A question from *
You said in one of interviews that "Writing the book was intensely therapeutic. It enabled me to see and understand even more patterns of my behavior than I'd come to understand already." I guess it must have also bring some relief of disclosure and after all positive comments strengthen your self-image even more than just getting control over your cravings, but I am curious if you have noticed any change in your food behaviour. Do you have to struggle with it as always? Or maybe have actually additional pressure because of people expectations?
Answer:
Your question is a really smart one, especially the part about "maybe have actually additional pressure because of people's expectations." My friend Elli, who's in the book and who I think understands me better than anybody, thinks one of the reasons I wrote the book was to give myself yet another external monitoring system, or context, that would possibly protect against weight gain. Sort of like trainers. She thinks I knew that one benefit of investing in, and committing to, writing the book would be the extra motivation it would provide to stay fit: so that I wouldn't have to fear going out and publicizing it; so that I wouldn't backslide and contradict my own tale (which was genuine and true but, like life itself, something in progress) . . . I do feel some weird pressure now, an incipient panic whenever I feel like I've gotten a little sloppy, because I feel that too much weight gain would be seen as more of a "failure" than usual. I also find that restaurant criticism made portion control easier, not harder . . . but the real challenges are those of aging. I think the metabolism does constantly slow, and the body won't cooperate with exercise as intense as when younger. But so far, I'm not buying new pants. I'm doing OK. I can't predict a month from now, even. But I'm hopeful, and resolute.
