Dear Lily,
Though I’ve never been particularly thin, my doctor recently informed me that I am clinically obese, prompting me to consider weight loss. The challenge lies in my preference for reclining in an armchair, indulging in enough pizza to feed a family of five rather than facing the embarrassment and struggle of exercising. A gastric band isn’t within my budget, leaving me with dieting as my sole option. I have experimented with various diets, some yielding success and others not so much.
For instance, I did lose ‘a dress size’ by consuming only Kellogg’s Special K for a month, but the extreme diet led to alarming health issues like blood in my stool and the whites of my eyes turning orange. Consequently, I had to discontinue it, resulting in rapid weight regain. Do you have any advice?
Lily says – There’s a girl named Frances Hall in my class, known by the nickname ‘Frank the Tank’ due to her size. A rumor circulating at school suggests she must eat a Mars Bar every 15 minutes to survive. During PE, Frances once attempted to climb high on the apparatus when the teacher wasn’t watching. Unfortunately, her fat, sweaty hands caused her to slip and fall onto Emma Patterson, who became stuck underneath her. It took both the teacher and a larger boy from the top class to help roll Frances off, and Emma ended up in a wheelchair for nearly a year. Additionally, Frances requires a large wooden chair like the teacher’s, as one time when she sat on a child’s plastic chair it shattered into countless pieces.
I asked my mother about the reason behind Frances’s size, and she mentioned it had something to do with her jeans. I don’t quite understand how this could be, as I find it hard to believe she could ever find jeans large enough for her enormous tree-trunk legs. However, perhaps this insight could be the key to your struggle with obesity.
Hope that assists you!