What would you do differently?

[Guest guest]

I have been reading the book Overcoming Overeating by Hirschman and Munter, and

one of the things they ask their readers to do is enter a fantasy of a world

where no one would ever gain or lose a single ounce--that what you weight right

now is exactly what you will always weigh (I can't find the place now, so I hope

I get this right)--and to consider what you would do differently.

I found this to be a very interesting question. If you were never going to lose

weight, would you still eat " diet foods " or would you try to find what you

really like eating? They even asked " Would you still run five miles today? "

which made me laugh, because the idea of running five miles in order to lose

weight is ludicrous, but if my heels were healed (which I think they're getting

close to being), I definitely would.

I also really liked the idea of accepting myself exactly as I am now--overweight

and all (because if there was no way in the world to change that, then there'd

be no point in berating myself for being too fat), and it got me to thinking,

" Well, why can't I accept myself anyway? " So I'm fatter than I'd like to be (a

lot fatter than I'd like to be), so what? I'm still me. I still have people I

love in this world. I still have things I'm interested in doing, and absolutely

none of them have anything to do with how I look. I can walk in the woods, make

delicious meals for myself and the other people I feed, I can make art and

music, I can teach my students, I can talk to interesting people. What does fat

matter with that. Why this should feel like a revelation, I don't know, but I'm

really going to try to be okay with me the way I am. I bought five pairs of

pants a month or so ago that actually fit me, and I'm going to get rid of the

rest of my wardrobe that doesn't fit (or at least put it in the attic).

But I think it's a really good question--what would you do differently if the

world were a place where you would never gain or lose another pound ever again?

What do you want from your life?

Tilley