The Downside to My Weight Loss?

It'll be a year next month since I started this journey, and to this point there really hasn't been any drawbacks. (At least none that I've seen.  Although ask me after an Insanity workout.  I may have a different story.)  I think that losing (up to this point) 86 pounds in a year has been a good pace. Not too fast, but not too slow.  Apparently not everyone is seeing it that way.

I've realized the last couple of weeks that every time I talk to my mother the conversation goes something like this.

Me: I lost (fill in weight loss here)!

Mom: Awesome!  How much do you weigh now?

Me: (fill in weight here).

Mom: Don't lose too much.

Me: What do you mean?

Mom: I just don't want you to become sick.

Me: I'm not starving myself.  I eat all the time.  I have about five meals a day.

Mom: Well, I don't want you to get too skinny.

At this point I grab my gut for emphasis, which still has fat around it.

Me: I still got some I could lose, but I'm not starving myself.

Mom: I just don't want you to make yourself sick.

I know she's worried.  You never hear about those people that exercise and lose weight the right way.  Only the people that end up starving themselves and exercising to death.  It's a valid concern, but this conversation has happened the last four or five times I've talked to her.

It bothers me.

I know she's not always around so she can't see my eating habits.  I eat quite a bit.  I still indulge every week a cheat meal and a bag of M&M's.  It just bothers me that she doesn't think me smart enough to know the difference between exercising and becoming healthy and killing myself to get "skinny".

I tend to believe it's from the older generations belief that if you don't always eat what's offered something is wrong.  I remember growing up and getting in trouble for not eating what was put on my plate.  That right there is how I believe I became overweight in the first place.  I was always offered more helpings.

Also, my mom is also one that needs positive re-enforcement.  Her cooking has always been a sense of pride for here, so I think it freaks her out to not have me want to eat whatever she's making when I stop by. The fact that when I was younger I'd eat it if it was offered, and now I don't, probably throws up warnings for her.  I don't think she realizes that I may have just eaten and am full.  Or I've taken into accountability that Brooke may be cooking dinner as we speak.  To her I would eat what was offered, and if I had the chance to eat again, I would.  I'm not that same person.

It aggravates me that I intend to hear about this from now on as well.  Unless I plan on packing the weight on again, which I am not.

Why, you ask?

Before I began getting fit my mom used to hassle me about how much she worried about my blood pressure. My dad had high blood pressure.  He ignored it so much that now medication can't help it.  I figured, when I started this journey, that losing weight would help with that along with all the other health issues I was facing. It does seem to have helped her stop bugging me about my blood pressure, but now the focus is elsewhere.

The tough thing is I'm not sure I'll ever be able to make her understand.  At least not without raising my voice.  It bothers me.  I know I'm doing things the right way.  I don't want to be rail thin.  I've really even stopped worrying about a weight loss goal.  I know there's weight to be lost, but I'm more interested in maintaining what I've done and building muscle.

Which I can't do if I'm starving myself.  I realize this, she doesn't

Mothers will be mothers I guess.  They never stop worrying about their kids.

Comments

  1. It's good to know that your loved...but on the other hand..she is crazy to think that you'd want to hurt yourself that way! I am so proud of you!! Your amazing!! Keep up the good work!

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  2. It really must be a generational thing - eat everything on your plate; if you lose weight that must mean that you're sick, etc. Plus the fact that most Idahoans eat potatoes and meat and casserole for every meal. Hopefully she'll figure out that you're doing a really good job of taking care of yourself.

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  3. I think those last sentences sum it up. You know you're doing things the right way then keep up the good work, man. You can't force others to view things differently. You're looking great and it sounds like you're feeling great. Maybe some day she'll jump on board with that.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks man! That's kinda where I'm at with it now, it's just annoying to hear every time I see her.

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