From: dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer)
Subject: Re: Last 10 lbs / Losing Control
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 19:16:21 GMT

In article <16049@pitt.UUCP> geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks) writes:
>When I lost 160 lbs at the age of 25, I remarked
>to one of my friends that "it isn't a panacea", and he said,
>"yes, but it's probably the closest thing you can get to one,"
>and he probably was right.

I'm more inclined to agree with Lauren here.  I've lost weight several
times, and I'm still me at every point.  I love the increased mobility
and feeling of health, and buying and wearing clothes is a pleasure
rather than a chore.  But there are lots of maladjusted, neurotic
ectomorphs and mesomorphs who are obsessing on their own attributes
which they believe are making their lives miserable, and which would
make all the difference if those were changed.  Surprise, externalities
don't change much.  Nonetheless, there's plenty to enjoy from losing
weight--it's just not a panacea.

>Being a morbidly obese person is
>no joke.  It's sort of like being black in a white society.
>Every morning you have to get up and deal with the discrimination
>and abuse you are going to have to take that day because of
>your physique.

I don't mean to deny other people's experiences on this topic, but
I think I am gifted with being oblivious.  I have never ever received
any abuse or been victim of any discrimination for being heavy.  That
I'm aware of, of course.

I think I'm a fairly successful individual: intelligent, straight-
forward, and I've never been treated in any other way both professionally
and among my friends and acquaintances.  I'd be shocked if I experienced
this regularly.  I can't even recall an isolated bozo making a crack.

>Being able to wear shorts or go swimming and be pleased with the way you
>look instead of worrying about making a spectacle of yourself
>is a pleasure that is hard to describe to those who haven't
>experienced it.  Similarly being able to play sports and hold
>your own with "normal" people and many other activities previously
>shunned that most young people enjoy.

That's all quite true.  And it's a terrifically personal and individual
pleasure.  But at the same time, "worrying about making a spectacle of
yourself" is an internal fabrication, and it helps to remember that.
I should mention a wonderfully liberating experience I had this past
month in Portland OR at the yearly soc.motss con.  One of the events
was an afternoon at the nude beach at Rooster Rock on the Columbia
River.  Now, I can't remember the last time I was at a beach; I can be
quite self-conscious, despite my occasional rhetoric.  Yet this was to
be among friends, and the nude bit somehow didn't loom too large in
my consciousness.  Well, it was just great.  I saw everyone's warts
and put the whole body image thing behind me.  I was sitting in the
water, thinking "Wow, if it gets out how wonderful nude beaches are,
EVERYONE will want to go to one."

A few weeks ago people were discussing the advantages of being heavy,
specifically buoyancy.  It didn't meake a big impression on me than,
but at the beach, I realized how great it was not to have the force
of gravity pulling down on my stomach.  I felt like I was on the moon.
And when I lumbered out, I felt as awkward as those original lungfishes
making their first steps on land, as gravity reasserted itself.

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer