Do you ever read diet books? The lose 10 pounds in 10 days articles that promise to make you younger , thinner, smarter? Yeah, me neither. Ok, I have browsed through the menus. But they don’t motivate me, even when the food looks good. The second my head says DIET, my whole being revolts. I just can’t do it. I hate thinking; this is going to be my last Double stuffed Oreo, pint of Ben and Jerry’s, Starbucks pastry. In fact thinking about it just gives me a panic attack. Summer is coming and I’ll admit, I don’t want to bare anything. I also am starting to really hate the way the body I inhabit looks. But most of all, I am inspired by some unlikely role models.
I work in a call center. This means being tethered to a desk by a four foot cord and sitting for 8-9 hours per day. Yes, I have my own desk and I sit in air conditioned comfort. But also frustration and stress make a morning and afternoon trip to the break room vending machines seem like an appealing change of scenery. These vending machines hold the typical assortment of chips and candy bars. We have drink machines, a sandwich machine, even and ice cream machine! This is nothing compared to having monthly potlucks and a Starbucks in the parking lot. With all the abundant bad food choice and little exercise, most of us gain weight. The longer you work in call center, the heavier you become. Also, your idea of what normal body size looks like becomes skewed as Venezia jeans from Lane Bryant become the norm for everybody instead of Miss Me.
It’s not the skinny women that motivate me to take a walk at lunch or to grab a smaller hot chocolate. It’s the really big women. In my first call center I sat next to a lady that brought a rolling cooler to work filled with cheese and chips and cupcakes and several meals. Granted we worked 12 hour shifts. Watching her eat motivated me to walk around the campus at lunch and climb the stairs on breaks. I was afraid I was going to become her. Fast forward 5 years to another call center, another crop of lovely, large ladies. Like the one with the backside that juts from her back at a 90 degree angle, or the one that seems to be kicking herself in the gut every time she raises a knee. Watching her walk is enough to make me hit the door at full speed to walk the parking lot a few times. Especially on days when I had planned to sit at my desk, eat my lunch and blog.
Oh, and BTW, I'm a size 16-20w. If I make you feel like exercising, I'm glad I could serve as inspiration!
Who are your unlikely role models?
I lost 70 pounds in my early 30s on Weight Watchers, and, yes, I was working in a place where I was surrounded by sedentary people (State government), but I was inspired by an aunt of mine who lost a lot of weight and looked great. I have put a little bit of it back on recently and I'm trying hard to work it off...but it IS hard. I LOVE food, I'll be honest. I get up every morning and walk 40 minutes but still I struggle with keeping food away from my mouth all day! I think you just have to get to a point where you are ready to do it for you...but I will tell you something I learned. If you do lose that weight, you'll experience a totally different attitude from your co-workers. It's much better now, since I've put a few pounds on. It seems that for some reason when people see someone lose weight or even just diet, it makes them lash out.
ReplyDeleteI commented on this yesterday but it vanished!
ReplyDeleteI think what I said was that I lost 70 pounds in my early 30s...and at the time I was surrounded by overweight and obese women. Losing weight was great but it created a whole different world at work...women weren't so kind once I lost that weight. For some reason, when you start dieting and doing well, people either go in the direction of feeling inspired and wanting to try themselves or seeing your success as a failure for themselves, somehow, even though one has nothing to do with the other.
I hate the way everything changes when you become a more attractive version of yourself. It reeks of insecurity, and yet everyone autopmatically assumes the worst about you. For me it reminds me of the day when one of my girlfriends came back to school with glasses and braces. her mom also took her shopping and got a new hairstyle, so she had a complete makeover. I remember getting jealous of all her new attention. Thankfully as an adult I have learned to be a lot less jealous. I am able to be happy for my friends that improve themselves. But for overwieght women , they often are reminded that when one loses weight, they have failed to do so. They are more angry at thier self failure than your weight loss. Thank's for being brave enough to comment. This got alot of hits but only one comment.
ReplyDelete