Hi! Newbie Checking In
Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 2:27 pm
After months of lurking, I am ready to actively join the community. 
In October I completed a whole month of NoS but, like so many others, I lost patience (and panicked over S days gone wild). Now, although I am 5 pounds lighter than my highest weight at the start of that October, but also no less than when I gave up, I've often revisited my progress calendar from that month of NoS, where I was averaging a weekly loss of one pound (even with the wild S days!), and wonder where I would be if I had only stuck with it...
I am 49 and have been a chronic binger/restricter since the age of 13 except for summer vacations spent in Germany; there my grandparents served three squares a day and didn't put up with any disordered eating nonsense. And guess what? Those were the happiest times of my youth: no angst & no self-hatred as body obsession was blissfully put on hold for the duration and focus was directed outward.
My mother immigrated from Germany when she started college in the US and eventually married my father. Unfortunately, she became so fully American that by the time I hit puberty, I was well-versed in calorie counting and daily weigh-ins. Ironically, the first time my German grandparents visited her in the US they were shocked to see obese people. They had NEVER laid eyes on people so overweight. Yet they were alarmed to see how thin their own daughter had become since leaving Germany. (My mother, like me, has never been overweight but, like me -- the old younger me! -- didn't accept herself unless her BMI was between 18 & 19.)
This little family history of mine beautifully illustrates how completely screwed up this country has become over food and weight. I think -- know! --Reinard's simple and elegant formula taking us back to old-country basics is the only antidote to the madness. I am ready to recommit and find food and body peace before I hit 50.
By the way, the Germany phenomenon remains intact: I fly to Europe twice a year to see my relatives -- in fact we have met up for the past few years in heavenly Austria, Kössen in Tirol to be exact! -- where I fall right back into three meals a day (with the couple of daily glasses of sparkling wine -- yay Sekt!), no seconds, no snacking, except sometimes on days that begin with S.
A quick shout out to eschano and anra: Servus! I always think of my next trip to Austria when I read your posts!
So happy to have found this great community!
Ursula
In October I completed a whole month of NoS but, like so many others, I lost patience (and panicked over S days gone wild). Now, although I am 5 pounds lighter than my highest weight at the start of that October, but also no less than when I gave up, I've often revisited my progress calendar from that month of NoS, where I was averaging a weekly loss of one pound (even with the wild S days!), and wonder where I would be if I had only stuck with it...
I am 49 and have been a chronic binger/restricter since the age of 13 except for summer vacations spent in Germany; there my grandparents served three squares a day and didn't put up with any disordered eating nonsense. And guess what? Those were the happiest times of my youth: no angst & no self-hatred as body obsession was blissfully put on hold for the duration and focus was directed outward.
My mother immigrated from Germany when she started college in the US and eventually married my father. Unfortunately, she became so fully American that by the time I hit puberty, I was well-versed in calorie counting and daily weigh-ins. Ironically, the first time my German grandparents visited her in the US they were shocked to see obese people. They had NEVER laid eyes on people so overweight. Yet they were alarmed to see how thin their own daughter had become since leaving Germany. (My mother, like me, has never been overweight but, like me -- the old younger me! -- didn't accept herself unless her BMI was between 18 & 19.)
This little family history of mine beautifully illustrates how completely screwed up this country has become over food and weight. I think -- know! --Reinard's simple and elegant formula taking us back to old-country basics is the only antidote to the madness. I am ready to recommit and find food and body peace before I hit 50.
By the way, the Germany phenomenon remains intact: I fly to Europe twice a year to see my relatives -- in fact we have met up for the past few years in heavenly Austria, Kössen in Tirol to be exact! -- where I fall right back into three meals a day (with the couple of daily glasses of sparkling wine -- yay Sekt!), no seconds, no snacking, except sometimes on days that begin with S.
A quick shout out to eschano and anra: Servus! I always think of my next trip to Austria when I read your posts!
So happy to have found this great community!
Ursula
