Mollie commented a couple of posts back:

It must be why so many people who reach goal regain — because there is no “goal.” There is only “normal.”

That got me thinking again about the fact that we’ve established a new normal and it’s FAT.

I remember, way back in the 70′s, when the jeans we wore to school had to cover the whole shoe and, ideally, drag on the ground in the order to fray adequately.  And then, towards the end of my final year, the skinny/narrow leg appeared.  It looked horrible seeing whole shoes like that.  It looked weird and I thought I’d never cave in.  Of course, I had a pair within the month. And then the wide legs looked horrible.

Then it happened with shoulder pads.  Remember?

We seem to be programmed to adapt our feelings about what’s acceptable just by living with the changes going on around us.  So fashion begets fashion. And fat begets fat.

I’ve been googling around phrases like “obesity statistics by country” and the results bear out what I’ve just said.

If a full 70% of the people around you are overweight, then fat looks normal.  (WHO – USA 2005)

And maybe it feels a little weird to be bucking this particular fashion trend. I mean, if everyone is fat, then it feels a bit weird to be anything else.  I hesitate to say “thin” because that’s just not a word I’d use to describe myself.  Medium sized maybe but not thin.

Here’s the World Health Org site where I’ve been getting some of my information.  I’m not sure how it’s come to it’s 2010 statistics except perhaps by continuing to graph the trend based the increase in weight which has been measured since the 70s.  But the 2005 stats are in line with other sites.

When I was trying to lose weight 15 years ago, I used to say, “I just want to be normal”.  Now I guess I just want to be abnormal – and stay that way.  So, to re-express Mollie’s comment:  There is no goal.  There’s only abnormal. And it takes hard work and perseverance to be different.