Men and Food

This past weekend the hubs (Joe) and I went out to eat a few times – which I am not proud of by the way and I know that my Wednesday weigh day is going to suck – I mean suck.  I didn’t go nuts but I definitely ate a few things not on my new plan.  Yesterday I was back on track and getting ready to microwave a Lean Cuisine while the hubs was heating up the most awesome smelling left over pasta from Maggiano’s.  He started to talk about how much weight that he thinks he needs to lose and I began to get a little bitter.  Now let me preface this by saying that I do not think that he needs to lose weight and he is MORE than supportive of me.  He NEVER speaks about my weight and treats me like I look like a super model.  I’m the only one in the house that is uncomfortable with how I look.  But as he is going on and on about his stomach I am getting more and more agitated.  I kinda snapped – not in a crazy way – in a sarcastic jokey kind of way.  This way I could make my point without picking a fight.  The conversation went something like this:

Me – You have no idea what it’s like to be on a diet or worry about your weight

Hubs – I have to watch what I eat

Me – Seriously?!?  When?

Hubs – Well…….

Me – Have you ever had to weigh your food? (the scale was out as I was weighing food at the time putting snacks in portioned controlled baggies for the week)

Hubs – No  (he’s looking at me like I had 10 eyeballs)

Me – You ate fast food 3 times last week for lunch and pizza for dinner one night and are still wearing the same size pants this week

Hubs – Yes

Me – When we go out to eat do you ever not order something because of the calories/fat?

Hubs – No

Me- I have been consumed with my weight since the 4^th grade and have been on some sort of diet for that long

Hubs – You’re right I have no idea what any of that is like

I was not trying to make him feel bad and the conversation was a lot more playful then it sounded above.  He left to go eat his pasta – it was probably a good idea that he left the room cause I might have wrestled him for it.  But it got me thinking of the differences between men and women with food/weight.  I’m not going to get all preachy and talk about society and the pressures that are on women to be thin.  We all know about it and have heard it a billion times over.  I’m not using that as any kind of excuse either.  I’m talking about sitting with my husband at a restaurant and watching him order whatever he wants.  Not giving a thought to the fact that the chicken alfredo he is going to eat has over 1000 calories in it.  Or that a chimichanga (his favorite) is not only a burrito filled with cheese but is deep fried topped with more cheese.  If I ordered that stuff, even if I only ate ½ of the portion, I would be one of those people that are so big that they can’t get out of the front door.  Before I order anything I mentally add up the calories/fat/carbs that are going to touch my lips.  Even 2 months ago when I was having a day where I just didn’t care what I ate I was still mindful of how “bad” the dish was that I just ordered and then felt guilty after eating it.  I know that I am not alone.  Most women I know do this.

It also got me thinking about clothes and shopping.  Joe needed new jeans so last week we went to Dillard’s.  When he was trying them on he asked me to grab him a different size.  I know that men’s sizing goes up pretty big but I was a bit taken back when I saw that they went up as far as a 42.  Maybe I’m in denial but it seems to me that proportionately a women size 14/16 is far smaller than a 42 in men’s.  I could be wrong.  It would not be the first time.  So as I was waiting for Joe to come out of the fitting room I started to look around at all the different size men that were shopping in that department.  There were some pretty big guys shopping in the regular men’s department able to wear the same thing as a scrawny guy.  Misses and Plus sizes are a completely different story.  Prior to this post I looked up what the average size of a woman in America is and its between a 12 and 14.  Misses sizes usually go up to a 14/16 and the dept is ginormous most of the time right in front when you walk in.  Plus sizes on the other hand are shunned to the back of the store.  Like a plus size woman has leprosy and can’t mingle with the rest of society when shopping.  The clothing in the “Women’s” dept is a really special treat in a barfy kind of way.  Usually there are 3 giant no shape shirts to choose from with the most god-awful prints complete with sequins oh and some elastic waistband pants.  I fall right in between Misses and Plus.  Some stuff is too tight for me to wear in the Misses dept and some Plus size stuff is too big.  Here's my question why not have a department more like the men's - have a wider range of sizes so the average size woman is not on the high end of the spectrum?  Just a thought. 

Just seems to me that men have it easier with food and shopping!  Ok my daily rant is over.  Back your regularly scheduled program with my next blog post.  I promise to cut it with the ranting.