03/14/10
The Sentient Belly
About 10 years ago, I started taking Paxil and Nortriptolene because I was not sleeping well at night and I was having irritability problems at work. These drugs worked extremely well for the irritability, and so-so for the sleeping. Unfortunately, within a few weeks I had gained 10 pounds!
I have always been very thin. As a sophomore in high school, I weighed 99 pounds and looked like a 10 year-old “leave it to Beaver.” In junior high, the other students called me “mousy.” As I got older, I grew taller and gained some weight, but not much. Between high school and my mid-40’s my waist size slowly went from a 29 to 33. I still only weighed something like 145.
Don’t get me wrong, I am still not very heavy. I am 63 now, 5’ 10” tall, and currently weigh 160 pounds, but in the last several years I have been as high as 180. I would like to be down to 155 again. This would feel normal to me and be a healthy weight for me as well.
When I gained the weight, most of it went to my belly, and even now there is a small pot-belly under my belt (my breasts are also strangely noticeable). My waist size now is somewhere between 34 and 35 inches. Now those of you who have a bigger weight problem are probably laughing now and maybe think I am an idiot. But all my life you could count my ribs, and my body fat was at 12% to 20%. I am pretty happy with my weight now, but my belly is still noticeable (take a look at a lot of recent pictures here). When I wear t-shirts, there is a noticeable belly bulge).
Getting rid of this belly has proven very difficult, no matter how much weight I lose or how many sit-ups I do. So, I have decided that my pot belly is not only sentient, but controls my stomach. It appears to have a self-preservation instinct. The more I exercise, the more I eat! Eating does not seem to be under my control, so I suspect it is my belly that controls it!!
BB
2 comments
I've lost a bunch but still have moobs and belly and love handles.
Tough to get those to go away. I'm focusing on them with weight training. I sure hope I can get rid of them.
My goal is to get to 200... and I"m 62 and 6'3"
My theory has always been that our metabolism slows down as we grow old, but appetite lags behind by about a year. Thus, we are always eating at the previous year's metabolism!!
My late wife was told by a doctor that, as long as she was taking anti-depressants, she would NOT be able to lose any weight.
BB
Comment feed for this post
