By now, anyone who spends any time with me here at DietHobby, probably knows a great deal about my personal dieting, weight-loss and maintenance history, and is familiar with my 8 year + ongoing struggle to maintain my body at a normal size after years of yo-yo 100+ lb losses and dealing with the issues of morbid obesity.

If not, you can see my recent STATUS UPDATE, which includes a couple of very relevant links.

My weight is now in the “normal” range, and it takes constant vigilance for me to keep it there. What most “average” people have difficulty grasping is that my struggle is not caused by trying to keep my weight “too low”. Ten years ago when I weighed in the 190s, I struggled to stay under 200 lbs. Twenty years ago, before my RNY gastric bypass at 271 lbs, my highest weight ever, I was engaged in an ongoing struggle to keep from gaining even more weight.

Despite all of my nutritional knowledge and dieting experience, I know without a doubt that the result of “listening to my body” and eating what my body tells me to eat will return me to my highest weight. There are many articles here in the DietHobby ARCHIVES that deal with the specifics of this issue in detail.

A great deal of current research has indicated that overweight or obese people aren’t necessarily less “healthy” than normal weight people. This has also been my own lifetime observation and I am in agreement with that line of thought.

So WHY, here in my late 60s, do I continue to engage in this struggle? Why not relax and just “eat healthy” and let my body get as fat as it wants to get? I’m in excellent health for my age, come from “healthy” genetic stock, and take no prescription drugs, great blood pressure, and no medical conditions, except for my tendency toward obesity.. Even though I’m in excellent health for my age, I’m elderly, so it is unlikely that I have more than 10 to 20 lifetime years left.

Recently I posted some videos of an ongoing BBC series called “The Men Who Made Us Thin”.

It reminded me of my personal history in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and forward, and I thought about the fact that almost all of the people who helped me create my personal anti-fat bias are now dead. Their opinions, which were once crucial to me, are now meaningless. All of my present family and friends love and accept me at any size, fat or thin.

I have no wish to share here all of the details of my innermost psyche about this issue, but I bring it up because as part of my Dieting Hobby, I’ve been watching quite a few people who are adopting the principles of “Health at Every Size”, and are working to Accept whatever size …. no matter how obese…. their body wishes them to be. I find them interesting and admirable.

Here at normal weight, I have no intention of adopting this philosophy for myself and allow my body to return to morbid obesity, but if I were still at my top weight I think I might consider it.

Previously I shared an article and dancing video of a wom...

Update:  The missing videos were removed from YouTube in 2014 due to a Copyright violation.

  Here's Episode ONE of BBC series: "The Men Who Made Us Thin" 
which was televised in the UK in Summer of 2013.            

Episode THREE of BBC series: "The Men Who Made Us Thin" 
which was televised in the UK in Summer 2013.   

Episode FOUR of BBC series: "The Men Who Made Us Thin" 
which was televised in the UK in Summer 2013.