Beginning Influence on Body Image
I work on weight loss. I remember the exact year I started on this mad, complicated, endless, frustrating quest. I was a freshman in high school. I had a crush on my social studies teacher, John McCutchen.
I found a book on military exercises at home and started. I diligently worked out every day in my bedroom. It was the first time I realized I was having seconds, at the dinner table, just like my brothers. For years I felt like one of the boys. I played with them, fought with them, competed with them and had no desire to go through, what my older sisters were, to be a “lady”. It seemed pretty complex and time-consuming.
The nuns, who were my teachers at the the Catholic school for eight years, scared the crap out of me. It didn’t seem a girl could win in any way, shape or form. But, when you have a crush on a guy, you realize what girl-hood is or what social norms and body forms should be.
Here I am…still battling extra pounds, still analyzing my eating habits, still scrutinizing what I put in my mouth.
The last few years I have had more than a “crush” motivating me to lose weight. I have hip pain. I know the more weight on the hip, the less chance I have of being pain-free. I’m aware of the often-quoted-by-doctors-statement, “For every pound you carry in weight, you are putting four more pounds of weight on your joints.”
I’ve tried to think what family influences have had on my eating habits. Large family, long table, food on the table passed around for me to take what I wanted (within reason). Dessert, if I ate what I had on my plate. On weekends, we snacked in the evening, popcorn with butter was a standard. Once in awhile we’d have potato chips, Cheetohs, spanish peanuts or anything we could buy ourselves at "Pembles".
I have twin sisters, Karen and Kathy, who are petite and slight in weight. I use to tell myself, “Yeah, they are only half a person each, to make a whole. No wonder they’re so small.” That was back when I believed everything I thought.
Just recently I sat down and thought through all the monthly influences on weight gain. From January to December. Just like the recovering first grade teacher I am, I set the months in front of me. I was astonished at what patterns I started to see!
January: New Year’s Eve eating and drinking. Left-over candy, baked goods from Christmas, social eating.
February: Valentine’s Day. Chocolates, cookies, cupcakes.
March: St. Patrick’s Day, end of Lent (Fasting), Grasshoppers with real ice-cream, Irish Stew, corn beef and potatoes, Bailey’s.
April: Easter, chocolates, jelly beans,
Peeps, malted balls, pastries, cakes.
May: Mother’s Day, cake, ice-cream, or pie. (The beginning of less clothes to cover up the rolls), endless fried smelt w/potatoes.
June: Graduation parties, picnics, grilling out, longer evenings (more snacking).
July: Kool-aid, pop, ice-cream, July 4th foods-potato salad, hot dogs, chips w/dip, noodle salads w/mayo, Corn-on-the-cob (with dripping butter), jello w/whipped cream, pop cycles, lemonade, social eating.
August: Sliced potatoes cooked over a fire with butter, roasted marshmallows, candied apples, cotton candy, elephant ears, heated peanuts, candied nuts, chili dogs, hamburgers, shakes, french fries, County Fairs.
October: Halloween-more and more candy, sugared popcorn balls, apple cider.
December: Excess food, sweets, social eating.
These items don’t even include baby showers, funerals, wedding receptions, birthdays, family reunions, class reunions.
Wow, powerful influences way beyond family eating habits. I don’t want to miss out on celebrations, but I will start thinking about putting a bag of carrots and an apple in my pocket. So when I do join in, I can keep plugging away at shedding pounds.
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