Tuesday, December 23, 2014

That's not normal... Good.

At work talking to someone who was offering me a snack that wasn't on my diet... here's the thing, when I say "on my diet" it doesn't mean I'm trying to lose weight. It means diet as in list of things I willingly eat. Things I eat that I believe are good for me. Things I eat. That's what I mean when I say "diet."
They asked why I was trying to lose weight. I said I wasn't trying to lose weight. I'd already lost the weight and I didn't want it back so I was eating well and cheating only sometimes.

"You should gain weight."
"Why? I'm in the healthy weight range for my height & I feel fine."
"You look too thin."
"I'm sorry. I guess I'm glad we're not dating then."
"You know what I mean."
"I know I'm in good health. My blood work is good. My energy level is good. I'm pretty sure I can do more crunches and push-ups than anybody in this store right now in spite of being thinner than everybody here. I'm fine."
"You need to eat more."
"So, what? If I eat chips and just get fat packed on me, not muscle, just fat, that's a good thing?"
"What've you eaten today?"
"I had a bowl of oatmeal and a banana for breakfast with coffee. I had two eggs, a can of tuna, a stalk of celery chopped into it and around a tablespoon of mayonnaise for lunch, basically tuna salad on a bed of lettuce, and for dinner tonight I had a cup of vegetables, 4oz lean beef and a cheese stick. When I get home I'm going to have half a cup of sugar free lime gelatin with mandarin oranges in it."
"Now that's not normal!"
"What?"
"That you know everything you eat, that you keep track of it."
"I know. Normal for my age is slightly overweight, impending diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholesterol levels that either require or soon will require medication. I don't actually want to be normal for an American male of my age. Normal means I'm dying faster. I'm good being an outlier when normal is bad."

I sincerely can't believe people see me at my current weight with a BMI of 22 which is squarely in the middle of the healthy BMI range and tell me I'm too thin or unhealthily thin. I'm thinner than most but I feel fine and I look fine and my doctor says I'm fine so please... stop asking me to join the norms who all could stand to lose some weight. I'm where I want to be. I'm good. Thanks.

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