Dieting, the topic that never quits

The BBQ Pit
1

I don’t think I can handle much more of listening to people talking about what diet they’re on, what works best to lose weight, why they’re doing this, how much they’re working out…This obsession people have can get to be a little more then ridiculous. And right now, I’m just done listening to it.

Let me start by saying I work with 16+ other women, most of them middle aged, a few closer to my age. Needless to say, this topic runs rampant across the table. Anytime someone takes out something from their lunch bag a discussion is launched regarding how much sugar/fat is in it, or how helpful it is for losing weight/boosting metabolism based on the food item present. After the millionth time hearing all this nonsense back and forth, my head is bursting.

What is with peoples obsession? I understand wanting to be healthy, but often times it gets a little more then obnoxious to analyze everything you eat, as well as what everyone else is. The implication is you’re a fat f*** if you don’t follow the exact guidelines someone who’s on a ‘healthy’ diet follows. What’s healthy? Well a simple lettuce salad of course! With a tiny bit of dressing over it. Nothing else. As if eating next to nothing is something more to be proud of then eating as you please.

I leave break, over analyzing what I had to eat based on the fact that everyone talks about calories for seven days straight, only to listen to my coworker start in on it. ‘I want a flat belly before the end of the month!’ she says, having already cut back the amount of food she eats considerably, and exercising too much at the gym. We work 10-12hour days as it is, for seven days straight, yet she still pulls an hour or two at the gym every night. When she talk, she’s always obsessing over her weight, even though to be honest she’s not that big. No bigger then me. I keep telling her to stop thinking about it so much, that she looks fine as she is and should try to accept her body. Yes, certainly, one can aim to be healthy, but enough of this ideal body size. Ideal height, ideal weight; when did it become the popular thing to be just like everyone else? Maybe that’s my non-conformist (snerk) goth side speaking but its truly a disturbing thing to watch and listen to.

Having a friend who’s dealt with an eating disorder, and has been since she was young, I watch all these women put themselves through suffering for the same ideal. And it upsets me, deeply, I know it sounds corny but I wish these people, or people in general, could stop thinking this is the main and only thing in life. To all those thin, fit, active folks, perhaps some of you consider it sad when people aren’t trying to lose weight. But to be honest, why spend so much time working on this? Why waste so many hours trying to become this vision of perfect, running on treadmills and avoiding all the wonderful cultural foods, or things we love based on how others think we should look? It’s as if our happiness is directly correlated with our waistline and it doesn’t have to be, but we all make sure it is. Because god knows, if you have a few pounds on, you can’t find love. No, you’re not fit for love, or fun, or social activities, you should hide in the shadows until you shed those pounds. Hide yourself, tone down your personality until its finely tuned to do only dieting and exercising. Because really if you’re not doing one or the other, what kind of a person are you? (end sarcasm)

I find this stuff eating into my own brain. I never used to care. I was a lot happier, when I didn’t care. And I feel like, if it wasn’t talked about all the time, at work and home…I could go back to that. I like being active, but for some reason I can’t shake this constant guilt over…everything. Not moving enough, not eating the right things; I need a break from listening to all this garbage just so I can clear my head again. As I said, I see my friend suffering through her eating disorder, being tiny and claiming she’s the fattest thing on the planet. Seeing her break down and ask why she can’t just be normal, and knowing some people who are over weight look at her with jealousy. Because they want to be that small, and if only they had her will power.

It’s horrible, I can’t say enough how sick it makes me that people feel this way. And this tirade comes after a long day of listening to my coworker…nearly 6 hours of straight diet talk and me telling her to stop. Stop obsessing and stop making me do the same. Its so automatic to respond, and to let it feed into your own self worth…I just can’t really take it. I am more then a number on a scale or a shape in a mirror. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to be miserable because I am not some cookie cutter perfect body. Ugh. I’m just tired, and I don’t think the world will change on this, not any time soon. So. I guess I should invest in ear plugs…or turn my music up louder.

2

You know, if you ate right you could keep your energy level higher. In fact, I have this great recipe…

3

You know, this wouldn’t bother you as much if you were on the Paleo diet. By next week, decrease your intake of grains and increase meat and vegetables. Then you’ll feel better. As soon as you go cavewoman on them and shit into your own hand at fling it at these bores, screeching all the way.

But you can’t really do anything to change them right away, but in the short term it makes lunch sound unpleasant.

4

It is an awful obsession, one that I’m guilty of participating in.

I don’t want to get fat. For both physical reasons and aesthetics, ain’t gonna lie. It takes a certain amount of conscientiousness to keep fatness away in the world we live in. The more vigilant you are about something, the more you are likely to talk about it. I try not to, but it is hard. It is hard not to tell someone why I’m not eating the double-chocolate cake in the breakroom like everyone else when I’m questioned about it. Or why I’m eating salads this week instead of the usual. People always want to know why you aren’t conforming. So if people get in my bidness, I tell them. But this is as far as I go in perpetuating the obsession and contributing to someone’s insecurities. I don’t comment about other people’s diets or weight or exercise habits. That is just rude.

It used to be we could eat stuff and not worry about anything–and now, if it’s not the glycemic index that we should look out for, it’s the number of hard-to-pronounce chemicals, the pesticides, the Bispheny As, genetic modifications, or the gut flora it’s gonna enhance or destroy. Not to mention, the politics of food globalization and environmental impacts. These things have always existed, but we didn’t know. Now we can’t not know. I don’t think this is anyone’s fault. It’s just the world we live in.

It’s alright to take a break from the breakroom. Both literally and figuratively. If your coworkers are being silly, engross yourself in a magazine or a book until the conversation switches to something else. And stop reading nutrition and lifestyle magazines, if all they do is make you feel crappy. Or learn to laugh at them.

5

I hate being shallow but when it comes to weight I am. I’ve been losing weight (my 32" jeans are getting baggy!) and want to lose about 20 more pounds. I could say it would be good for my heart or my cholesterol or that I might live a few more years. I would be lying though because the only reason is that I want my skinny body back.

6

Pretty much. Chinatown and all that.

7

I know many of you have probably heard this before, but the idea of running before breakfast, briefly after you wake up is being greatly promoted. They [people who look into this stuff] say it’s a really healthy habit and excellent for weight loss as it gets your metabolism going for the day.

8

Better wear an extra pair of socks if you try this.

What for, you ask?

Oh, you’ll know. When the time comes, you’ll know.

9

I’m not risking outgrowing my clothing due to growing taller, though. Not at my age. This is why I limit my calorie intake.

I don’t usually fucking talk about it, though, because that’s boring. (If I do join in on the dieting/weight chatter at work, inevitably a heavier coworker will tell me that there’s no reason for me to lose weight. That’s when I pull out the “but I’m outgrowing my clothing” line.)

And yeah, monstro, it’s hard trying to not look rude about why I’m not joining in on the goodies. Sigh.

10

People who discuss what other people eat are rude. PERIOD.

It’s none of your damn business if I choose to skip lunch or have a pint of Ben & Jerry’s.

11

I am 100% behind this pitting. And I’m on a diet (by which I mean I have changed my eating habits to new ones)! But it’s my diet, and I just shut the fuck up about it and get on with eating the food I choose to eat.

I am very grateful at the moment to work in an area with mostly men. Guess what? If a man decides to eat something, he bloody well goes and eats it. He doesn’t then spend the next hour moaning about the fact that he shouldn’t have eaten it, or talking about the extra work he’s going to do at the gym tonight to burn it off. No, he eats it, he feels satisfied, end of.

12

I have never heard this before.

13

If anyone asks you about your food, tell them “It’s my free day.”

If they ask you again the next day, tell them the same thing.

Eventually they will get the picture.

14

The mind boggles that anyone would think other people care what they eat.

15

There is so much self-loathing nowadays concerning our sizes, and I’m not immune from the obsession. Just a few seconds ago, my coworker pulled out a big bag of chicken and waffle flavored potato chips and I accused her of tormenting me by having such tasty junk within reach of me. Today it’s potato chips, tomorrow it will be jelly beans, the next day it will be cupcakes.

Most of this is all in good fun, but a part of me does feel seriously guilty when I indulge in unnecessary snacking.

16

^This is a fabulous idea.

Also - IMHO - people obsess over every damn little thing they eat because they have nothing better to think about in their lives. OK - well I’ll excuse the diabetics or people with actual diseases, since they have to pay attention.

As for me, I don’t bother responding to anyone who starts prattling on about this or that diet (because if I do respond, they won’t like what I say), and try and start a conversation about something more interesting. If this fails, then I move on to other people to talk to or listen to some NPR or books on audio. Life is too short.

17

Even if it wasn’t, I still wouldn’t want to hear about why someone is eating xyz for lunch today.

18

I’m onboard with the OP. The other thing on this subject which grinds my goddamned gears is how- whenever the topic of diets comes up- suddenly everyone on the fucking message board becomes a doctor or dietitian. Especially when their “expertise” is nothing more than “I eat a certain way and I think I’m healthy, so anything different is bad for you.”

19

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to lose weight, even for shallow reasons. I’m not bothered if a friend or acquaintance is on a diet and if they want to talk about it sometimes. I’ll happily listen to a few minutes a day of how the diet is going, and what exercise someone has been trying to do and whatever else. But if that’s all they want to talk about, then I feel sad for them but I also feel bored.

20

I’m pretty fit, definitely not overweight, and the last thing I want to hear overweight people talk about is dieting, yet my presence seems to inspire non-stop descriptions of what they have eaten and how they need to get to the gym. The sad part (to me) isn’t that they are overweight, but that they are obsessed with weight.