I've gotten some really kind and sweet emails in regards to the "No Pudge" entry.

One, though, kind of bothered me:

"Aren't you ever scared when you can sit there and eat 5 fudge brownies? I've lost a 100 pounds and maintained it for several years......but I think I will always be afraid that I'm going to find that 100 pounds again ... Every time I think about restricting my diet even slightly I start salivating over...., well, pretty much anything. Because I know that it would be all too easy to go back. And that's a pretty scary thought."

Hell no, I am not scared. For a few reasons:

1) I've learned not to let food have that sort of emotional control over me anymore, and not let eating five brownies one night derail me. Even if they were real fudge brownies it's silly for me to buy into the idea for even one second that I'm going to somehow lose that much faith in myself that I'd "go back."
2) Food isn't something to be scared of. It's not going to hack off your leg in the middle of the night or beat you senseless. Food is only scary if you assign it that sort of worth.
3) Putting on a few pounds is not the end of the world. I'm not trying to turn this into a fat acceptance blog over here by any means, but for God's sake, ladies: There are worse things to be than fat. Say this again with me: There are worse things to be than fat. Sure, the world treats fat people differently, and it's patently unfair, but I can name about ten things I'd rather not be - sick, unemployed, broke, held captive, Republican - and fat is not one on that list.

And just to further my point? And one I wasn't going to share until I got this email? I stepped on the scale this morning and I actually lost two pounds this week. You're not going to undo all the work you did by eating five brownies. It just doesn't work that way.

It isn't that I don't understand how difficult weight loss is to maintain, and that maintenance calls for us to be pretty mindful of what we're doing, but at what point do we stop buying into the notion that we're somehow powerless over food? I'm not talking about those folks who truly struggle with an addiction. Not at all. I'm talking to people who are like me, who spent way too many years giving way too much lip service and time to food.

If you've lost weight - I don't care if it's 10 pounds or 100 - then you already know you're not powerless over food so why keep wasting your brain space by telling yourself that you are?

Posted by Erin at 02:41 PM | filed under: Random