Some Interesting Statistics

28.1 - Average BMI of Australian women (this is classed as "overweight) - I am 27.9
74 kg - Average weight of Australian women (not telling, but I am close to this)
1.63m - Average height of Australian women (I am 1.7m)
Size 12 - Average size in jeans of Australian women (size 14-16)
14C - Average bra size, however (16DD)
41% of Australian women wear a D Cup or above (me!)
87.9 cm - average waist measurement of Australian women (86cm)
110cm - average hip measurement of Australian women (101cm)
70% of Australians think they are fat (I'm in the 70%)

and the worst one

95% of women who went on weight-loss diets regained everything they lost, plus more, within 2 years (source - The Medical Journal of Australian MJA 2003; 179 (11-12): 586

What does this all mean? I'm not sure.

I don't know if I feel better or worse that I'm taller than than the average Australian woman and that my waist and hips are smaller than the national average (how come I wear a size 14-16 jean then ?? Maybe size 14-16 women don't buy as many pairs of jeans as size 12 and below women. Of course, I have over 15 pairs of jeans now so hopefully that will rebalance the matter in the next round of surveys)

What about the fact that 95% of dieting women regain their lost weight - Do I feel as though I am running an unwinnable race? Some days I do. But I have to try. I don't think that, even knowing those odds, I should give up. I mean 5% succeed. Is that crazy self-talk that I'm indulging in?

It might interest you to know that 90% of heroin addicts go back at least once to heroin. So it's actually harder to lose weight and keep it off than giving up heroin (I know, that's mis-using statistics horribly, but it's true for me some days).

I don't know anyone who's lost weight and kept it off permanently. No-one. I did have a friend once who lost an enormous amount of weight once and kept it off for about 5 years, but then a tragedy hit, and the weight (and much more) came back.

I do have a friend who lost an enormous amount of weight but fluctuates between 6-8 kilos so I don't know if she classes as part of the 95% or part of the 5%, but I'm sure if I asked her she would say that her weight loss battle continues still.

Why do we think fat people are lazy and stupid (I say "we" in the greater sense of the community, not me)? It's clearly stupid behaviour to indulge in starvation, mind-control and torture (known as "dieting" to the clinically insane). Maybe "overweight" people have realised that it's a pointless exercise that eventually costs you more health wise than being overweight does.

Recently I discovered that my PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) was most probably self-induced from my years of constant yo-yo dieting. New medical research has discovered that the fluctuating hormones brought about by starvation and dieting (I've done both) led to a much higher-incidence of PCOS in those woman. I wish I'd known that when I was 10. Of course, it probably wouldn't have stopped me because I wanted the "fatty fatty boomsticks" comments to cease more than I cared about my future fertility.

Anyway, I do believe, on some level, that I'm extremely stupid at attempting this. But I know that I have been so brainwashed by the media and my father over the years that I am never truly going to accept that I am beautiful at any size other than a size 10.

I admire women who can say "This is me, get fucked if you don't love it, because I do." That wasn't the message I received at home. Both my father and my grandmother (his mother) made it clear from early on that they thought I was too fat and that strenuous dieting would be rewarded by extra love and attention from both of them. Obviously they both had ISS-EWS!

I wonder what I could have achieved if I had diverted my energies into causes other than my weight loss... I'd probably be bullying people with statistics about productivity or something ;-)


*************
Click on the comments word in "Posted by Bikini By Xmas at xx:xx 0 comments" section if you'd like to leave a comment ...