Sunday, February 11, 2007

Why do slim people assume to know what is best for the overweight?

I am overweight. In fact according to all of the charts, including the BMI, I am obese. Since I have now reached menopause, some new problems have emerged. One of these problems happens to be my cholesterol levels. Prior to menopause, I managed to control my cholesterol levels and I had never gone over 5.0 until my last test. What is really of concern is that the bad cholesterol is out of whack and to the point that the good cholesterol is minimal. Up until this past year I had not suffered from this particular problem. I was able to eat whatever I wanted without affecting my cholesterol.

Since I have a lot of problems associated with a medical condition, I have been in close contact with my doctor, and we have discussed the issue of my cholesterol results. I have been on a walking program. I call it my knit and walk method. I do some knitting and then I do some walking around my pool. On a cool day I can easily do 10 minutes at a time, and I can walk further in those 10 minutes than on a hot and humid day. When I am not adopting the walk and knit method, I use the supermarket and shopping mall method. A walk around the supermarket can generate a few steps, and if I combine that with taking in more than 2 shops I can hack at least 7000 steps in a morning. However, these steps do come at a cost of pain in my feet. The point of this program is that I am showing a small weight loss.

Since I retain fluid on the humid days, my weight tends to spike and then fall again on a regular basis. I am not concerned about these weight spikes because I recognize that these are only temporary. I have an aim and I am determined to reach that goal in the near future. What I am doing is wearing a pedometer with the aim of getting a daily average of 10,000 plus steps. It is not always possible to reach the 10,000 steps in one day. In fact, when I am working, which is the type of job that is sedentary, I barely manage 7,000 steps in a day. Other factors are also important because I have a lot of problems with my hips, knees and feet. Then to complicate matters, last November I fractured my coccyx for the 2nd time in 30 years.

Last June a problem with my feet began to get out of hand again. I have arthritis in my feet, and I have a tendency to get both plantar fasciitis and metatarsalgia at the same time. We went to the Lyric Theatre in Sydney to see Swan Lake on Ice. The day had started badly when my right knee went on me, and then my feet became very sore whilst I was walking around the shopping centre. The pain did not go away, and by the evening my feet were inflamed. The next day, I had difficulty walking and my hips wanted to give way. The pain in my feet was really severe. This pain continued through to September, and I had a lot of difficulty doing much in the way of walking. Finally, my doctor ordered an x-ray, and sure enough I have calcaneal heel spurs on both feet, and for the first time the arthritis in my feet has been recognized. I have new orthotics and since then I have been walking up a storm.

Once I started doing the regular walking, I began to record my daily steps, and I keep a record on a spreadsheet which I share with my doctor. On this spreadsheet I am now recording my daily weight. It gives my doctor an opportunity to see what progress I am making as I attempt to permanently remove my excess weight. I am also attending hydrotherapy because of my arthritis issues.

So why am I upset over the issue of my weight if my doctor is satisfied with my progress? Last Friday I had a visit from a person who was doing a medication review. He is the one that made mention of my weight, as well as the indicators that could point to being at risk for age onset diabetes. I am at risk because there is a family history of age onset diabetes. However, I am also at risk for atherosclerosis because there is a familial predisposition for this condition. The person who did the review made a really big issue about my weight, and he was not all that impressed when I said that I am walking and recording my steps. He muttered about going to a gym. Well, I will not be taking that option. He was rude enough to say that all I had to do was cut the carbohydrates - sure thing, if I was a regular carboholic. Then there is the issue of my fluid intake. To be honest, I do not care about his recommendations because he is not my doctor and I think that my relationship with my doctor is more important. I do not need to see another dietician. I have a good handle of my food requirements. What this person did not consider is the mere fact that I have struggled to walk for several months.

It bugs me when people look at me and see an obese woman but they disregard totally the problems that I have experienced over a long period of time. I have been battling with my weight since the birth of my youngest son. In fact the weight started to increase after a car accident prior to that pregnancy. I did not lose weight after my son was born. It was as if something in my brain is not switched on correctly so that I am retaining what is not necessary and thus I have finally ended up in the current situation.

Harassing me to lose weight is not going to produce the required results. The weight will come off once I get my hormones back into balance. At the present time I am producing too much of the bad cholesterol. I need to know why that is happening so that I can turn that situation around. If I am not eating the carbohydrates at the necessary rate, then there has to be another reason. I will be sticking with collaboration with my doctor, and I will not be signing up to go to a gym. I hate those classes because I always end up injured in some way. I prefer doing it my way.