Tales from the Scale

Lori: "I worship the almighty scale, at least when I'm nonchalantly stepping over it rather than on it. Its truths haunt me, terrify me and in fair cases, give me credit when due. It is the judge, the jury, it's my own little tell-all book. People talk such nonsense about letting your clothing be the judge, marveling at your biceps, not a number on the scale. But I have very strong powers of persuasion over myself."

Heather: "One of the things they never tell you about losing weight is that you may lose your boobs in the process. I'm serious. It happened to me, and I'm only 32 years old. I still consider myself a young woman. I have yet to conceive any children (no nursing from these mammary glands.) Yet my boobs have become as flat as pancakes."

Monique: "No matter how much weight I lose, or how much weight I have left to lose, one thing is certain: I am somebody's "Before" picture. People - especially women in this "thin-is-in" society - have never struggled to find things to hate about themselves. Self-loathing: It's what's for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And, of course, the easiest thing to hate about ourselves is our bodies.

Robyn: "I have sex. I have lots of sex. I have lots of good sex. And at this moment, I weigh 243 pounds. Hollywood would have you believe that I spend my time sitting on the couch shoving ice cream in my face instead of in the bedroom having lots of good sex with a man I outweigh by 40 pounds. A man who loves me and wants to have sex with me. Is he a freak? I mean, for God's sake, I weigh 243 pounds! And he wants to have sex with me regularly.

Julie: "You don't just pop on 100 pounds. You don't just eat the pounds on in one sitting. It's rarely a matter of stuffing yourself silly. It's not very often a sudden or even creeping moral failure. It isn't about being lazy. It isn't any lack of discipline. It's a subtle thing. Your brother may burn that 2,000 calories a day we keep hearing is common for healthy adults while you burn 1,200 or only 1,000 calories to get through your day. Some of us need to eat less than others, but we're all served the same-sized portions. And if you're in a big family that competes over food, rewards with food, forces food, restricts food, you can become food-centric, liking it rather too much."