Well sh!t, this was not the post I was planning to make...

▶︎ My Website: LezleyDavidson.ca
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My big fear is that I'm not and won't ever be able to accept myself as I am, right now - which is the goal. Acceptance. Allowing.
Accepting myself exactly as I am. Allowing myself to be exactly as I am, right now. In all my fears and flaws and beautiful foibles. Exactly as I am.
▶︎ The blog post: www.lezleydavi...
▶︎ TikTok Video: • Video
▶︎ Mickey Atkins: • Therapist Reacts to Cl...
▶︎ ICU with Jane Tipping and Paul Goudsmit: icunow.nl/en/
▶︎ Tasty-Free Holy Sh!t Handbook: mailchi.mp/92d...
Find me around the interwebs:
▶︎ Facebook: / lezleydavidsonthehighp...
▶︎ Twitter: / lezleydavidson
▶︎IG: / lezleydavidson
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Music:
"Saying Good-bye in the Rain" by Kabbalistic Village
Stream on Spotify - spoti.fi/35VKNWK
You can also support (the artist) by buying this track - amzn.to/2JwDPPD
Intro & Outro music: "Mean Streetz" by MK2 KZbin Audio Library

[@KariGibsonArt]

Oh gosh, me too, spent the bulk (excuse the pun) of my life either lising or gaining weight. The difference in how we are treated is huge. I also worry about past people judging me and I am very careful to show head and shoulders only on video. I am currently working through The Body Keeps the Score by Bessemer van der Kolk to try to deal with past trauma and to stop my own self destructive behaviour. I only want to be healthy to be honest, I am not bothered about looks anymore. Off to see your free chapter - thanks Lezley! 💗

[@LezleyDavidson]

I literally looked at that book yesterday and have it on my list - along with “How to Do the Work”. Let me know if you think it’s something so should get.

[@tussah8874]

Weight is determined by metabolism. It is not a result of poor character, or lack of will power. I decided at age 15 that I was not going to allow food and dieting to dominate my life, and to hell with other people. Yes, you need to love yourself as you are, and determine your priorities in life. It would be great to be thin, but biology trumps personal preferences, in most cases. Unfortunately, people believe many stupid things. Here are a few: "The reason you have thin fingernails is because you bite them and have ruined the nail bed." Nonsense and totally backwards. People with strong nails aren't tempted to bite them because they aren't ripping, ragged, and annoying. Here's another one: "You are fat because you take in more calories than your body needs to run, so the extra goes to fat." Garbage and again totally backwards! For many people, the body starts by storing fat and if you give it enough extra, then it will grudgingly let you have some extra energy. Naturally thin people can't imagine this, and it's human to pat yourself on the back for something that comes naturally to you and criticize others who struggle. I did have one rail-thin friend who understood, because no matter what she did, she couldn't gain weight. But most prefer to take credit for what biology has given them. Hang in there, and recognize what is true about yourself. Other people are stupid. They can't help it. That's just who they are, and there's no point in taking their stupid comments to heart. (though I'm sure I'd love to give them useless advice about how being stupid is a character flaw and they just need to show more will power and make a greater effort, lol!)

[@LezleyDavidson]

You are exactly what is needed this morning. Thank you. 💕

[@NerdsIsPown]

I hope this doesn't come off as anti-fat, I don't think it is - I don't think what you're saying is scientific at all. Calories are real. As a general rule, if you are eating more than you are burning - then you are gaining weight. Yes, some people have incredible metabolisms, yes some people gain back the weight faster than others, but calories ARE a reliable strategy to losing weight. Now, the problem as I see it is not related to science at all, it's our moral characterization of fatness being bad, and making the leap that people who are fat ARE bad. It's something I "believe" (not to the extent that being fat makes you a bad person, thank god) which I've been trying to weed out, because it's really not good. I don't have the same view of people who smoke, for example - I don't make the same correlation. I think it might go deeper psychologically but I haven't found it yet. Another thing - being fat isn't your fault. People usually don't eat purely for reasons other than sustenance (other than on specific occasions). Eating was something that you were trained in, got addicted to, or went to for safety because of trauma. We can all agree to sneer at naturally thin people, though. They will never know what it's like.

[@LezleyDavidson]

😂 Lol “naturally thin” sneering. Calories may or may not be an accurate gage to lose weight, but it’s been proven that calorie-restrictive diets don’t work for long-term weight management. Also, I’d do your research before you suggest that anything written in the above comment is “unscientific”. A lot of what was considered “obvious” around weight and health has been shown as suspect. Dig into the research links provided in Mickey Atkins video. There’s a LOT of research supporting HAES (Health At Every Size).

[@NerdsIsPown]

@@LezleyDavidson I agree with that, but I am just lashing out a little bit at the idea that calories aren't real. I think counting calories is as "unscientific-seeming" as possible, but it's a place to start. Losing weight is a really complicated process. With it comes changes in diet, changes in exercise, how aggressively you're going to attack it, long-term strategy, etc. All have a roll to play in the process, but that doesn't mean that counting calories won't give you a good idea of weight gain/loss over time. **there's also stuff like water-weight, and metabolic plateaus that can be really annoying and/or confusing when trying some of these programs. The comment did say that weight is solely based on metabolism, which can't true. A person with a "bad" metabolism but a healthy relationship with food will most likely strike better outcomes than someone with unhealthy relationships with good. This says to me that there are other control drivers for weight to consider. HAES could be a great strategy, I would never argue against it as I do aspects of it myself, but that doesn't mean that the mechanics of weight loss, as we know them, aren't real. The studies I've just glanced over do not strike against the fact that calories exist, but of strategy (to then, assumedly, reduce calorie intake anyways though healthier means), which is what you said.

[@NerdsIsPown]

@@LezleyDavidson Oh, and also, the bias against fat people in the medical field is really fucked up. That needs to change.