Attune Foods' Links
Weight Loss Wednesdays focus on hearing from people currently on their weight loss journey or who are maintaining weight loss as they share their stories and write about topics related to keeping it off. We met Lara when she lived in San Francisco and wrote her weight loss blog Thinspired. She shares about finding that middle ground to focus on being healthy.
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I used to be skinny. I used to be fat. I used to worship the gym. I used to be a couch potato.
I am none of these things anymore.
I think Americans in general have a hard time finding a middle ground between these two extremes, and I am certainly no exception. I spent half of my teen years overweight. I spent the rest of the time yo-yoing between thin, chubby, and everything in between.
There was a time, about ten years ago, when I would eat six slices of pizza and wash it down with soda. This was the time of lots of takeout, of seconds, of thirds, of fourth servings.
There was a time, about three years ago, when I would weigh slices of onion before I put them on my salad. This was the time of tedious calculations before I could take a single bite, a time of utter grouchiness.
Then there was a time of both. When one day, I would eat 1202 calories exactly. The next might be a free-for-all binge day when I ate three times that. Sometimes it would be for weeklong periods in each pattern. The only thing consistent was my inconsistency.
Now? I am tired. Binge eating is exhausting. Starvation is miserable. I spent the entirety of last year determined to find a middle ground.
Now, I am at a weight smack-dab in the middle of that “healthy” range you always hear about: The one that is about 10 lbs. more than your brain wants you to be, and about 10 lbs. less than your stomach wants you to be; the weight that gets you zero attention when you walk down the street, because you look just about as average as average can be. Dare I say it, a NORMAL weight?
I exercise moderately, most days of the week. I don’t train for races so I can eat burgers. I don’t sit on the couch all day. I walk, daily, for a few miles at a time. I do yoga, mainly to calm the heck down.
I can’t tell you exactly how I found this balance. I wish I could. It took about a full year of letting go and listening to my body. It took caring less about my appearance and more about my mental and physical health. It took making peace with whatever number turned up on the scale when I was eating what I truly needed and not just what I wanted.
I share my story not to be dramatic, but because I think it’s a story many women can relate to. Making peace with your body doesn’t mean losing or gaining weight. It means listening to your body’s intuitive needs and embracing the outcome of acting upon them.
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Lara Baldwin is a blogger, writer, nutritionist, and crazy dog lady. She formally blogged about her weight loss at Thinspired, and now writes more broadly at According to Lara.
