Sue's Blog - Some assembly required.

Poopy

It has been a bit of a poopy week.
On Sunday I heard that a friend had died unexpectedly.
It has upset me for most of the week.

She was one of a group of friends involved with various animal rescue/shelter etc activities.
In January she was very excited because she was going to have one of these stomach surgeries that enable people to lose weight.
She was overweight, not really grossly ( I see many bigger than her in the mall all the time) but she was a big girl.
She had looked into it carefully, weighed up all the pros and cons, and with her husband's blessing she had decided to go ahead with it.
She said what an exciting year she and her husband were looking forward to.

She had a few problems with vomiting after the procedure, but was home and pleased to be shedding some pounds.
She did go back into hospital once but was soon out again.
Then on Sunday morning she died.
We haven't had a full explanation as to what exactly happened or why they couldn't save her, but if she hadn't had this surgery then she would still be here.
She might have been fat but she would have been alive.
I have been so shocked.

It has made me think about the pressure put on people (particularly women) to be slim.  Deanna was a lovely, kind person, with a wonderful family who will now have to struggle on without her because she felt she needed to be slim.
I have other friends who fight a constant battle to lose weight and it really is constant.   The thing is that if you are genetically programmed to be large (look at your parents) then a diet will only work if you stay on it.........forever.
Because, if you lose weight then as soon as you relax and eat a bit more, then the weight will creep back.  It has to.
It would be like starving a shire horse to look like a racehorse.  You could make it thin all the time you deprived it of food but as soon as it started eating normally again it would revert to its type.
Diets will only work if you can accept that this is the way you must eat for the rest of your life.   You can lose a few pounds by not stuffing yourself with rubbish all day but if you want to continue to enjoy life, food and a few drinky poos then you will have to be content with being a bit heavier than you would like.
I just wish we were not all so fixated on weight.  We are what we are.  My mum was five feet 1 inch and so am I.   I would love to be 5 feet 10in and elegant......ain't never going to happen.
My dear friend would still be here with her family and friends if she hadn't felt that her life would be better minus some weight.
It makes me so sad.

posted by Sue Banks @ 3:28 PM