Acceptance

I think I love my OB-GYN.

Wait, let me backtrack and say that since the beginning of our doctor/patient relationship, Dr. S has mentioned my need to lose weight at every single appointment. My first appointment with him ever when I was about eight weeks pregnant with Olivia.

My GP cared for me during my pregnancy with Alyssa. He is a very nice man and has never once mentioned my need to lose weight. It helped that the GP is a portly fellow himself, so perhaps he doesn’t feel he has a right to tell someone about the same relative amount of weight over optimal to do something about it, never mind that he’s allowed at least a little clout given his status as a medical doctor.

Dr. S, the OB-GYN, on the other hand is a tall, slender man who, given his own ability maintain a healthy weight, probably feels he is able to council others on achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.

Today, though, he said something different about my weight.

I was there for my annual exam. Fun stuff there, let me tell you.

At the end of the appointment, he looked at my chart and noted that I’m exactly the same weight today as I was six years ago when I first went to see him.

I know, right! Talk about weird, considering how much I’ve gone up and down over the past six years. But still, he suggested that perhaps this is where my body is most comfortable.

He noted that my other numbers, such as my cholesterol, my glucose, my blood pressure are all well within the healthy ranges. My body is obviously no laboring under what the ‘charts’ consider extra weight. I’m quite obviously healthy at this weight.

He said that if I’m comfortable where I am right now, he won’t harp on it. He said that I’d probably have to do a major life overhaul to drop the recommended (by the writers of the ‘charts’) 40 pounds and then keep it off.

See, this is what I need to hear. I need to hear from someone I respect and see as a professional that it is okay to accept myself where I am. Yes, I do still want to lose more weight, but I don’t want it to be the be all and end all of my happiness, my self-worth. I want to be comfortable in my skin, no matter what the number on the scale is or the size of my pants.

Thank you, Dr. S for making so much sense today.