I think that if we eat healthily (and are honest with ourselves about what that means for us), eat when hungry and to satisfaction, stay away for the most part from chemicals (including food additives and drugs), exercise/move with joy and not as a form of self-abuse, we'll balance out to the weight we are meant to be.
Bad news: that may not be a socially popular weight. My original goal was 149--I wanted to get under 150. I knew that 20 years ago, I had one brief sane phase where I did not dieted, exercised a good deal but not obsessively, and was around 138-140. I knew I had more muscle mass and was older...so 149 seemed reasonable, and I hoped my age didn't matter.
But I've been 169-179 for the better part of a year now, and there was only a month of lousy eating in there and no breaks at all from exercise. So, I've slowly come to believe that this is my healthy weight range and switched my goal weight to the lower end of the range. Most days now, I even accept it with good cheer!
In my bad moments, I grieve about not being a size 8 ever again. Then I realize, it's just a number. Numbers are pretty unimportant compared to the real things in life, like health, happiness, joy, spirituality, kindness, curiosity and learning, growing, exploring, laughing, smelling the roses, hugging the dog and my friends.... I've come to use the serenity prayer as a way to look at my genetic body size and type, my weight, my loss rate--these are 'things I cannot control.'
I like Nsmith's comments on her profile--we aren't numbers. We're real human beings, valuable and deserving of love and good health at any weight. Focus on the love and good health, and the number will be what the number will be. If it's not a socially popular one, perhaps it's time to get angry at our society rather than at our own wonderful bodies.
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