Howdy FitFig Fans. I am thrilled to be a new contributor here. A few months ago, I wrote this article about giving up on perfection. I thought it would serve as a good introductory article here.
At age 41, I’m a proud mother of two fantastic kids. Married to an amazing husband and trying my best to keep fit and healthy while trying to help others do the same.
After my amazing results with P90X, I thought I was as close to perfect as I was going to get. Seeing that this was at age 40, I thought that was pretty darned good. But, life gets in the way and my fitness took a few steps back. I spent too much time on the computer (a bad thing) and more time with my family (a VERY good thing).
I was concerned that this “slip” in fitness focus would make me less credible. It’s not like I’ve gained all my weight back. In fact, I’ve probably only gained back about 10 pounds, but being a perfectionist, I could not accept this slip. I tried to keep it hidden from my readers, fans, followers, etc. NO MORE! I’m out of the closet with my fitness failures and back on track to be better each and every day. Not perfect, just better. (more…)
I have lots of plans for when I reach my goal weight. Here’s a sampling:
Color my hair red. I don’t know why–I’ve tried this before and it’s hard to pull off but I long to be a redhead. I do have pale skin and a few freckles, at least.
Zap unsightly veins on my legs
Get another tattoo. I’m still trying to decide what and wear. Maybe a gerbera daisy on the back of my shoulder–too girly?
And if I get to my dream goal weight (even lower than the more sensible actual goal weight):
Get yet another tattoo. Maybe a cool bracelet design.
Get a Mercedes SUV. Seriously, the hot trophy moms in town all drive these. OK, I probably won’t do that because my husband would have to agree to that purchase.
And here’s another awesome new contributor. Thanks so much, Kimberly!
Hi Everyone, I’m Kimberly. When I saw that Fig was wanting contributors, I immediately e-mailed her and expressed my interest. As I thought about what I wanted my first post to be, the words of my high school English teacher echoed in my mind “Kimberly, when you need to tell a story — start at the beginning.” So that’s what I am going to do.
My pursuit of a healthy lifestyle has not been an easy one. For most of my life, a high metabolism and lots of physical activity, compensated for my poor food choices. I was able to stay naturally thin until my freshman year of college. The demands of a full course schedule, late night pizza runs, and copious amounts of chips had me gaining “the freshman fifteen” and an additional 30 pounds.
This is the point where I would like to tell you that I modify my eating habits, became more physically active, and over the course of time lost the weight I had gained. But that is not what happened. Instead, I began using diet pills (at the suggestion of a college friend) which quickly lead to my developing an eating disorder. I battled my eating disorder for nearly 5 years before finally realizing that I needed help. With the help of my friends, family, and a great therapist, I have been ED free for 3 years. (more…)
Interested in the Health at Every Size movement? I still need to finish the book, but here’s a website where you can pledge to support HAES or go to their blog to learn more.
I read this article on CNN.com last week and wanted to comment on it here but I’m just now getting around to it (I am really super-lazy when pregnant, what can I say?) The title is “As Nation gains, ‘overweight’ is relative”. Basically it talks about a) the fact that stores are changing sizes–what was once a 14 is now a 10, and so on (depending on where you shop it can vary widely, of course, as I know from experience) and b) people are less likely to describe themselves as overweight, even if they are (and we all know the average American is getting fatter all the time).
It’s great if people who are a so-called “normal” weight are getting more realistic about themselves and not seeing themselves as fat–that’s great news. But of course there’s the flip side of people who are heavy but in denial about it. The danger of that is they won’t be so motivated to lose the weight. They talk about this issue in the article, but I don’t know who those people are, because everyone I know who is overweight is well aware of it, and plenty of people I know who aren’t overweight seem to think they are. (more…)
I’m starting by feeling beautiful myself–not always easy as the belly grows big (and I mean BIG) with baby. Then later I’m going to write some of my own Operation Beautiful notes and stick them places next time the boys and I go out. Even though I have sons and not daughters I still want to teach them to see the beauty in themselves and other people. I also want them to grow up to be the kind of men who look past the superficial and respect women as people rather than objects.
I have seen ample anecdotal evidence that men (generally speaking) have an easier time than women losing weight. It was true of my mother and my stepfather, as well as of my father and stepmother. The men would decide to lose weight and they would do it faster and with seemingly less inconvenience than their wives. My own husband has never struggled with his weight as I have. He’s put a few pounds on here and there, but his weight has never fluctuated as wildly as mine has. And when he decides it’s time to lose weight, he just cuts out a few breakfast burritos and sodas (which happen to be two things in which I rarely indulge in spite of my weight troubles). Of course, it’s not all because he’s male, I’m sure. There’s also genetics and habits, etc. You can take a look at our families and see that mine is larger (both in number and average weight), though not everyone in his family is thin.
I had also read that men do lose weight more easily than women and various reasons why that might be true, such as:
women spend more time in the kitchen–sexist but true for many
men are more active
more testosterone means more muscle which burns more calories
men are more about the meat and women more about the carbs (definitely true of the hubby and me)
women have those monthly hormone upsets that stir up food cravings
women also have the babies and everyone knows that does funky things to the body
So I was a bit discouraged to read this article saying men’s brains fight the food urges better. I was discouraged but also glad to have another excuse, I have to admit. I know I should not embrace excuses, but sometimes it makes me feel better about my setbacks to have them around.
Anyway, I want to hear from you. Any other women out there with a husband/brother/significant other/co-worker who seems to lose weight more easily than you? Or do you think it’s all a lot of hooey and men struggle just as much as women? ( Or do you think I don’t know how to spell hooey? I don’t think I do, but the spell check isn’t underlining it.)
Comment below or head over to the Fit at Home site and start a discussion.
So, we’re getting a new president today. Whether you voted for him or not, whether you are American or not, you know it’s a big day for our country. It’s been 8 years since we’ve had a new president and we’ve never had a biracial Prez (obviously). It’s very exciting.
Also, he is probably the fittest and best-looking president we’ve had (OK, JFK had a certain sex appeal but he also had back problems so he probably wasn’t so buff). I don’t know how buff, say, Thomas Jefferson was, but basically our new president seems to be fitter than most of the others. Check out this article about him “redefining the male physique.”
Now, as much as I like Obama, I think expectations have been set rather high by many of my compatriots. I mean, seriously, he’s not like a Messiah, people. Not only is he expected to save the environment, the economy, and be the embodiment of equal rights, but now he’s supposed to change our waistlines, too?
So, what do you think? Will Obama’s example affect his fellow fat Americans? Add your comment below or join the discussion over on Fit at Home.
I have many friends online, some were “real world” friends first and some I met online through forums like Cathe Friedrich’s forums. I have a couple groups I check in with pretty much daily. One of the groups I’ve been with the longest today agreed to stop berating ourselves and talk more positively. We are always kind to each other but not to ourselves. We actually stop and do this positive focus every couple months when we notice a downturn in attitudes. I don’t think it’s just our group (I’ve flitted around the ‘net enough to know better). It’s really sad how so many women see themselves and their bodies in a negative light. As I wrote recently, even the great Oprah herself has self-image issues.
Of course, it’s all relative. What would be a nice trim size for me would seem fat to some super-thin girls. When some of my online friends complain about their weight gain I want to shake their little thin bodies (which I can’t since we’re only online) and slap some sense into them. I know I’m larger than many of the people worrying about their weight (I could stand to lose 25-30 lbs at this point–2008 was not great for my weight). And on the other hand I know there are people out there who will read this and want to slap me around because they need to lose 100 or more pounds. As someone recently told me on another blog, “You are someone else’s goal weight.”
So do we blame our mothers? My mom was heavy most of my life–didn’t reach her goal weight until just a couple years ago. I watched her yo-yo dieting much of my life. When I was a tiny little thing she encouraged me to appreciate my figure (though I didn’t at the time), though she also said things like, “You’d be such a pretty girl if it weren’t for your teeth” (she’s happy I finally have braces now). When I put on a little weight she often started to worry that I was going to balloon up. When I had heavy-ish babies she thought it had something to do with how much I ate (maybe it did but my obstetrician assured me it didn’t). She’s been a great mom to me in so many ways but she’s had her negative effect on my self-image, but I don’t lay all of the blame on her–I just can’t.
So do we blame the media and the fashion industry? Obviously the average runway or print model is far smaller than the average woman. They are also airbrushed, primped, and paraded just so to look perfect. Magazine after magazine plasters its covers with “Lose 10 lbs now!” and “How to Get the Body of Your Dreams”. Then on the tabloids they’ve got photos of celebrities either immaculately perfect and stick-thin or if not, they’re pointing at a nearly flat belly and asking if it’s a baby bump. So yes, the media and fashion industry are worthy of plenty of blame, but then again if we (or somebody out there) keep buying what they’re selling, what’s to stop them?
I have no answers to solve this issue. If I did I’d probably have a much better gig than blathering on my own blog.
I finally got around to reading the full Oprah article. There wasn’t a whole lot more to it than what I linked to online a couple days ago. However, I found couple of moving bits I want to share here. Oprah says this:
What I’ve learned this year is that my weight issue isn’t about eating less or working out harder, or even about a malfunctioning thyroid. It’s about my life being out of balance, with too much work and not enough play, not enough time to calm down. I let the well run dry.
Here’s another thing this past year has been trying to teach me: I don’t have a weight problem–I have a self-care problem that manifests through weight. As my friend Marianne Williamson shared with me, “Your overweight self doesn’t stand before you craving food. She’s craving love.” Falling off the wagon isn’t a weight issue; it’s a love issue.
There’s more to that but I don’t want to plagiarize here, only to quote a bit of the best. This is so true for so many of us. It’s not exactly about the food–it’s about emotional needs. And for me sometimes it’s about plain laziness or busy-ness. I’m spending so much time doing other things that I don’t take the time to take better care of myself, or I’m too tired to bother. I don’t even have the thyroid issues that Oprah has been struggling with–just two kids, a puppy, a husband, and a blog.
Near the end, Oprah says, “My goal isn’t to be thin. My goal is for my body to be the weight it can hold–to be strong and healthy and fit, to be itself. my goal is to learn to embrace this body and to be grateful every day for what it has given me.” I think that’s a very lovely sentiment (isn’t Oprah so good at lovely sentiments?) She’s also put it better than I usually put the same thought. I fight with concepts of body image. I am never going to look like fashion model or a svelte actress, but I can be a healthier, happier Fig, and I can be glad to be me.
This is definitely a week of ACTIVE rest. I’ve been pretty busy with pre-holiday preparation, vet and dental appointments, school events, etc. I have to admit I haven’t even thought about working out. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I just got Kelly Coffey-Meyer’s 30-Minutes to Fitness: Kickboxing workout and I’m eager to try it soon when life slows down a bit.
Anyway, today while buying groceries I saw O Magazine. I don’t normally buy O or watch Oprah (nothing against the O-Queen, but I don’t watch daytime TV). I did watch Oprah a lot when I was living in the Netherlands (they showed it in English with Dutch subtitles and it was always a couple months behind what they were showing in the U.S.) because it was a nice connection to American pop culture. So…back to me buying groceries. I saw O and on the cover is a thin Oprah and a fatter Oprah with the words: “How Did I Let This Happen Again?” I can totally relate as I lost weight in 2007 and gained it back this year. Ugh. I am hoping to make 2009 a losing year again.
So I grabbed the mag and put it on the pile of fattening Christmas food I was buying (seriously, all the holiday food the hubby asks for is meaty, starchy, and/or sugary). Being that I’m super-busy (OK except for the half hour I spent working on crosswords) I haven’t read the full article yet, but I did find something online about it here.
I think it’s sad that someone with the money, fame, and personal access to Bob Greene, Dr. Phil, and whoever else she’s chumming with lately can still have such a struggle with weight and still feels so self-conscious about it. I mean she’s Oprah, for Pete’s sake! I like to think if I were Oprah I’d let my butt get big as I wanted and I’d defy anyone to mess with me. I would be hauling my big heinie all over town and sitting it wherever I wanted. Or something like that. And you know she’s able to afford personal trainers, chefs, etc. ****sigh**** It looks like the article will probably end on a hopeful note and like she’s got a new plan for change. I’ll read it soon and let you know what I think when I finish it.
So, if you ever feel down about what your body looks like, think for a minute about what it does for you. I could go into the gruesome details about digestion and stuff, but I won’t. I just mean that we need our bodies to perform a variety of tasks for us and for most of us our bodies cooperate. I could also get into the philosophy of what is a mind compared to a brain and how our minds connect to our bodies. I’ll just say this much–whatever your philosophy or religion, right now you have a body and it is you as much as your mind is.
So let’s take a moment and thank our bodies for being awesome and efficient (and of course they will be more awesome and efficient when we care for them). Of course, sometimes we get sick (even seriously so) no matter how well we take care of ourselves, but basically it’s for the best to take care of your body so it will take care of you.
Now before I wander down too many wild tangents here, I just wanted to share this link to a slide show from New York Times Magazine. It’s called Bodies of Work and it shows athletes from 6 different sports. Even just a sample of six shows how different body shapes can be athletic in their own ways. I first saw this when my friend Sarah left it in the comments on my post about being Fat and Fit.
Here’s Sarah’s comment when she left the link:
You should meet some of the women I played rugby with. I think most people use size as shorthand for health, but the fact is that our snap judgements don’t take in the big picture. Even if you switch to fitness as a guide to health, that *still* isn’t the whole story. I mean, which definition of fit are you going to use? You can click the link below to see the amazing diversity among the fitness elite.
My body type is definitely more suited to the power sports like cycling, so you’d be mad to judge me on the same criteria as the marathoner. But even talking about cycling, I’m not a good sprinter, but can climb hills all day. I say find your strengths, find your passions, and then do them!
I really like how Sarah put this. I don’t know what my body type is suited for (other than decorating it with many accessories, which I like to do). I do know a bit about what my body enjoys the most when exercising at least (lifting heavy-ish, step aerobics, occasional kickboxing) and what it enjoys the least (plyo, bootcamp workouts).
So, take a look at those bods and tell me what your bod is best used for–and keep it clean, folks.
“An imperfect body might be just what the doctor ordered for women and key to their economic success, an anthropologist now says.
While pop culture seems to worship the hourglass figure for females, with a tiny waist, big boobs and curvy hips à la Marilyn Monroe, this may not be optimal, says Elizabeth Cashdan of the University of Utah.
That’s because the hormones that make women physically stronger, more competitive and better able to deal with stress also tend to redistribute fat from the hips to the waist.”
First of all, let me just say that this article was sent to me by my husband. Hmm. Should I take that as a good sign or a bad sign? Perhaps he’s noticed that though I was an hourglass shape when we got married I am carrying a ton of fat bit more around the middle. Well, I’m sure he’s noticed that. Perhaps he is trying to encourage me not to worry so much about my altered shape. Yeah, I doubt it. Anyway, I’ll try to take it as a good thing that he appreciates that I have more strength and stamina than I did the day we got married (and that’s 100% true).
Of course, I won’t give up trying to lower my waist-to-hip ratio, but I still liked the article. What do you think?
I’m a little late posting this, but today was NOW’s Love Your Body Day. And no, it’s not about…um…pleasuring yourself. It’s about respecting your body and fighting the unacceptable and unattainable beautiful body image Hollywood and Madison Avenue thrust upon us.
I just finished reading the chapter in Intuitive Eating about “Respect Your Body”, as well, so I’ve been thinking a lot about taking care of myself (at whatever size) which I think will go farther to change my body for the better (better as in healthier) than torturing it or swimming in guilt every time I have a cookie.
I’m not going to ramble on about all this now, but I want to share the summary of the Respect Your Body principle from the Intuitive Eating website:
Respect Your Body Accept your genetic blueprint. Just as a person with a shoe size of eight would not expect to realistically squeeze into a size six, it is equally as futile (and uncomfortable) to have the same expectation with body size. But mostly, respect your body, so you can feel better about who you are. It’s hard to reject the diet mentality if you are unrealistic and overly critical about your body shape.
And I’d like to ask you to stop and consider how you are treating your body. Are you treating it with love and respect? Do you appreciate the great things it does and your own personal beauty? Or do you daily curse it when you look in the mirror? Do you feed it when it’s hungry or do you deny it any satisfaction?
Please be good to yourself and your body and tell it what you love best about it today! (Even if you’re reading this after Love Your Body Day–you can and should love it every day.)
I love how my upper body builds strength and definition. It’s still got a ways to go, but I can already see a change in my shoulders lately. I love working my biceps and I love when I move up to a heavier weight.
This time of year seems to be the worst for my allergies, yet I love the Fall otherwise. ***Sigh*** So I’ve been struggling a bit with that, but otherwise it’s all good. I am not checking my weight but I have had other good indications that my weight is either maintaining or going down (like the way my clothes fit). Anyway, trying not to think about it too much anyway, as I’m still working through the Intuitive Eating book. I’m trying to just focus on getting out of an obsessive diet mentality and into a more natural and sensible lifestyle. I’ll get there. I’ve already found myself actually eating less (in spite of not dieting) because I know I’m not restricted from eating what I like. I can eat a sensible amount of breakfast cereal and not pig out on it thinking I’m going to be forbidden it tomorrow. I think that’s a good start.
p.s. Check down a couple posts for the giveaway post–I’m giving away a T-shirt to a commenter.
Quick note to HYC friends–I did have several HYC member blogs on my blog list (over on the right side) but somehow most of them disappeared.I am trying to add them back in so you’ll see more popping up over there in the next couple days. I just wanted to assure you that if your blog used to be there and is not now, it was not an intentional deletion.
I was discussing this subject with a local friend of mine the other day (yes I actually have a couple local friends). She is fit and fairly thin. She can sling around heavy dumbbells and kettlebells with ease (and good form). She is also a better advertisement for fitness than I am, since I’m still overweight and flabby. Last year I got down into healthy weight category on my BMI, but this year it’s gone up again. I’m in the picture here with the fabulous Cathe Friedrich. I’m obviously the chubby one on the right.
Anyway, I said something about feeling like I was fit but fat (and of course I want to be more fit still) and what I love about this friend is that she was not one to say “Oh Lainie, don’t be silly, you aren’t fat” (though those friends are also nice to have other times). Instead she agreed with me and told me about some thin co-workers she has who can’t even get up off the floor because they’re so out-of-shape. If put in a line-up, I’d probably look more out-of-shape than they, but I’m not bad for all my flab. I can do complex step (with a little practice), I love to kickbox, occasionally I even jog. I also scoff and roll my eyes at the sissy pink dumbbells (but secretly wish my heavier dumbbells came in pink as well).
Anyway, that led me to search for articles related to this, and here’s one. I’ll be looking for more, of course.
Whew, I lost 2 of the 3 lbs I gained last week. Plus I can tell I’m retaining water like crazy, so perhaps it’s not all real weight. Of course, I hope I can keep it going downward and not have those nasty huge upward swings. Ugh. I’ve been doing a great job with my workouts still, and improving the eating as well.
I’m so excited about this weekend when I’ll go down to New Jersey for the Cathe Road Trip along with 104 other Cathe Friedrich fans so we can work out and play together. I wish I were showing up at a lower weight, but many of these people are now my friends (thanks to Cathe’s online forums) so I feel like it will be a warm, accepting atmosphere. I’m sure I’ll feel even more inspired when I get home to keep up the great workouts!
Ack! I’ve gained 3 lbs this week! How did that happen?
OK, I know very well how it happened. I did not monitor my food intake very well at all this week–sporadically at best, in fact. I could blame it on the fact that the nutrition software on Cathe.com was not working properly for part of last week, or on the fact that we were traveling over the weekend, but I really can’t blame anyone but myself. Even when I didn’t have access to the nutrition software, I knew very well when I was eating unacceptably. I just gave myself the excuse that since I couldn’t use the software I wouldn’t worry about my eating. Duh. Dumb idea. Still, 3 pounds!
Someone kick me. Please.
What’s most depressing about this is the fact that I’ll be at the Cathe Road Trip in less than 2 weeks. So I’ll be at my fattest in a long time while there. Eek. I know I need to be more careful but sometimes I just disengage my brain. Ugh.
I have several blogs I read daily (or as often as they have new posts). I keep track of them all with the handy Google Reader. One of these is the Blog of Stowers by one of my friends. I liked something she posted there today so I’m also sharing it here as well. Hmm, I don’t currently see it on her blog but I swear I saw it there earlier.
Check out this article about how fast Jennifer Lopez is losing the weight post-twins. Yikes. This seems pretty extreme to me. Or maybe that’s just because I didn’t have a special team of professionals helping me by watching my kids, cooking for me, and leading my workouts after I had my last baby. Of course, the first 20-30 lbs are usually lost pretty quick–that whole birth thing helps with that. So I won’t get whiny. I had big babies so I lost plenty of weight pretty quickly myself. Of course, my youngest is 2 1/2 and I still have weight to lose….
We don’t claim to be fitness experts. We don’t dispense medical advice and we're not qualified to do so. We are also neither nutritionists nor personal trainers. We are just women on the journey to better fitness and a richer life. Please consult a doctor if you are starting a new exercise routine.
Howdy FitFig Fans. I am thrilled to be a new contributor here. A few months ago, I wrote this article about giving up on perfection. I thought it would serve as a good introductory article here.
I read this article on CNN.com last week and wanted to comment on it here but I’m just now getting around to it (I am really super-lazy when pregnant, what can I say?) The title is 
I’m in the picture here with the fabulous Cathe Friedrich. I’m obviously the chubby one on the right.
You should meet some of the women I played rugby with. I think most people use size as shorthand for health, but the fact is that our snap judgements don’t take in the big picture. Even if you switch to fitness as a guide to health, that *still* isn’t the whole story. I mean, which definition of fit are you going to use? You can click the link below to see the amazing diversity among the fitness elite.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/07/30/magazine/803BODIES_index.html
My body type is definitely more suited to the power sports like cycling, so you’d be mad to judge me on the same criteria as the marathoner. But even talking about cycling, I’m not a good sprinter, but can climb hills all day. I say find your strengths, find your passions, and then do them!