About

A few weeks ago I decided that I no longer liked the way I looked any more. Actually, I had decided that long before then but despite various attempts at improvement I hadn't actually managed to succeed in doing something about it.

With thirty fast approaching (in six months to be precise), I have decided to embark on a life changing healthy eating (dare I say diet) and exercise programme. This started about four weeks ago and I am pleased to say I am now 16lbs lighter than I was then. I plan to continue with this without killing myself in the process although I have indulged in a couple of large white wines this evening.

One of the things that I find particularly interesting is the way the media constantly berates the obese in our society, particularly women. According to them we cannot do any of the following:

• Have a successful career or a good job (because we are either 1. too lazy to work or 2. completely undesirable to a prospective employer)
• Be in a happy, loving relationship (well....a bloke doesn't want to be seen with a fat girl on his arm does he?)
• Have sex (we are clearly too fat to be able to manoeuvre into any position successfully)
• Have children (obese women apparently find it more difficult to conceive and carry a child successfully)
• Be a good mother (apparently being obese also means that we are unfit roll models for our children. Hmmm........it seems that drug addicted, alcoholics are making better mothers these days. Well, they are thin after all)

For the record, I have a good job and am in a happy, loving relationship with a man who adores me. We do have sex and enjoy it although I admit that it is not as uninhibited as I would like to be. I know plenty of obese women who have managed to conceive and have given birth to healthy babies and went on to become great mothers however, this is one of the reasons I have decided to lose weight permanently and become healthier. With the aforementioned 30th birthday looming, I am scared of the effects my weight is having on my health. Admittedly, when I was younger I was more concerned that I didn't look as good as my friends or that I couldn't get the latest fashions because I just looked like a sack of potatoes in them. As I get older I do worry more about the health implications. I would like children and I don't want people judging them because their mother is overweight. Sadly, people do and other children can be so cruel as I often found out when I was growing up. Anyway, more about that another time when I feel more able to talk about it.

While I am on this subject I noticed this article in the newspaper (I use that term loosely) today entitled 'Triplets Joy of 40st Mum: World's fattest mother of three tells her story'

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/article14491.ece

The article talks about how "A enormous 68-strong team of medics weighed in to deliver 40-stone Leanne's three healthy babies.
And the total bill to the NHS added up to a hefty £200,000—four times the normal cost of a triplets pregnancy"........

Yes, I realise that 40st is a lot of weight to carry and it does mean serious health risks but what about the hundreds of babies that are born each year to drug addicted mothers. The babies who are born addicts themselves and have to be treated for heroin withdrawal. What about their cost to the NHS and then ultimately, the cost to Social Services when their parents are too drugged up to care for them.

I mean no disrespect to anyone who has substance abuse problems, I know that everyone has different circumstances to deal with in their life but come on! Isn't it better to have a baby born to an obese mother who loves and cares for it than born into the unhappy, chaotic world of substance abuse and all the implications that go along with it?

Loving: Gwyneth Paltrow's legs

Loathing: Tabloid trashpapers