yes, this

[dragonlady7]

I got my picture taken with Z a bunch yesterday and it's my fat ass that will probably be used to illustrate the story in the paper. For better or for worse, there I am.
So I'm a bit anxious about all of that-- I'm not a good poster child, I'm too this, I'm not enough that, whatever. But there it is, and it seems that the guy is planning on doing a sympathetic story on size acceptance (rather than just getting me to make an ass of myself and then bringing in someone like MeMe Roth to tear me down, as has been done before), so I am just going to chill the fuck out and go hang out in the woods for a while.

But I just wanted to link to a Shapely Prose post that sums up a lot of the point I was trying to make to him, at least-- I understand, if you believe the Weight Watchers explanation of how weight loss works (Calories In / Calories Out) that it must seem like I'm lying when I say that Z and I eat the same amount. It simply doesn't make sense unless you assume that I'm misguided, and am just forgetting to take into account the gallon and a half of whole milk I drink every morning [note: I don't, actually] or something, something to explain why my BMI is 30 and his is 16 on the same diet. But it's not true: I really do eat the same, and exercise more. He really does eat as much as I do. And you have to understand, I have no reason to lie.
So here's Kate Harding's eloquent take on that phenomeonon: If Your Pants Are Above Size 14 You'd Better Hope They're Flame-Retardant.

Eh well. Anyway. I am off to Pennsic, and theoretically should be putting the computer down and walking away now. (Expect four or five more posts from me today.) So off I go. Have a nice couple of weeks and be good, Internet.

Comments

[greenworldgirl.livejournal.com]

Aw, I'm sorry you're anxious. I think it's very brave of you, I would be terrified to have my picture in the paper for any reason, let alone one that I thought people were going to harass me over.

As for the everyone's body is the same thing...I know people think that but there are several points that immediately come to my mind. In the first place, we all know it IS possible to alter your metabolism artificially. Weight loss drugs, narcotics and medications are all capable of doing that in one direction or the other. Point two- there is nothing else in our bodies whatsoever that is uniform in any way. Everything about us has a certain amount of variation, which all falls on that nice old bell curve. So given that we know that our metabolisms can be changed, and that everyone's body is not uniform, it's reasonable to assume that some of those differences would cause people's metabolisms to be different. But that's just me, I'm not a dietitian.

Have fun while you're away!

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

The compounding factor, of course, is that one's metabolism is also adjustable. So, say my daily diet is right around 2,000 calories. For whatever reason, my daily diet changes to 1,500 calories, but my physical activity level does not change. I should lose a great deal of weight, at a consistent pace.
That doesn't happen. People generally lose a bit of weight right off the bat with a change like that, but the loss levels off, and they may even maintain the new weight, or in some cases, begin to put weight back on while still on the lower-calorie diet.

The reason for this is that if the change in their caloric intake is because of a famine or upheaval, they will live much longer if their body adjusts. If it is because of a diet, then that's just too damn bad.

But many people, even people selling diet treatments, even doctors, don't understand this. That's the point that Shapely Prose was trying to address: you cannot predict with 100% accuracy what someone else's body is going to do. This also means that you cannot be so damn sure that someone else is lying when they tell you how their body reacts.


Eh, I'm not so anxious I'm losing sleep, I'm more generally anxious about everything and this is included in that. I love going places but I hate the stress of packing and worrying I forgot something and all the rest of it. It just gets worrying. I have so much to bring, and if I forget something I'm so out of luck for such a long time.... bah.

Anyway. Thanks for the sympathy. I do plan to have fun, and I'm sure I will either way. I am sure the story will be fine-- I know the fellow means well, he's a sensible guy-- but of course I can't control people's reactions to it.

[kkatowll.livejournal.com]

Metabolism is definitely an important point.

when scientists study metabolism, they generally find that thin people have a fast metabolism and fat people have a slow metabolism. The trick is to change your metabolism to suit you -- eating less on a slow metabolism simply makes your metabolism slower as it tries to make do on what you're giving it. Which is, of course, why "just diet" doesn't work -- you have to increase your metabolism at the same time, and one of the simplest ways to do that is to lift weights or something similar. (Aerobic activity doesn't have that effect.)

[theperfumer.livejournal.com]

Hey, I missed this because I was moving last week. May I link to these posts of yours on Fat Chic?

Also, I'm doing a feature in August on building your own bra and I know you were interested in doing a lingerie business - it might be an opportunity to somehow promote yourself or solicit future customer feedback.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

I've more or less abandoned the idea of a lingerie business-- at the moment, I'm just learning to sew for myself, and seeing how that goes.
I'm not really focusing in this blog on fat issues, but my Wordpress is-- Fat Titties (http://fattitties.wordpress.com/)-- but I understand that's a lot less PG of a name. So you can link to whatever you like. :)