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Not bad for a fat girl

Tag Archives: fitness


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Makeover Week

Did you catch The Biggest Loser last night? It was makeover week. The week where the remaining contestants, some of whom have lost over 100 pounds, get a professional makeover and see themselves in a new light. Tim Gunn of Project Runway does the wardrobe, and puts in his two cents about how fabulous everyone is, and some big name hair guy oversees color and cut. imagesAt the end of it all these folks looked fantastic, and they got to show off their new looks to their happy families.

Now I have to say, this is a fine looking group of people to begin with. The network chose them carefully, and they didn’t pick anyone who wasn’t handsome or pretty, even with the extra weight. They had plenty to work with, if the casting call I attended a while back was any indication. Hundreds of people wait for hours just to be glanced at for a moment at these calls. People also submit videos of themselves pleading their cases. Yes, there are a lot of fat people willing to sweat it out in front of a national audience. These are the ones who were picked and managed to stick around long enough to make it to makeover week. Good for them. It isn’t easy.

I would love to have my own makeover week. I would love to have a  day when I grab some hot outfit off a rack in a size I haven’t seen since high school or earlier, and look in the mirror astounded. I would love some top notch stylist to study my features and hair and design a style that brings out the best in both. I would love to see a new version of the old me. But the thing is, those contestants earned that makeover day. They didn’t just stroll in with a credit card and buy it. They earned it with workout after workout, fruits and vegetables, sweat and tears. Good for them.

I hope to earn my makeover day sometime in the not so distant future. I want to feel that I deserve it too.


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An Empathy Boost and Reminder

628x471Way back when, I started this blog with a post about an inspirational young man named Ryan, whose story I watched on Extreme Weight Loss.  In a nutshell, he was in an accident and lost an arm. He lost confidence, gained weight, and ended up working with Chris Powell on the show to get healthy and fit. It’s a great, uplifting story.

The take away for me was if he can do it, so can I. Great message, but I still haven’t done it. Then again I don’t exactly have Chris Powell as my roommate, but that’s another post for another day (or maybe not).

Fast forward to my recent vacation in Hawai’i. On our cruise there was a couple that we bumped into several times. They were at least a decade older than me, and they got married in Maui on the second day of the cruise. They were a friendly, outgoing couple clearly in love with life. They did have to do some things a little differently though, because, as he said, in a match of motorcycle vs. semi, the motorcycle seldom wins. One of his legs was prosthetic and the other was horribly damaged. It was clear where large areas of tissue had been removed. Hawai’i is warm this time of year, and, like most everyone else, this gentleman wore shorts.

We went on several excursions and these folks were there with us. He used a scooter for long distances, but could walk short distances and up and down the steps of busses and vans. Yes, it took a little longer, and I imagine that there was a fair amount of frustration and even pain involved to get and out of vehicles and around to different sights, but there was always a smile and a joke.

I think the universe is trying to remind me. I saw it before. I got the message. I just haven’t acted on it. I have all my parts in reasonably good working order. These men that I admire do not. Do they let that stop them from being active and achieving goals? No. I shouldn’t either. Thanks, universe, I needed that reminder.


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Establishing New Habits

Welcome to December. The most wonderful  fattening time of the year. I have a confession to make. I have regained some of the weight I lost back when the blog was new. Maybe all of it. I’m afraid to get on the scale. I know, though. My clothes are tighter again and I don’t feel as energized as I did.

Oh sure, there are lots of reasons. The first and most compelling reason is the change in weather. I was in my pool nearly every day exercising and I LOVED it. Weird. But then it got cooler out and the water became too cold so there went my favorite workout. Boo hoo, poor me.

HT New PackageThere there was my commitment to spending most of my free time in November writing. And write I did! Many many words poured from my brain through my fingertips. A post a day (sometimes more than one) and a rough draft of a novel came out of my head. Amazing. But writers need fuel (I find that Hot Tamales candy makes me particularly creative), and writing is a sedentary activity. My musings on that topic are here. Yep, I know, excuses, excuses.

So there it is. The weight is back and now it’s holiday time and frankly, I’m not feeling all too pleased with  how I’ve been taking care of myself. Or rather how I haven’t been. Oh sure, November was a kick ass month and I’m thrilled with some of the results, but now December calls for some changes.

Besides being holiday time, December is the time of year when I remember a friend who died far too young. She was healthy and vibrant and wonderful and capable. She was a wife and mother and daughter and sister and creative tour de force. That bitch cancer got her and had its way with her. She begged her friends to take care of themselves as best they could. I’m not doing that. I’m sorry.

I’m not saying I want to get healthier out of fear of cancer, per se, but out of respect for it, and heart disease, and diabetes, and all the other nasty complications of obesity. Yes, I’m obese. I know I am, and I don’t love it. (Read some of the reasons why here) I don’t beat myself up over it, because that’s counterproductive, but I do acknowledge it. Intellectually I know I have to get going, but emotionally I’m feeling a little stuck.

I think what stops me in my tracks is the knowledge that I’ve done this a million times before. I get fed up, I shake things up, I make some changes, and I improve my health and fitness levels to a greater or lesser degree. The problem is that I never take it far enough. I lose momentum. I need to develop new habits. Fortunately, November has shown me that I’m perfectly capable of doing just that.

Writing has become a habit for me. Instead of writing once or twice a week (if that) I’m writing once or twice a day, and for longer periods of time. I’m exploring different ways of expressing myself, and I’m not afraid to tackle topics that might have intimidated me previously. I need to take that determination and drive into the battle for my health. This is a fight I need to win. I must create new habits. I better warm up the treadmill and dust off my awesome pink boxing gloves. I have proven to myself that I can take on and complete a challenge. My new challenge is taking care of myself. Anyone care to join me? One step at a time, one change at a time, one day at a time.