Well, even though I've said that I haven't got it in me to bother explaining it, I think that in some ways I really already have. But, to be more specific --not that you, Alistair, will necessarily understand it any better, I guess-- I have had no idea what a normal day of eating is "supposed" to look like! And, while not everybody will be on a 1500 calorie diet from day to day (and I won't be forever), it suits me for many reasons for where I'm at right now. The most important thing for me, though, has been that it includes everything I want it to and I don't feel deprived or anything like that.
For me, without counting calories, I actually have no idea how much I've eaten. That might sound strange but it's utterly true. On some days, if I had eaten an apple and a couple of other small things (like a handful of almonds and some raisins), I would think that maybe I couldn't eat any more because it's like my sense about it was warped and I really had no idea if that was a lot or a little. While on other days, I would eat WAY more than I needed because of other reasons (or I thought that if I ate a few chips that meant I completely blew it anyway, so I'd give up). Really, though, that stuff only scratches the surface. You say to "just be myself' and I have said that I am. And, it's difficult sometimes to know what is our own thinking vs. what is society's thought being imposed upon our own.
Anyway, I'm talking years upon years, since I was 12, of having major confusion over eating and body image. And, I'm telling you, this is by far the best thing I have ever done for myself with that. And, I guess I think that, aside from the fact that for some reason it's been helpful for me to have this thread, if there is somebody, especially a girl, who needs some kind of structure to her thinking about how to go about some of this, though what I am doing doesn't absolutely work for everybody, it is at least worthy of being AN example.
If I were to ever be an example to other ladies, young or other, I would want to be an example of a fit lady who accepts her body, who is strong and not afraid to be strong, who believes in various sorts of beauty, and who has a sensible concept of food and eating. I don't want to just be yet another lady who is just wanting to be as skinny as possible and who's afraid to eat.
Topic: Project Shapety Shape