This is a continuation of my CBC with Janet from Educate Empower Enjoy. In Janet’s post she comments:
“Edie, I am curious, you mentioned in your original post that women have a difficult time talking about their weight. Why do you think that is? We can talk about everything else with great ease, but for some reason weight is a taboo subject reserved for group meetings and the church confessional.”
You are SO right, Janet. Women literally share everything but this. I’m of the opinion that we see weight gain and/or the resulting health consequences as personal failures. I certainly did. Now keep in mind that I, like many moms, never had weight struggles until I had children. For me it started with the trying to get preggo process because I went through fertility treatments which resulted in raging hormones and out of control hunger. You can see where I’m going with this.
After months of treatment and weight gain, I was successful becoming pregnant but with the terrible pregnancy that ensued, I gained over 75 lbs! The REAL problem was that I now had high blood pressure as a result.
My doctor plainly said, “Lose the weight and you can get off medication.”
“No problem”, I said to myself.
But it WAS a problem because I TOTALLY expected my body to go back to how it was and in RECORD time. After all, if celebrities can pop out a kid and be back on screen in 12 weeks, then so can I! Not hardly.
What I failed to realize is that those “celeb moms” have personal trainers, chefs and Nannies! It’s their full time job to look good and so they do. Who can compete with that?
And that brings me to the actual point of sharing this story. Whether we admit it or not, women are competitive creatures. We all want to be the “hot” one. Admitting weight struggles to other women is almost as difficult as admitting it to yourself.
OH YEAH, I was in denial. It took seeing myself in photographs to realize that there was a problem. (Not fitting into my clothes, headaches, fatigue, insomnia–those were not big enough clues for me.)
So I’ve yo-yo’d up and down for 7 years now. I am finally tired of being sick and tired. As I’m approaching my mid 30′s, I realize that with my family history I could be in for some BIG problems if I don’t do something now to get control and get healthy.
My struggle is two fold: I HATE exercise and I don’t want my boys (ages 5 & 7) to feel that mom is constantly on a ‘diet’. (In fact, that word is BANNED from my house.) One of my fears is that my boys will somehow internalize mom’s attempt to gain control of her weight and equate that with the fallacy that beauty is a certain size.
So Janet, my question for you is: How are you incorporating lifestyle & menu changes into your family life in such a way that it truly becomes a “healthy habit” for life?
