 to 200 more calories than your body needs every day and maybe you’re not taking much exercise but you feel fine. Or you say you do. Or you convince yourself you do. Friends say you look healthy. You look well. And you feel well. A bit wheezy walking up the stairs. A bit more tired than usual. Maybe your partner says you’re snoring when you never used to. Maybe your sleep isn’t as good as it was. Then one day you catch yourself in a mirror you know you’ve been avoiding. Or a pair of jeans or skirt feels really tight and you’ve already gone up one or maybe two sizes. Then you get on the scales.
Shocked!
You’re three or even four stone overweight. You’re shocked. Appalled. How the hell did this happen!? It doesn’t make sense. You don’t pig out. You don’t binge. You don’t really eat that much more than those around you. You feel despair. If it goes on so easily without you even noticing how the hell are you going to take it off? Can you in fact ever take it off?
This is why I feared that Christmas weight gain so much and why I’m terrified if I don’t lose it soon it’ll stay on and be greeted with another seven pounds this Christmas, if not before at a birthday, anniversary do or holiday. That’s why it has to come off. It goes on so easily, almost unnoticed as I’ve described. But it won’t come off! It slides on and it stays on. Your body wants it. Demands it. Needs it. So you feel you’re fighting your own body and that’s even more unhealthy than the weight gain. Because it makes you miserable and if you’re miserable you cannot lose weight. You have to be in a good place to get it off.
Our excuses
I can make excuses due to the cold weather and turning down the heating as so many of us have to due to escalating energy prices. And it’s much harder to motivate yourself to go for walks in the freezing cold. All those added layers you have to put on. It’s such a faff! You get sweet cravings that give you a renewed respect for addicts - how do they cope with cravings that drive you mad? Your body wants more sugar in the cold but you also need something sweet as a comfort. And if you’re not one who has a sweet tooth I envy you I really do.
It helps to know how the weight goes on and how easy it is to ignore it. It helps to realise how we got so fat in the first place. It has to be nipped in the bud when it happens as it’s much easier to take off seven pounds than three or four stone! It’s taken me till now to start losing it again. The same thing happened last January and the January before. January is not the right time to try to lose weight it just isn’t. Much better to kick in with just a few weeks to go till Spring. The nights are finally lengthening and the mornings lighter. The cold weather hasn’t gone but it will. You know it will. Spring is in the post. It’ll get easier.