The tyranny of the bathroom scales
by Alison B Allen
If you feel you're plus size and are exploring how to lose weight, peer group pressure dieting can lead to weight-obsessed tyranny. Sometimes, not weighing yourself has far more effect in whittling away the pounds.
I stopped weighing myself everyday a year ago. I've lost more than 2 stone since.
I used to weigh myself most mornings and the result would dictate what kind of day I had. A pound or more off I'd float to my desk at my dull, ordinary, job, imagining the new wardrobe I'd wear, how people would 'see' me in a different way, treat me in a different way. If it was a gain I would sulk, kvetch and wonder why I had that cake/bag of crisps/vodka and lime the day before. I would watch and envy the women I wanted to look like, the lives I wanted to emulate.
The sad thing is they weren't happy either. We all would boost each other up but never ourselves. One dieted herself down to a size 10 and she struggled to stay that; just so her boyfriend would commit. Another had gained weight during her marriage; now divorced she stressed off her weight to a tiny size 4 and yet still 'felt' fat. I wasn't allowed to call myself fat, even though I was (at my largest) a size 26. There was someone else the same size as me and they said the same things to her. They said different things behind her back.
Boredom and frustration was/is my worse trigger. I leave work and do what I want to do (a Fine Art Degree) and the weight slowly drops off. I am more active, less bored, and I hardly ever weigh myself. It has ceased to be a priority. That I think is the secret. Stop worrying and do what you want to do: don't wait to be the perfect weight, don't be bullied by the whispering minions who themselves has been bullied by the media.
Just be who you are and the rest will follow.
I am now a size 18/20. I would like to be a little less; but it doesn't define me the way it used to. I have other things to think about and I'm not allowing society make me feel less just because I am more!
See more Japanese, Vintage/Burlesque & Gothic DIY Style
Alison says: was born in Watford Hertfordshire UK forty-one years ago. Went to Demontfort University Leicester late and did English/Media/Politics and found I am dyslexic. Fast forward fifteen years and I quit a rubbish job for a bank to do a Fine Art degree at Demontfort University (again)! Art was my hobby... but turned into an obsession. As for writing, I have always written, kept journals, stories, scripts and plays. This is my first attempt to write 'real life' as I see it which will be weird; for you not me!
