Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

I started eating healthy because of this stomach problem. The doctor said I had Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). He handed me a clean colonoscopy and a clean MRI, and basically told me that the reason I had IBS was because I was fat and ate too much fast food. I covertly flipped him off, my left hand covering the right hand’s finger, and I never saw him again.

That doesn’t mean that I didn’t believe him. I decided to get my body in shape and get my eating under control. I decided to do Body For Life. I looked at all those before and after pictures in his book and I was convinced it was the right thing for me to do. I prepared my food and workout journal and started. I worked out and ate perfectly the first day. The second day, I couldn’t move without hurting and I quit.

Two months later, I started Weight Watchers. It was a plan I could follow and after three and a half years, I can safely say that I follow the plan perfectly 80% of the time. My stomach pain has diminished greatly, but there are still times when I experience intense abdominal cramping. I am close to my goal weight and I eat healthy, yet I still am in pain. Sometimes it’s just as bad as when I weighed 235 pounds.

I feel like I should feel justified. I feel like I should go back to that idiot doctor and make him eat his words. Instead, I am STILL blaming myself. During my last attack, I started considering that it might be psychosomatic. After all I have learned about IBS, I still blame myself.

Doctors are not perfect and they have prejudices against overweight people just as so many other people do. If you feel like your symptoms have been glossed over because of your weight, go see another doctor. More importantly, losing weight will help guarantee that you will get healthier, if only because you’ll be able to bypass the prejudice and get better health care.