Janet Hacker wrote:
> Tsayonah, I WISH it were just a body image problem!  I'm 4'11 and weigh 160
> lbs... it might not be so bad, but it borders on obesity, and I just feel
> unhealthy.... I used to run when I was thinner, and I want to get my weight
> back down to the point where I can run again....

Well, at the peak of my troubles I was 5'11" and weighed
325.  Every *&^(*& diet only seemed to make it worse.  I was
accused over and over again of obviously cheating.  They put
me in a hospital for 2 weeks; restricted me to 1000 cal (SAD
type pattern, 60% carbs etc) and sent me to PT daily.  In
those 2 weeks I GAINED 4 pounds.  In order to lose weight at
all, I ended up eating practically nothing and having no
social life whatsoever because it seems all this culture can
think to do when interacting is eat/drink or have sex.  By
starving, I knocked it down over the years to 220#s.  And
there I stuck, getting daily more ill.  I am now 5'7" (lost
4" to osteo) and 185#s.  I am not sedentary but I am not
doing any special exercise program - look at what exercise
does to your metabolic system.....  I do eat 2-3 servings of
fruit a day because it is summer and these are ripe.  I plan
to cut that back after harvest time.

So here's a few more suggestions:  Don't initiate any
special exercise program yet.  It will disturb what you are
trying to teach your body.  Don't graze your way through the
day - eat when you are hungry and make that a meal, not a
snack.  Eating more or less constantly makes your body think
it is one long meal and it will store calories as fat.  Make
everything you eat: if you need to eat nuts, eat them raw,
not processed; no commercial dressings - just look at the
ingredients and you will see why!  Eat a fruit and/or veggie
and a protein for breakfast; a meat, a green leafy and
another veggie and maybe a fruit for lunch and dinner.  Also
take a look at your sodium intake - what you have been
eating has a LOT of salt in the sausage, the nuts, the pork
rinds.....  And finally, keep active thru the day so you
don't have time to eat and go to bed for a good night's
sleep.  The mini hibernation of sleep is an essential part
of our proper functioning metabolic cycle - even more than
exercise times.

It is going to take longer at 40 to get back in the health
rut because you have more years of abuse to overcome and
because part of the results of this abuse is the aging of
your body which changes your hormone patterns.

--
   Elisi Tsayonah, AniWodi, ghigau,
   St Francis River Band of Cherokee