considering fat acceptance
Posted by Alli on September 15, 2009
I went to the doctor a few weeks ago for a physical. It was my first non-ob visit since Tebow was born AND since I had quit nursing in the last couple of months, I was going in with out baby-related excuses. I was going in to see exactly where I stood in Health category of my life.
Really, it wasn’t a surprise… I’m overweight and my cholesterol is up. But my doctor was kind and open to still using the polite “but you are still losing baby weight” conversation, knowing I was probably not going to stay this weight forever. And in my medical history, when I lose weight, my cholesterol goes down. In other areas, my blood pressure is amazing (his words) and I have the pulse of a runner (his words, again). He is very certain I am not pre-diabetic and excluding the weight and cholesterol, I’m pretty healthy.
And that’s where I pause. I know I have to lower my cholesterol, so I know I have to lose weight. Getting the cholesterol down is my current inspiration. But even if I accomplish lowering those numbers and am still overweight, I’m going to need to find other inspiration to keep going. Because, I think before I got pregnant, I was participating in the “fat acceptance” movement (which I didn’t know was a movement until I saw this segment on Today).
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I kind of saw myself like Emme, healthy but overweight. No, I didn’t work out four times a week like her, but I was walking in the neighborhood and watching what I ate. I was pretty comfortable, not thinking I had to be a size 6 or even a size 10 to be happy… but. I don’t know. Right now, I’m studying for my test in January. Once I get those cholesterol numbers in a happy range, then I’ll see how happy I am with fat acceptance or if I’m ready to keep up the work to become a smaller size.
grace said,
Alli, I will probably get grief for this, but to me I think fat acceptance is a cop out. I do not think one can be healthy and overweight, I think you would call her fit but overweight. this was an ongoing argument in my unit, we had people who were overweight so they failed their weigh ins, but they were fit and would pass their PT test. so, people were saying that they should be given a pass since they passed their PT test. This problem was kinda solved when they increased the weight tables. How do you define overweight? For me, I define overweight as not being within the acceptable BMI, of which I am not. So I would describe myself as fit but overweight. I think our goal should be to be within the acceptable BMI for your age/height. I think this is an easier and better goal to meet that one trying to be a size 2. Your baby is not one yet and I am with your doctor on you are still losing baby weight. It takes awhile to recover from child birth and it gets harder with baby number 2. All the best!
.-= grace´s last blog ..BB finale =-.
Alli said,
I don’t care if it is a cop out. I want to focus on being healthy and if it means the number on the scale goes down, then great. And it probably will go down some with the changes I am making. BUT, I am not going to obsess over making the number go even lower. Cholesterol, blood pressure, and staying away from diabetes are more of a priority for me. Keeping a healthier diet and exercise are the important tasks. Fat acceptance for me is being ok with the number on the scale as long as I know I’m doing those things. The other numbers are more important to me.
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