« Green Tomato Chutney | Main | Everything I Needed To Know About Life Extension I Learned From Jesus Christ »
December 18, 2005
They Say That Looks Don't Count For Much If So There Goes Your Proof
Great line from one of my favorite songs of all time, "Is She Really Going Out With Him?"
It was a bit disconcerting when everyone I ran into at the Three Hundred Member Dinner and auction winner luncheon said, "You don't look like a CR person." I quickly dismissed my automatic girl-response, which was to think, "You mean I look fat???" One of the ga-zillion differences between CR and anorexia is that we CR folks know we're thin... CR isn't about weight loss, and we don't see imaginary fat in the mirror... so I know full well that I'm slim. MR translated for me that when men say "You don't look like you do CR," what they really mean is that you still look like a girl, and that's a good thing. But after spending most of my time with nurses, who frequently comment (and not *always* approvingly) that I'm thin as a tiny little pencil stick, it was a bit shocking to have all these folks say that I'm much less skinny than they had expected.
The media stereotype, to the extent that there is one, of the CR person is the geeky science boy who is thinner than Kate Moss and spends his nights alone at his computer reading scientific articles after consuming mountains of vegetables for dinner. Good thing, too, since it was exactly this kind of media coverage that convinced me that the CR Society wasn't just a great resource for information on how to change my life and save my health, it was also exactly the right place to pick up just the kind of man I wanted.
While that image worked well for me, it can be a bit off-putting to those who consider doing CR. Less skinny CR folk like the beautiful Little MR (http://www.crdiary.blogspot.com) give you the idea that CR might just be something a normal person could do. I know Little MR's example on her blog was very helpful for me in my early CR days. One thing Little MR and I have in common is that while we look normal now, we're not naturally thin at all. When we started, we were both overweight, and our weight loss has consisted almost entirely of fat loss. So now, in a world where women are just expected to be overweight post thirty, we're skinny freaks compared to normal women, but curvy girls compared to skinny CR boys.
While both Little MR and I practice a more moderate level of CR than Tall MR and some of the other brothers, I suspect that even if I am successful in lowering my calories and lose more weight as a result, I'll still look more like a normal, if petite, girl, than like the common media picture of the super skinny CR'd male. I aspire to look like those cute little genetically fat mice who are CR'd and look adoreable long after all their non-CR'd liter mates are dead. I'll pass on the long tail and the whiskers, but the general idea of svelte fluffiness well beyond middle age appeals to me.
People come in all different shapes and sizes, and CR does different things to different people. Of course, the effect of excellent nutrition can't be understated. Even after just one week with a few days of wild and crazy Christmas eating that is nothing compared to how I would eat pre-CR, I see the effects on my face of a less nutritious diet. Restaurant food is so salty that I look and feel puffy compared to how I feel when I eat my at-home, low salt diet. Those little dark circles under my eyes threaten to creep back after a few days of restaurant eating and drinking, making me appreciate the long detox period that is to follow my return home. It's fun to indulge in Christmas eating for a little while, and I'm glad I decided to not worry too much about calories during the work and family Christmas events so that I could eat some old favorite foods (like the delicious grasshopper pie my step-mother served last night!) But I can't believe how much better I feel when I eat my calorie-controlled, nutrient optimized diet at home. Breakfast salad, brewers yeast, and broccoli await me in Philadelphia...
And then we're off to visit MR's family for Christmas, where a CR-safe zone has been declared and MR's mom is planning holiday meals to fit within our calorie and macronutrient ratio requirements. Aren't you other CR folks jealous??? And no, his family is not orange... it's the beta carotene in his diet combined with the lack of body fat that makes him that way, not some sort of genetic predisposition to look like an unusually tall carrot.
It will be interesting to see if going up to 1300 or 1350 and then staying there, without the traditional seventh night dinner or lunch out, will result in weight loss. If it does, I hope that people will continue to say, "You're not all that skinny," ... even if they're just trying to be nice.
Posted by april at December 18, 2005 5:58 AM
Comments
Some day I will post THE PICTURE that made me start CR. Then it will be clear that I am "thin for me". As you say, if we were two of those naturally thin women, then we would maybe be even thinner than we are.
I am intrigued by the black cicle comment. Being a person with perpetual circles under my eyes, I have long searched for the cure. Perhaps a month of two of pure CR goodness is worth a try. I think my husband and son would actually go along with it. However, I have never not had circles under my eyes, so it would be strange to get rid of them!
Posted by: Little MR at December 18, 2005 8:13 PM