In previous postings I've mentioned that this isn't going to be a weight loss blog, that I wasn't going to be a slave to a food journal, that I didn't care how my favorite foods shake out nutritionally, and that I would never turn down dessert. I'm now in the position of eating my words on all of that.
While I'd want to slit my wrists if this really became a blog centered solely on weight loss, I will be talking a lot more about weight loss as it pertains to my own experience. I've felt very alone for the past couple weeks as I've done this food journaling and tried to modify my food intake, and the best thing for me to do right now is to get it all out in the open and talk about it.
In a lot of senses, I feel like I'm backwards from most women. You don't have to delve too far into the movie or book archives to find a storyline involving a woman who has been dieting her whole life only to discover during her mid-life crisis that she's been denying herself some major foodly pleasures. Eat Pray Love is a perfect example, as is the Sylvie Woodruff character in one of the best reads I've had lately, Jennifer Weiner's Fly Away Home. Who knows, of course, if the reality of most real women is like these characters. I do know a lot of real women who have been dieting for the great majority of their lives, and if not dieting at least watching their weight in some way. I guess you could say I've watched my weight over the years, just not quite in the same way. I've always wanted, and sometimes painfully wished, to be thinner but for various reasons I've never embarked on a major weight loss plan. With that has always come the smug satisfaction that at least I'm not constantly fixated on what goes into my mouth, and, at least I can eat what I want without guilt. Of course that's not entirely true because I definitely have gotten fixated on, say, that chocolate birthday cake sitting on the counter and I've definitely felt glimmers of guilt after eating three pieces in a row of said birthday cake. I'm just guessing that it's been nowhere near the degree of fixation and guilt experienced by a lot of folks who are dieting.
Now that I'm in a different place, I can see where the Dieters are coming from. Whereas previously I'd stare onto that gorgeous chocolate cake and dream about the moment it will first cross my lips, now I stare onto that gorgeous chocolate cake and ponder how many calories it has and what I'm not gonna be able to eat later to compensate for having it. Followed by the thought that maybe the cake isn't worth the calories in the end. Followed by the voice in my head mimicking Mr. Garrison that says "WHAT did you just say to me???" So, let me just say that this process has been really confusing and conflicting so far. Because, fuck... am I a Dieter now? Have I crossed some threshold and I'll never be able to go back to eating food normally and thoughtlessly again? It's all so weird!
I've found myself feeling like "that girl" recently. You see, "that girl" is a little game I play with myself in which I'm never the winner. When I was planning my wedding, I never wanted to be "that girl who was so obsessed with planning the details of her wedding that she became a bridezilla." Annnnd, there I found myself... pissy with the world because no one understood my stylistic vision, telling one of my Best Women that she needed to "shut the fuck up and listen to me for once" and being so anxious that I had insomnia for a year. When Honey Bunny and I stopped using birth control to see if we could get pregnant, I never wanted to be "that girl who becomes obsessed with trying to get pregnant." Annnd, here I was (am???)... trying to pretend not to be affected by getting my period month after month but secretly crying on the inside every time, ceasing all social drinking and smoking until it happens eventhough that didn't feel right, and yakking my therapist's ear off week after week about why it hadn't happened for us yet. Now I'm "that girl who's obsessed with counting calories and losing weight." I guess the point is that we will all be "that girl" at various times in our lives, even when we don't want to be. At any rate, it belies some naivety as to what others have gone through, that I haven't been able to relate until the present moment to someone I've judged for being "that girl". Walk a mile in someone else's shoes, right?
While the experience of being a bridezilla, being baby-crazed and being a Dieter are all legitimate, it does say something about taking the experience too far. How to not take it too far is beyond me. Taking it too far is my middle name in a lot of instances. And yet, I wonder if it's just part of the process to take it too far in the beginning. I'm really hoping so because, frankly, I can't live like this. I can't have my love of food taken away and trying to balance my favorite foods in X number of calories per day is making me tear my hair out.
Which bring me to my next point: treats. I went to dinner with a great friend in town for business and my husband the other night, to one of my fave places, Dosa. I enjoyed the food but was sitting there confounded as to how to enter it in MyPlate, and whether I should even track it at all. My friend joked, "just enter that you ate 500 calories and call it a day!" Being a closeted statistician, I felt like I needed to either enter nothing and just know that day's tracking was incomplete, or to try to enter something approximating the dinner. I ended up doing the latter and whoa... my calories for the day red-lined. The next thing I started worrying about was what my weight reading would be for the next day. I've been weighing myself daily and entering that in MyPlate as well. Being on the heels of Thanksgiving extended weekend didn't help a damn thing, as not only was there Thanksgiving dinner but also a big Mexican dinner with a different friend who was in town, and going to the movies twice, where this girl loves herself some buttered popcorn and the giant chocolate dipped rice crispy treat. And maybe there was some movie theater nacho cheese and chips somewhere in there, too. Ahem. Point being: when exactly do you call something a treat? How often is it okay to have a treat? And god damn it, why are so many of the things I love in treat territory??
I've been fortunate in not watching my weight thus far, truly. If I'd been watching my weight this entire time, this entire life, I wouldn't necessarily know the unimpaired depths of foodly pleasure that Tia Margarita has to offer, or Miette, or Vosges Haute Chocolat, or Bolani, or Cowgirl Creamery, and so on and so forth. I've tasted and enjoyed a lot of food, and I'm so glad I have. What I don't get at this point is how to have those things and still watch my weight. The simple answer is that I still get to have what I love, but just less of it. That's such an odd feeling to process. It's logical and it does make me feel better on some level. On other levels, it does nothing at all to appease me, and that's some deep shit that I'll go into another day (maybe).
There is a lot of food to love in this world. I walked through Whole Foods last night after eating humbly all day and then doing 60 minutes of hard circuit training before dinner. To say I was like a kid in a candy store is a gross understatement. To see the magnitude of tasty food they offer, treats or not, on every shelf, in every chafing dish, around every corner, was really overwhelming. For the first time it also felt overwrought and like the huge mixed message my previous therapist, Sharilyn, always said it was. We're supposed to watch what we eat and be thin and lose weight, and essentially we're not supposed to be food's bitch... but isn't that exactly what Whole Foods wants? If you've exercised control over food your whole life, whether by genuine means (ie. you've never been interested in being food's bitch) or by force (ie. Dieter or similar), maybe you can walk into that store and just be totally blase about all. If you're like me at present, if you're food's bitch, and especially if you're trying not to overindulge (or indulge at all) in your little treats, going into that store is like doing battle with the devil. And you want to know the most cruel irony of all? I've gone into Whole Foods at least once a week for the last year to pick up lunch and I've never been confronted like that. I've always known they have lots of tasty things but I've never been overwhelmed by it. I would just pick things to buy and leave. Blase.
Man, I could go on and on about all this stuff. I'm processing a lot of shit in my ol' noggin right now and always appreciate hearing what other people's experiences have been... if you have any wisdom to share, please comment.
03 December 2010
23 November 2010
Gobbling
In my previous posting, I talked about how I'd taken some actions to lose a little weight. To clarify the "some" or "a little" in regards to losing... two dress sizes is what I told my trainer that I'm going to concentrate on, with no particular timeline in mind other than "I've heard that 2 lbs a month is ideal." On my other blog, 5 lbs is what I said I'm going to concentrate on through December. Clearly it's hard for me to commit to something concrete, consistent and doable. I've never liked to set goals because I'm a horrible project manager. I tend to get jacked up about doing a very exciting something! for a short burst of time and then I'm over it. Chalk it up to being an Aries, or to allegedly having ADD, or whatever you want. It's me, and it's a pain in the ass.
If you take the self awareness that I'm a not great at achieving long-term goals and multiply that by the anxiety that comes with possibly/maybe/I guess losing some of the weight I've gradually gained since I was eight years old (ie. changing part of my identity), what you end up with is someone paralyzed by the mere thought of embarking on a weight loss plan. Then add in the requisite eye rolling and wanting-to-vomit that comes with even THINKING the phrase "weight loss plan", and you've got a big, conflicted, paralyzed ball of sarcastic anxiety on your hands.
But... I think I've found a way.
During my convo with coworker Janie (also in previous posting), she told me she was using the MyPlate food journal tool on livestrong.com. Janie wasn't pushing the use of this tool; I looked it up on my own accord and have been using it for a week now. My dislike for Lance Armstrong is epic and I didn't want to have anything to do with his world, but I admit that I like it quite a bit so far. Not that I've been perusing the site too much... mostly I just login and track my stuff, but honestly livestrong.com offends me far less than, say, some of the shit published in the Glamour magazines I insist on purchasing and reading every few months. And hey, usage is free! I'd say it's pretty groovy as you put in what you've eaten and then you can view and track as many or as few statistics about your food intake as you'd like (for instance, if you want to look at nutrition in addition to - or instead of - calories). You can also input and track your exercise activities and it links back to your caloric intake, showing how many calories you theoretically burned against what your daily calorie intake is. Here's what that means after running it through the fatspeak translator:
I just did an hour of circuit training with minimal rest... shit howdy, that means I can eat 1200 more calories today and still stay within my calorie allocation! I can haz chocolate shake!!
Well, that's what MY fatspeak translator says anyhow.
But, seriously. One thing I've learned from using the MyPlate tool is that it can be a little surprising what you find out from accruing a few days of data. The first two days I logged my intake, I made no change to what I had been eating (to set a baseline) and was over my calorie allocation by 500 calories both days. On the third, and all subsequent days, I switched up to the healthful, planful eating I always say I'm going to do and I've been under each day by 200-500 calories. I honestly don't feel like I've made some big change to my eating. All I did was get humble about it. I was eating like a rock star previously, dreaming up the biggest, bestest meals I could purchase or make for breakfast, lunch and dinner, meanwhile popping Halloween candy into my piehole all workday long. The upside to that is that I was eating things I liked and even expanding my cooking repertoire in a few instances. The downside is that, in the end, it wasn't even about those things tasting good in my mouth. I was really bored at work, stymied with my social life, and looking for a project to occupy my mind. Of course, all I've done now is shift my focus from eating big to eating humbly... we'll see how that works out for me in the end. I'm the first to admit it's dangerous business and it could blow up in my face.
Which brings me to my next point: I totally see how disordered eating can start in a hot second. I've got one foot on the gas and the other on the brake, and I intuited that I needed to do that from the starting gate. There's no way I'm going to let myself get consumed by a calorie tracker to the point that I'm a slave to it and it alone, but I can see how that can happen so very easily for someone who wants weight loss more than I do. I can see how it can happen for someone who is already thin but doesn't know it, and who is consumed by losing more and more weight. Afterall, the part of Janie's story that broke my heart was her talking about her first Overeaters Anonymous meeting. She sat there as a 300 lb radical, sporting her non-profit look and no makeup, and heard the exact same things she was saying also coming out of the mouth of a blonde, uber fashionable woman who was all of a size two.
In lighter news on the food journaling front: some of the things you think have a zillion calories don't really. Some of the things you think are horrible for your cholestorol are not necessarily. Conversely, some of the things you think don't have a zillion calories totally do, and some of the things you think are harmless to your cholestorol are pretty naughty! Shocking on either end. I've never been one to look at the nutrition facts labels on food because, frankly, I never gave a shit. Now I have to look at them to see that I'm tracking what I eat roughly correctly within the tool, but in terms of what the numbers mean for that specific food - I still don't give a shit. I'm not gonna pick that battle with food overall, and especially not with foods that I love. I like what I like and I'm still going to eat what I want. Granted, it might be in a more humble proportion or farther and fewer between, but I'm still gonna eat it. I think I'd die if I couldn't eat what I wanted to and what I crave.
I keep flashing back to this scene at last year's Thanksgiving dinner. My niece, she of junk in the truck, decided during the summertime that it was time for her to lose weight. I saw her briefly late in the summer when she'd already lost about 15 lbs, and she was super psyched to keep losing. By the time Thanksgiving rolled around, she had lost quite a bit more weight and was visibly pleased that she was receiving positive feedback from family members and told everyone she was gonna keep on going until she got to the size she wanted to be. As we sat down at the table, I looked around to everyone else's plate to compare portions to mine (I think a lot of people do this and just don't admit it!), and my eyes stopped on her plate. She had about half of what everyone else did on their plates. "Huh," I thought, "I guess that's what you have to do when you're losing weight like that." Later in the evening when it was dessert time, our hostess wheeled out the most amazing array of beautiful, hand-crafted desserts. I practically wanted to diddle myself under the table while taking it all in. Our hosts went person by person, doling out what each person wanted specifically, most people opting for a wanting a bit of everything. When it came time for my niece's plating, she said, "No thanks, I'm can't really eat dessert anymore." I wanted to ask her how long she'd been taking the crazy pills. How could anyone turn down dessert? And, permanently?? I felt a little heartbroken for her.
As it's a taboo subject for most folks, I decided not to pepper her with the million questions floating through my head, even if we'd had a quiet moment. The thing I wanted to know most was, Did she miss it? Did she want dessert eventhough she felt compelled to turn it down? Of course, this belies my personal bias towards dessert (and also flies in the face of not judging others for what they want to do with their bodies, but hey, I'm not perfect). Maybe she's not a dessert person, and if so, lucky for her! I recalled this scene with Honey Bunny last night and he nodded and said he remembered. I told him, "Honey, it doesn't matter where I'm going with this. I'll never turn down dessert*." He said, "Good, I'm glad."
Happy Thanksgiving! Eat well and don't turn down dessert if you don't want to.
* Actually, I'd turn it down if the only thing available was pumpkin pie. Yuck!
If you take the self awareness that I'm a not great at achieving long-term goals and multiply that by the anxiety that comes with possibly/maybe/I guess losing some of the weight I've gradually gained since I was eight years old (ie. changing part of my identity), what you end up with is someone paralyzed by the mere thought of embarking on a weight loss plan. Then add in the requisite eye rolling and wanting-to-vomit that comes with even THINKING the phrase "weight loss plan", and you've got a big, conflicted, paralyzed ball of sarcastic anxiety on your hands.
But... I think I've found a way.
During my convo with coworker Janie (also in previous posting), she told me she was using the MyPlate food journal tool on livestrong.com. Janie wasn't pushing the use of this tool; I looked it up on my own accord and have been using it for a week now. My dislike for Lance Armstrong is epic and I didn't want to have anything to do with his world, but I admit that I like it quite a bit so far. Not that I've been perusing the site too much... mostly I just login and track my stuff, but honestly livestrong.com offends me far less than, say, some of the shit published in the Glamour magazines I insist on purchasing and reading every few months. And hey, usage is free! I'd say it's pretty groovy as you put in what you've eaten and then you can view and track as many or as few statistics about your food intake as you'd like (for instance, if you want to look at nutrition in addition to - or instead of - calories). You can also input and track your exercise activities and it links back to your caloric intake, showing how many calories you theoretically burned against what your daily calorie intake is. Here's what that means after running it through the fatspeak translator:
I just did an hour of circuit training with minimal rest... shit howdy, that means I can eat 1200 more calories today and still stay within my calorie allocation! I can haz chocolate shake!!
Well, that's what MY fatspeak translator says anyhow.
But, seriously. One thing I've learned from using the MyPlate tool is that it can be a little surprising what you find out from accruing a few days of data. The first two days I logged my intake, I made no change to what I had been eating (to set a baseline) and was over my calorie allocation by 500 calories both days. On the third, and all subsequent days, I switched up to the healthful, planful eating I always say I'm going to do and I've been under each day by 200-500 calories. I honestly don't feel like I've made some big change to my eating. All I did was get humble about it. I was eating like a rock star previously, dreaming up the biggest, bestest meals I could purchase or make for breakfast, lunch and dinner, meanwhile popping Halloween candy into my piehole all workday long. The upside to that is that I was eating things I liked and even expanding my cooking repertoire in a few instances. The downside is that, in the end, it wasn't even about those things tasting good in my mouth. I was really bored at work, stymied with my social life, and looking for a project to occupy my mind. Of course, all I've done now is shift my focus from eating big to eating humbly... we'll see how that works out for me in the end. I'm the first to admit it's dangerous business and it could blow up in my face.
Which brings me to my next point: I totally see how disordered eating can start in a hot second. I've got one foot on the gas and the other on the brake, and I intuited that I needed to do that from the starting gate. There's no way I'm going to let myself get consumed by a calorie tracker to the point that I'm a slave to it and it alone, but I can see how that can happen so very easily for someone who wants weight loss more than I do. I can see how it can happen for someone who is already thin but doesn't know it, and who is consumed by losing more and more weight. Afterall, the part of Janie's story that broke my heart was her talking about her first Overeaters Anonymous meeting. She sat there as a 300 lb radical, sporting her non-profit look and no makeup, and heard the exact same things she was saying also coming out of the mouth of a blonde, uber fashionable woman who was all of a size two.
In lighter news on the food journaling front: some of the things you think have a zillion calories don't really. Some of the things you think are horrible for your cholestorol are not necessarily. Conversely, some of the things you think don't have a zillion calories totally do, and some of the things you think are harmless to your cholestorol are pretty naughty! Shocking on either end. I've never been one to look at the nutrition facts labels on food because, frankly, I never gave a shit. Now I have to look at them to see that I'm tracking what I eat roughly correctly within the tool, but in terms of what the numbers mean for that specific food - I still don't give a shit. I'm not gonna pick that battle with food overall, and especially not with foods that I love. I like what I like and I'm still going to eat what I want. Granted, it might be in a more humble proportion or farther and fewer between, but I'm still gonna eat it. I think I'd die if I couldn't eat what I wanted to and what I crave.
I keep flashing back to this scene at last year's Thanksgiving dinner. My niece, she of junk in the truck, decided during the summertime that it was time for her to lose weight. I saw her briefly late in the summer when she'd already lost about 15 lbs, and she was super psyched to keep losing. By the time Thanksgiving rolled around, she had lost quite a bit more weight and was visibly pleased that she was receiving positive feedback from family members and told everyone she was gonna keep on going until she got to the size she wanted to be. As we sat down at the table, I looked around to everyone else's plate to compare portions to mine (I think a lot of people do this and just don't admit it!), and my eyes stopped on her plate. She had about half of what everyone else did on their plates. "Huh," I thought, "I guess that's what you have to do when you're losing weight like that." Later in the evening when it was dessert time, our hostess wheeled out the most amazing array of beautiful, hand-crafted desserts. I practically wanted to diddle myself under the table while taking it all in. Our hosts went person by person, doling out what each person wanted specifically, most people opting for a wanting a bit of everything. When it came time for my niece's plating, she said, "No thanks, I'm can't really eat dessert anymore." I wanted to ask her how long she'd been taking the crazy pills. How could anyone turn down dessert? And, permanently?? I felt a little heartbroken for her.
As it's a taboo subject for most folks, I decided not to pepper her with the million questions floating through my head, even if we'd had a quiet moment. The thing I wanted to know most was, Did she miss it? Did she want dessert eventhough she felt compelled to turn it down? Of course, this belies my personal bias towards dessert (and also flies in the face of not judging others for what they want to do with their bodies, but hey, I'm not perfect). Maybe she's not a dessert person, and if so, lucky for her! I recalled this scene with Honey Bunny last night and he nodded and said he remembered. I told him, "Honey, it doesn't matter where I'm going with this. I'll never turn down dessert*." He said, "Good, I'm glad."
Happy Thanksgiving! Eat well and don't turn down dessert if you don't want to.
* Actually, I'd turn it down if the only thing available was pumpkin pie. Yuck!
The path
For the past 10+ years, I've had a hard time figuring out if I want to stay at my current weight/not worry about changing anything, or to try and lose some weight. This is mostly in light of my discovery of the Fat Acceptance movement back in the late 90's, and especially after having started this blog to be part of it. Before my discovery of the movement, I was swept up in the usual hysteria about having to lose weight and become a mainstream size, no questions asked. Right before I started this blog, my sister passed away from a massive heart attack related to diabetes and heart disease. My sister's death shocked and changed my world completely, of course, for many reasons. It also put a new spin on the question of whether to lose weight or not.
My sister, let's call her Cowgirl Alice, was always zaftig as were my other sister and I. When I was growing up, I never thought of Alice as different than myself in terms of weight or eating. She was, however and unfortunately, plagued by health problems - and weird ones at that - from the very start of her life. I suppose it stands to reason (in some fucked up universe) that she ended up with diabetes and severe hypothyroidism by my current age while my blood continues to test fine on at least an annual basis. Before her death, I didn't really think about health too much... losing weight was more a means to fit into Jordache jeans (age 10) or land the husband of my choosing (age 30). Since her death I'm, perhaps rightfully, a little paranoid. I get an annual physical with comprehensive bloodwork every year, and I have no qualms with asking the doctor to send me with a lab slip in between annuals if I feel it's needed. Yoga Trainer infamously asked me "if I wanted to die like my sister did", and no, I do not. But, I also don't want to walk through life being obsessed with needing to lose weight lest I die an untimely death, consumed with shame and guilt when and if I don't make the appropriate effort to lose weight, or consumed with making a succeeding effort if I do. (Nice to meet you... my name is Perfectionist!)
Lately I've been reflecting on my path over the past few years, mostly because I started working with a new personal trainer recently and I'm trying to work through the emotional scars leftover from Yoga Trainer. When I started to work with Yoga Trainer in November 2007, it was because I wanted toned arms and abs to go with my wedding dress, and also because I was at the height of paranoia about possible health problems a la Cowgirl Alice. Two years later, I still hadn't really lost much or any weight and I wasn't much more toned either... a matter on which Yoga Trainer always vacillated between brittle old school yoga master punishment and mellow new age yoga master encouragement, the former eventually winning out and driving me away. Whenever he'd question me along the way as to why I wasn't fully committed to losing weight I'd tell him, "I'm really conflicted because I consider myself part of the Fat Acceptance community." His reply: a blank stare, followed by a demand to get into Warrior pose ASAP while I contemplate why I was letting that get in the way of my personal goal. The irony is that I never really had a personal goal to begin with because I always felt so conflicted.
Exit Yoga Trainer and enter Boxy Lady. I chose Boxy Lady specifically because she learned about training people of size from one Cinder Ernst and because she's a member of NAAFA. I also chose Boxy Lady because she's a boxer and that's kick ass! When I was interviewing potential new trainers (believe me, I wasn't going to go down the Yoga Trainer road again), Boxy Lady almost told me she wouldn't train me because one of my goals was to lose weight. When I clarified that I wanted to lose some weight, not half my body size, she breathed a sigh of relief and we were in business. I love working with her because she's not afraid to make me work (I'm looking at you, YMCA trainer who was afraid of making this fattie have a heart attack from doing crunches), and while she's tough she never talks down to me and never puts her own words in my mouth or her own goals in my head (suck on that, Yoga Trainer).
Something happened in the past week. Firstly, I started reading Two Whole Cakes (formerly Fatshionista) on a daily basis. As you'll see by the latest entry as of this posting date, blogger Lesley is a proponent that each person is the "undisputed expert" on his or her own body and that she is "in favor of people finding happiness and fulfillment by whatever path they choose". Thank you for that, Lesley. It's kinda what I needed to hear to move forward and not feel so conflicted. Lesley goes on in that sentence to say, "so long as they support the rights of others to make their own decisions and don’t prescribe behaviors." I believe this also. It's why I believe I will always support Fat Acceptance no matter where my own path takes me.
The other thing that happened was a conversation with my long-lost coworker and sister zaftig chick, Janie. Janie told me she'd been struggling for awhile with a raging sugar addiction and compulsive overeating, to the point that she joined Overeaters Anonymous and hired a personal trainer for three days a week. Her doctor had told her she was on the verge on becoming diabetic, which is what spurred her action plan. Please let it be known that Janie is a self described radical: feminist, activist, and lots of other -ists too. I never, in my wildest dreams, would have thought I'd hear from her lips that she belongs to a 12-step program and is radically trying to lose weight. Not only did our conversation challenge all I knew to be true about Janie, it challenged my own assumptions about what might be considered politically correct in the world of weight loss.
Janie's story also struck me on a really personal level. I feel like my eating has gotten off the hook lately (along with a lackadaisical attitude about needing to do any exercise between weekly training sessions, ahem). I plan to eat and purchase great and healthy food at the grocery store each week, and then it gets pushed aside in favor of super processed, super salty fare in super quantities. Not everyday of course, but most days, and I realize I'd reached the tipping point. When all my favorite clothes start to feel tight, that changes things. When I no longer feel good about myself, or the way I'm eating, that changes things. I just didn't quite know how to get out of that mode and back into healthful eating. Hearing Janie talk about her own struggles thankfully shocked my system enough to make a couple changes that are so far going well. More about that in a future posting.
Of course, the ever-conflicted part of me is compelled to say (or re-state) a couple things at this point. For starters, I really do believe that each person has the right to make choices for her or his own body. Given that I have a familial risk factor for diabetes and heart disease (Alice), a familial risk factor for high blood pressure and "bad" cholestorol (Dad), and a burning desire to do things like snowboard and surf, it just feels like it's time to lose a little weight. If you're reading this, and especially if you're also zaftig, please don't take this as a sign that I've sold out or that I'm hoping to become skinny-minny. Also, don't feel that this will become a weight loss blog. That's the last thing I want my blog to become. I've always chosen to be honest when writing and I'll be that same way if and when I lose weight and want to talk about it. If anything, the politics of losing weight is far more important and interesting for me to talk about than trumpeting about my own possible losses.
As for those possible losses, who knows if they will happen. I feel like I've hit the reset button several times over the past few years (another reason I've been reflecting) and have not really gained much ground. I do think I've gained perspective, though, and that's very important to me and my life. While my path lay ahead of me, I don't quite know what's coming next and that's pretty scary. I'm trying not to be afraid of or motivated by failing while simultaneously not being afraid of or motivated by succeeding, and that's a weird place to be. Talk about political.
My sister, let's call her Cowgirl Alice, was always zaftig as were my other sister and I. When I was growing up, I never thought of Alice as different than myself in terms of weight or eating. She was, however and unfortunately, plagued by health problems - and weird ones at that - from the very start of her life. I suppose it stands to reason (in some fucked up universe) that she ended up with diabetes and severe hypothyroidism by my current age while my blood continues to test fine on at least an annual basis. Before her death, I didn't really think about health too much... losing weight was more a means to fit into Jordache jeans (age 10) or land the husband of my choosing (age 30). Since her death I'm, perhaps rightfully, a little paranoid. I get an annual physical with comprehensive bloodwork every year, and I have no qualms with asking the doctor to send me with a lab slip in between annuals if I feel it's needed. Yoga Trainer infamously asked me "if I wanted to die like my sister did", and no, I do not. But, I also don't want to walk through life being obsessed with needing to lose weight lest I die an untimely death, consumed with shame and guilt when and if I don't make the appropriate effort to lose weight, or consumed with making a succeeding effort if I do. (Nice to meet you... my name is Perfectionist!)
Lately I've been reflecting on my path over the past few years, mostly because I started working with a new personal trainer recently and I'm trying to work through the emotional scars leftover from Yoga Trainer. When I started to work with Yoga Trainer in November 2007, it was because I wanted toned arms and abs to go with my wedding dress, and also because I was at the height of paranoia about possible health problems a la Cowgirl Alice. Two years later, I still hadn't really lost much or any weight and I wasn't much more toned either... a matter on which Yoga Trainer always vacillated between brittle old school yoga master punishment and mellow new age yoga master encouragement, the former eventually winning out and driving me away. Whenever he'd question me along the way as to why I wasn't fully committed to losing weight I'd tell him, "I'm really conflicted because I consider myself part of the Fat Acceptance community." His reply: a blank stare, followed by a demand to get into Warrior pose ASAP while I contemplate why I was letting that get in the way of my personal goal. The irony is that I never really had a personal goal to begin with because I always felt so conflicted.
Exit Yoga Trainer and enter Boxy Lady. I chose Boxy Lady specifically because she learned about training people of size from one Cinder Ernst and because she's a member of NAAFA. I also chose Boxy Lady because she's a boxer and that's kick ass! When I was interviewing potential new trainers (believe me, I wasn't going to go down the Yoga Trainer road again), Boxy Lady almost told me she wouldn't train me because one of my goals was to lose weight. When I clarified that I wanted to lose some weight, not half my body size, she breathed a sigh of relief and we were in business. I love working with her because she's not afraid to make me work (I'm looking at you, YMCA trainer who was afraid of making this fattie have a heart attack from doing crunches), and while she's tough she never talks down to me and never puts her own words in my mouth or her own goals in my head (suck on that, Yoga Trainer).
Something happened in the past week. Firstly, I started reading Two Whole Cakes (formerly Fatshionista) on a daily basis. As you'll see by the latest entry as of this posting date, blogger Lesley is a proponent that each person is the "undisputed expert" on his or her own body and that she is "in favor of people finding happiness and fulfillment by whatever path they choose". Thank you for that, Lesley. It's kinda what I needed to hear to move forward and not feel so conflicted. Lesley goes on in that sentence to say, "so long as they support the rights of others to make their own decisions and don’t prescribe behaviors." I believe this also. It's why I believe I will always support Fat Acceptance no matter where my own path takes me.
The other thing that happened was a conversation with my long-lost coworker and sister zaftig chick, Janie. Janie told me she'd been struggling for awhile with a raging sugar addiction and compulsive overeating, to the point that she joined Overeaters Anonymous and hired a personal trainer for three days a week. Her doctor had told her she was on the verge on becoming diabetic, which is what spurred her action plan. Please let it be known that Janie is a self described radical: feminist, activist, and lots of other -ists too. I never, in my wildest dreams, would have thought I'd hear from her lips that she belongs to a 12-step program and is radically trying to lose weight. Not only did our conversation challenge all I knew to be true about Janie, it challenged my own assumptions about what might be considered politically correct in the world of weight loss.
Janie's story also struck me on a really personal level. I feel like my eating has gotten off the hook lately (along with a lackadaisical attitude about needing to do any exercise between weekly training sessions, ahem). I plan to eat and purchase great and healthy food at the grocery store each week, and then it gets pushed aside in favor of super processed, super salty fare in super quantities. Not everyday of course, but most days, and I realize I'd reached the tipping point. When all my favorite clothes start to feel tight, that changes things. When I no longer feel good about myself, or the way I'm eating, that changes things. I just didn't quite know how to get out of that mode and back into healthful eating. Hearing Janie talk about her own struggles thankfully shocked my system enough to make a couple changes that are so far going well. More about that in a future posting.
Of course, the ever-conflicted part of me is compelled to say (or re-state) a couple things at this point. For starters, I really do believe that each person has the right to make choices for her or his own body. Given that I have a familial risk factor for diabetes and heart disease (Alice), a familial risk factor for high blood pressure and "bad" cholestorol (Dad), and a burning desire to do things like snowboard and surf, it just feels like it's time to lose a little weight. If you're reading this, and especially if you're also zaftig, please don't take this as a sign that I've sold out or that I'm hoping to become skinny-minny. Also, don't feel that this will become a weight loss blog. That's the last thing I want my blog to become. I've always chosen to be honest when writing and I'll be that same way if and when I lose weight and want to talk about it. If anything, the politics of losing weight is far more important and interesting for me to talk about than trumpeting about my own possible losses.
As for those possible losses, who knows if they will happen. I feel like I've hit the reset button several times over the past few years (another reason I've been reflecting) and have not really gained much ground. I do think I've gained perspective, though, and that's very important to me and my life. While my path lay ahead of me, I don't quite know what's coming next and that's pretty scary. I'm trying not to be afraid of or motivated by failing while simultaneously not being afraid of or motivated by succeeding, and that's a weird place to be. Talk about political.
29 October 2010
Yesterday's story
Back in 1997 I started working with my first therapist, the lovely and talented Sharilyn Marshall, MFT, concentrating on body image issues. In the nine years that I saw her, she helped me in myriad ways both relating to body image and not. She helped me come alive in my life, truth be told. I wouldn't be who I am today without her.
One thing she gave me that I'll never forget, and that will always be on my shelf no matter how outdated, was a copy of the book Fat!So? Because You Don't Have to Apologize for Your Size. I remember reading it in wonder, thinking that the ideas within were totally ground-breaking. I just took this book off the shelf the other day, as a matter of fact. And you know what? The ideas within are still ground-breaking. Maybe a little bit less so now, 12 years after it's publication, but not that much. Fat people are discriminated against in so many overt ways (duh), and unfortunately that's still the norm for our culture.
Fat!So? is a large part of the reason I say "fat" instead of tending to use other, more common names such as "overweight", "plus size" or "plump". You'll hear me liken fat rights to gay rights in several ways and this is one of them. Just as the gay rights movement took back words like "fag" and "queer", I'm doing my part to take back the word "fat". I got called fat a lot as an insult growing up, a word that would make me inevitably burst into tears and run away to cower. Call me fat now, and I'll just say, "That's right, I'm fat. And...?" It's a descriptor above all else. I am fat.
Back in September 2005, I started this blog to chime in with all the other fat activists and hopefully become one myself. A couple years ago, I realized I just couldn't keep up with the blog in general, much less as a tool for activism, and quite honestly wanting/trying to speak for many, not just for myself, grew tiresome. I changed the title of my blog from "Guide to the Fat Life" to "Guide to (her own) Fat Life". How to make peace with being fat is extremely personal, as is blogging, for starters. And in the end I'm a quiet person who sometimes has big ideas and opinions on (or off) the topic of fat politics... as fantastical as the notion was when I started this blog, I'm just not an activist.
Today I came across Fatshionista. I really like Lesley Kinzel's voice. What she's doing, to me, is true activism. And again, that activism is not something I'm part of (anymore).
One thing she gave me that I'll never forget, and that will always be on my shelf no matter how outdated, was a copy of the book Fat!So? Because You Don't Have to Apologize for Your Size. I remember reading it in wonder, thinking that the ideas within were totally ground-breaking. I just took this book off the shelf the other day, as a matter of fact. And you know what? The ideas within are still ground-breaking. Maybe a little bit less so now, 12 years after it's publication, but not that much. Fat people are discriminated against in so many overt ways (duh), and unfortunately that's still the norm for our culture.
Fat!So? is a large part of the reason I say "fat" instead of tending to use other, more common names such as "overweight", "plus size" or "plump". You'll hear me liken fat rights to gay rights in several ways and this is one of them. Just as the gay rights movement took back words like "fag" and "queer", I'm doing my part to take back the word "fat". I got called fat a lot as an insult growing up, a word that would make me inevitably burst into tears and run away to cower. Call me fat now, and I'll just say, "That's right, I'm fat. And...?" It's a descriptor above all else. I am fat.
Back in September 2005, I started this blog to chime in with all the other fat activists and hopefully become one myself. A couple years ago, I realized I just couldn't keep up with the blog in general, much less as a tool for activism, and quite honestly wanting/trying to speak for many, not just for myself, grew tiresome. I changed the title of my blog from "Guide to the Fat Life" to "Guide to (her own) Fat Life". How to make peace with being fat is extremely personal, as is blogging, for starters. And in the end I'm a quiet person who sometimes has big ideas and opinions on (or off) the topic of fat politics... as fantastical as the notion was when I started this blog, I'm just not an activist.
Today I came across Fatshionista. I really like Lesley Kinzel's voice. What she's doing, to me, is true activism. And again, that activism is not something I'm part of (anymore).
08 October 2010
Let's get physical... amphibious, even!
Today I'd like to give props to Columbia Sportswear. They are pretty much the only mainstream sportswear company out there to be producing plus sizes, other than trusty ol' Lands End, LL Bean and Eddie Bauer. (Honorable mention, of course, to Junonia as they are dedicated to plus-size activewear.)
I'm giving Columbia a special shout-out particularly because they make more mainstream looking stuff for plus sized ski and snowboard bunnies, and for the gals who take hiking and travel-packing more seriously. A few posts back I mentioned having purchased Columbia snowboard clothing for this coming season. It's cut generously but still has a nice semi-fitted feminine line and is NOT baggy, thank you very much. The quality is also outstanding for the price. Today I purchased a few things, mostly from their Outlet, although what I really wanted was the Sweet Slope Hoodie (in Black Cherry). Ah, another day, Hoodie... I'm hoping you and I shall meet via coupon in the immediate future.
Now that I think about it, I also have to give shouts to Lands End for their swimwear options for plus sizes. I've been wanting a more serious bathing suit to wear to water aerobics (which I've never tried, ack) because at present all I have are two fun, fashionable and upper-thigh-bulge-covering bathing suits. (Thanks to Torrid and It Figures at Macy's for those!) Lands End has several options in a range of styles, colors and prices. Also: they have both long and short sleeve rash guards, which you can't find anywhere else.
If you're wondering, this sportswear/activewear hunt comes after a week-long vacation on Catalina Island in which Honey Bunny and I were quite active. Trust me, I never thought I'd enjoy an active trip, and we certainly had no plans to make it thus... it all just kinda evolved naturally and day by day. I had a lot of mostly cute clothes for the trip and knew I was going into a hot, dusty and salt water environment. I just didn't consider the exact limitations of said clothes once we were in the kayak, on the trail, and in the water.
Having grown up fat and endured all kinds of "teasing" about being large in skimpy beach clothing, I've always opted to cover myself as much as possible but it comes with a big price tag. Good lord it takes forever to completely dry a swimdress when it's still on your body, even in the sun! Let's not forget those days when you're feeling extra self-conscious and opt to wear the t-shirt and/or cutoff shorts over your suit. And how about that bath sheet-sized beach towel, the one that actually makes it all the way around your hips and will tie there, so you can wear it to the restrooms or snack bar? You might as well use a dolly to lug that water-logged shit back to your hotel room after hanging out at the beach all day. Speaking of getting back to the hotel room: you also need a change of clothes unless your hotel is close (not the case on Catalina, at least for the good beach in Avalon or, well, anywhere you're staying in Two Harbors) or you're able to get completely dry first. I can't tell you how many times I've failed to bring a change of clothes and picked my back to the hotel with legs bowed because the combination of wetness and sand and the resulting additional chafing against the thighs sucks ass.
A few of the more interesting trails/paths we could have taken - at least on the west side of the island - would require both walking and swimming. Given that we were in Southern California during its crazy heat wave, that option was feeling very attractive... and yet, we don't possess the clothing (me) or the skills (HB) to be amphibious. I stopped while hiking at one point to peer over a small bluff down to the ocean and thought, is there an ideal outfitting for a combined land/water hike, and if so do fat women have access to it? I'm guessing a regular size person could cruise into any REI and walk out with high performance clothes and shoes for just such an occasion. Us fat ladies have to be a bit more clever and cobble it together via various online vendors.
Believe me, I don't know if I could ever make myself step foot out of a hotel room, much less my own house, dressed fully in spandex. Unfortunately I'm thinking that's what it's gonna take for a comfortable amphibious adventure in the heat. As of today, I'm digging the C9 capri-length running tights (with groovy blue swish or basic black), which cover legs enough not to chafe in the usual areas but still allow for some cooling via the length and fabric. If I got the blue tights, I'd likely choose the matching tank, or if I stuck with basic black I'd kick up the sauciness a notch with the Solar Pink Optipop version. (I'm thinking a tank would be crucial here due to reduced surface area needing to dry, and because it's cooler in the heat.) Because I'm prone to burning and rashing like a mo-fo in the sun, and - lucky me and my fair skin - also seem to be slightly allergic to sunscreen, I'd put a rash guard over top of the tank. To top... er, bottom off the ensemble, I'd choose the Outpost Hybrid shoes. I know there are a lot of good water sandal options out there but mama needs a good walking shoe that can go in water, not the other way around.
An amphibious adventure is just part of why I'm thinking this through. Honestly, the likelihood of another trip to Catalina before next summer is low. Certainly there are many other places where I could scrabble around but I do live in Northern California where both ocean and river water is crazy cold even on a warm day. I'm thinking this through for other exercise options, even just for personal training. My current closet of exercise clothing is ridiculous at best. I have one pair of capri length "real" exercise pants and a pair of bermuda shorts that I made by cutting the legs off sweatpants. My tops are all t-shirts that got tossed out of my regular wardrobe for one reason or another. They often double as pajama tops. Uh, yeah.
This is a dichotomy if there ever was one, but I'm insanely picky about my exercise wear. If something doesn't fit, feel and look exactly right, I can't buy it... hence the reason I've not gotten anything new in the past three years and why I persist in wearing unhemmed cutoff sweat pants and old stained t-shirts. So, I'm on the hunt for nicer and more performance-oriented activewear and hoping some of the above options will work out. I'll let you know if I end up leaving the house in spandex and how many shots of tequila it took to do so.
* A note on sizing for activewear: many of the options presented in this post only go up to a size 3x which I think is a damn shame. From personal experience, I do feel that both Columbia's and Land's End's size 3x is quite generous in its cut and this is reflected in many of the reviewer comments on individual products. Thankfully Junonia goes much higher than 3x and can cover just about any plus-size woman who needs activewear. (I personally don't love Junonia's cut as it is too generous and I like more fitted items, but still, I'm so glad they exist!)
I'm giving Columbia a special shout-out particularly because they make more mainstream looking stuff for plus sized ski and snowboard bunnies, and for the gals who take hiking and travel-packing more seriously. A few posts back I mentioned having purchased Columbia snowboard clothing for this coming season. It's cut generously but still has a nice semi-fitted feminine line and is NOT baggy, thank you very much. The quality is also outstanding for the price. Today I purchased a few things, mostly from their Outlet, although what I really wanted was the Sweet Slope Hoodie (in Black Cherry). Ah, another day, Hoodie... I'm hoping you and I shall meet via coupon in the immediate future.
Now that I think about it, I also have to give shouts to Lands End for their swimwear options for plus sizes. I've been wanting a more serious bathing suit to wear to water aerobics (which I've never tried, ack) because at present all I have are two fun, fashionable and upper-thigh-bulge-covering bathing suits. (Thanks to Torrid and It Figures at Macy's for those!) Lands End has several options in a range of styles, colors and prices. Also: they have both long and short sleeve rash guards, which you can't find anywhere else.
If you're wondering, this sportswear/activewear hunt comes after a week-long vacation on Catalina Island in which Honey Bunny and I were quite active. Trust me, I never thought I'd enjoy an active trip, and we certainly had no plans to make it thus... it all just kinda evolved naturally and day by day. I had a lot of mostly cute clothes for the trip and knew I was going into a hot, dusty and salt water environment. I just didn't consider the exact limitations of said clothes once we were in the kayak, on the trail, and in the water.
Having grown up fat and endured all kinds of "teasing" about being large in skimpy beach clothing, I've always opted to cover myself as much as possible but it comes with a big price tag. Good lord it takes forever to completely dry a swimdress when it's still on your body, even in the sun! Let's not forget those days when you're feeling extra self-conscious and opt to wear the t-shirt and/or cutoff shorts over your suit. And how about that bath sheet-sized beach towel, the one that actually makes it all the way around your hips and will tie there, so you can wear it to the restrooms or snack bar? You might as well use a dolly to lug that water-logged shit back to your hotel room after hanging out at the beach all day. Speaking of getting back to the hotel room: you also need a change of clothes unless your hotel is close (not the case on Catalina, at least for the good beach in Avalon or, well, anywhere you're staying in Two Harbors) or you're able to get completely dry first. I can't tell you how many times I've failed to bring a change of clothes and picked my back to the hotel with legs bowed because the combination of wetness and sand and the resulting additional chafing against the thighs sucks ass.
A few of the more interesting trails/paths we could have taken - at least on the west side of the island - would require both walking and swimming. Given that we were in Southern California during its crazy heat wave, that option was feeling very attractive... and yet, we don't possess the clothing (me) or the skills (HB) to be amphibious. I stopped while hiking at one point to peer over a small bluff down to the ocean and thought, is there an ideal outfitting for a combined land/water hike, and if so do fat women have access to it? I'm guessing a regular size person could cruise into any REI and walk out with high performance clothes and shoes for just such an occasion. Us fat ladies have to be a bit more clever and cobble it together via various online vendors.
Believe me, I don't know if I could ever make myself step foot out of a hotel room, much less my own house, dressed fully in spandex. Unfortunately I'm thinking that's what it's gonna take for a comfortable amphibious adventure in the heat. As of today, I'm digging the C9 capri-length running tights (with groovy blue swish or basic black), which cover legs enough not to chafe in the usual areas but still allow for some cooling via the length and fabric. If I got the blue tights, I'd likely choose the matching tank, or if I stuck with basic black I'd kick up the sauciness a notch with the Solar Pink Optipop version. (I'm thinking a tank would be crucial here due to reduced surface area needing to dry, and because it's cooler in the heat.) Because I'm prone to burning and rashing like a mo-fo in the sun, and - lucky me and my fair skin - also seem to be slightly allergic to sunscreen, I'd put a rash guard over top of the tank. To top... er, bottom off the ensemble, I'd choose the Outpost Hybrid shoes. I know there are a lot of good water sandal options out there but mama needs a good walking shoe that can go in water, not the other way around.
An amphibious adventure is just part of why I'm thinking this through. Honestly, the likelihood of another trip to Catalina before next summer is low. Certainly there are many other places where I could scrabble around but I do live in Northern California where both ocean and river water is crazy cold even on a warm day. I'm thinking this through for other exercise options, even just for personal training. My current closet of exercise clothing is ridiculous at best. I have one pair of capri length "real" exercise pants and a pair of bermuda shorts that I made by cutting the legs off sweatpants. My tops are all t-shirts that got tossed out of my regular wardrobe for one reason or another. They often double as pajama tops. Uh, yeah.
This is a dichotomy if there ever was one, but I'm insanely picky about my exercise wear. If something doesn't fit, feel and look exactly right, I can't buy it... hence the reason I've not gotten anything new in the past three years and why I persist in wearing unhemmed cutoff sweat pants and old stained t-shirts. So, I'm on the hunt for nicer and more performance-oriented activewear and hoping some of the above options will work out. I'll let you know if I end up leaving the house in spandex and how many shots of tequila it took to do so.
* A note on sizing for activewear: many of the options presented in this post only go up to a size 3x which I think is a damn shame. From personal experience, I do feel that both Columbia's and Land's End's size 3x is quite generous in its cut and this is reflected in many of the reviewer comments on individual products. Thankfully Junonia goes much higher than 3x and can cover just about any plus-size woman who needs activewear. (I personally don't love Junonia's cut as it is too generous and I like more fitted items, but still, I'm so glad they exist!)
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