Never thought I’d see the day…

The primary source of my self-worth has been a number on the scale…or a size in clothes…for as long as I can remember. It started when I was a 9 year old little girl being made to stand in front of a mirror in a dance studio while my intimidating, 40+ year old male dance teacher pointed out all the parts on my little body that were too fat. By the time I was a pre-teen, he was publicly humiliating me at the dance studio in an effort to bully me into losing 5 pounds. By high school, it was 10 pounds. I eventually quit dance, at which time all hell broke loose on the scale. But the founding message in all of this was…I am nothing because I am fat. I am a 9 year old fat person. That part of my brain still exists.

I used to think I needed to banish that, but honestly I can’t. And the reason, I think, is because there was never anything wrong with that 9 year old little girl. She was awesome. I can’t banish her. She’s part of me. And I love her.

I’ve paid so much money to therapists, talked and talked and talked to friends, read countless books on emotional eating, loving myself, children of alcoholics…you name it. And still I’ve spent my entire life evaluating myself on what the scale says and what the tags on my clothes say.

A little over two years ago, I had gastric sleeve surgery. I was so ready. I’d spent a long time speaking out against surgeries because I’d seen so many friends do it and gain all their weight back. Sometimes more. But what I didn’t realize is that, even though they thought they were, they just weren’t ready.

I wasn’t sure how much weight I would lose after surgery. I was amazed and grateful and elated that I lost 116 pounds. But I had 220 total to lose…and after I had my gallbladder removed, things really screeched to a halt. Why? Well, there’s only so much weight that you can lose by nutritional changes alone. I hit that threshold.

I can lose the rest of the weight if I exercise, but I keep hitting a wall. I keep pushing against the wall. Sometimes it seems to budge, but it never really does. In my head, it’s all about the weight. The tags on my clothes. The number on the scale. So I push. Nothing happens. Then I start to think “My God, Dianne, let’s go. Let’s do this! Let’s finish it.”

And nothing. Again.

There’s some stress going on at home right now. Nothing to do with HMH and me, but another family member going through something and we’re caught in the wake. There’s an end to it on the horizon, so I’m thankful for that – but it’s been a little tumultuous. And you’ll remember…I had gastric sleeve surgery, not brain surgery. When stress hits, I want to eat the universe. I just can’t anymore.

If you follow my Facebook fan page, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been posting a lot of needlework project updates lately. Quite simply, needlework is my replacement for binge eating.

One of the things I noticed about all my friends who had surgery before me and gained it all back is that they never found a substitute behavior for eating. Well, let’s say they never found a healthy substitute for eating. I saw that I needed to do it. I was determined that it would be something that was purely selfish and just for me. The natural choice was needlework. It makes me count. It requires focus and skill. And I can’t do it with Cheetoh dust on my fingers.

I’ve been doing a lot of needlework lately because I’m under stress. I’m worrying a lot. And I want to eat. All. The. Time. And I’m not going back down that road. That road sucks ass. So I stitch. Carefully. Skillfully. I stitch.

All of this stitching has brought my thoughts back into my head and away from my mouth. And I’ve slowly realized…I’m done. I’m fucking done.

The road ahead is full of possibilities
The road ahead is full of possibilities

No, I’m not done losing weight. And I’m not done with my story. But I am absolutely done being evaluated by my size. I’m done letting others do it. I’m done letting myself do it. I’m done.

It’s taken me what feels like a million years to realize that I don’t deserve this shit. At all. And I’ll tell you what: it’s pretty freeing. LOL. It’s fan-fucking-tastic is what it is.

I totally want to get to goal weight. I want to drop more weight for my health. Hell, I even still want to make exercise a habit! But I’m done letting all of this define whether I’m a successful human being or not. I’m done.

Feeling like I must lose weight to succeed has even subconsciously kept me from writing more in this blog. I realized that I’ve been avoiding writing here because I had no fabulous weight loss news to report. And so I’ve avoided it…like you avoid an old flame when you’re not wearing any make-up and you see him in a grocery store. No, no…I have to wait until everything’s fabulous before I can speak up.

No I don’t!

There are so many other things I want to write about (like tea bags for the vagina, hello!) and I’m going to write them. I’m done waiting for a number on the scale or a tag on clothes for me to be able to talk about anything else. And you know what? I’m amazed at how awesome I feel about all of this.

My dance teacher was an asshole. And he was wrong. I don’t want to carry that around in my head anymore. I know I’ll never forget it. I know it’ll always be part of who I am, but he was wrong. And for the first time since I looked in that mirror through my 9 year old eyes…I know he was wrong.

I am not a number on the scale. I am not the size of my clothes. I am a beautiful, hot mess. And I’m proud of myself…whether I ever lose another pound.

More later.

Much more. ♥


The Sweary Coloring Book for Adults (Swear Word Coloring Book)

12 thoughts on “Never thought I’d see the day…

  1. Thank you!! I’m ready to live for me and not what others think or how much I weigh! Time to be Fabulous…💕

  2. Your fabulous! Live lady life is to damn short! I think your awesome to take the healthy road.
    With me it was my Mother! If I was over 115 lbs! She would tell me I was fat! There was only one time while going through some stressful life changes. I had dropped down to a unhealthy 102lbs. That she actually complimented me! The one and only time.
    Unfortunately I passed those insecurities onto my daughters. Not in the same way! But by always saying my weight is staying at 134lbs! I have talked to them and told them how beautiful and healthy they are. And sorry I am! Since then age health and meds have taken over and I now fight in the 200. But still I eat healthy and exercise and try my best.
    Also love reading your blog gives me a boost!
    And makes me realize I can do it too!

    1. Heather, I can sooo relate to that. ♥ And we all make mistakes, but look at the difference: you’re making things right with your daughters and they see that. And if they act like they don’t, they really do see it…it’ll come to them someday.

      The asshole dance teacher never apologized. He never saw that what he did was wrong. That hurt me for a long time, but it doesn’t matter anymore…because I know he was wrong. I even thought I knew it before, but this difference is that now I FEEL it. 🙂

  3. Your writing style and way you recall stories are exactly what I love. Profanity laced with a touch of class, sass, and smart ass! Looking forward to more! You’re awesome, we all decided that as a tribe a loooong time ago!

  4. Have you thought about contacting your dance teacher (jerk) and letting him know what his words did to your self esteem? It might be a liberating experience for you. jUst a thought. I thoroughly enjoy your blog and am rooting for you!

  5. This is beautiful. Beautiful because it is honest and real, and we can find ourselves in others when they are open and honest and real. Life isn’t perfect, our struggles aren’t perfect, and it’s ok that we’re not perfect. I wish I could embrace my beautiful hot mess as well as you! I am so happy for the progress you have made and for your determination to enjoy your life. Screw all of those who have told us we’re less than perfect simply because our size doesn’t fit into their limited view of what a worthy person should look like.

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