So I finally got around to reading this month’s issue of Runner’s World and I have got to say that I was quite impressed by the article “A thin Line” by Peter Sagal the host of NPR’s “Wait Wait…Don’t tell me”. He starts off his article with a quote by Jonathan Reynolds by saying “If you’ve ever been fat, you will either be fat for the rest of your life or you will worry about being fat the rest of your life”. At first I was like…”Wait…What?!” but as I continued reading I couldn’t help but absolutely agree with what he said. In fact later in the article when he talks about how many amateur athletes “run to eat” and how it’s not really about the food but about how “we feel for a moment that we are normal people who are able in indulge in sweets and fats without suffering the inner guilt and recrimination usually reserved for embezzlers”, I felt like…I get that…in so many ways I get it!
It’s the strangest thing….when I was at my heaviest, I honestly did not know how big I was! I mean any other person could look at me and tell I was well beyond a normal weight for my age (although nobody apparently realized just how heavy I was), but looking in the mirror I didn’t see it. Once I had my “Ah-ha” moment, I couldn’t stop noticing my weight issue. Even at my skinniest…when people were telling me I was getting too skinny…I still thought of myself as fat. Now I am a lot more content with my weight…not that I am at my ideal weight but I’m working at it. Yet I still find myself thinking “Sure I can have cake since I ran 4 miles this morning” or “those 13 miles on the bike totally make up for the burrito I’m about to eat”…and for a brief second...in that moment I am brought back to the time when I was completely unaware of my weight issue.
So good job Peter Sagal for being so open, so honest, and so right on with this issue!
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