Tag Archives: obesity

I’m not fat, I’m just a descendant of the vikings.

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I fit right in!

Many, many years ago, my ancestors from Scandinavia raided, traded, explored and settled in the desirable parts of Europe – parts of Europe that were laden with plump, juicy rabbits, fruitful rivers jumping with fat fish, and green, grassy pastures, the better to fatten their cows for a juicy steak dinner.

In my many years of complaining about my weight, I often was quick to blame my obesity on my genetics. It’s true that on both sides of the family we are stocky, thick people, as tall as we are wide. We all have blonde hair and white skin that turns ruddy from the slightest heat or smallest sip of beer. Genetically, our bodies stored fat like polar bears in the winter. The long, cold winters spent dashing over icebergs required a thick pelt of blubber to keep us warm; and our stunning fur capes and shields looked much better with some curves behind them, thank you very much.

We needed these bodies for winters spent at sea, preparing the pillage and plunder the next unexpecting nation’s refrigerators. Maybe all this history about vikings being raging, blood-thirsty people is missing one key fact – maybe, we were just hungry.

My horned helmet is a crock of viking voodoo!

In honor of my people, I must dispel three key falsehoods about our ancestors:

1) We did not wear horned hats. The familiar “It’s not over till the fat lady sings” image of a big blonde Bertha wearing a silver hat with horns is manufactured, some smart fellow’s marketing move to paint the Vikings as horn-helmeted brutes. Take it straight from the internet horse’s mouth (Wikipedia) “Apart from two or three representations of (ritual) helmets – with protrusions that may be either stylised ravens, snakes or horns – no depiction of Viking Age warriors’ helmets, and no preserved helmet, has horns. In fact, the formal close-quarters style of Viking combat (either in shield walls or aboard “ship islands”) would have made horned helmets cumbersome and hazardous to the warrior’s own side.”

2) We did not drink from the skulls of those we had slain. The only skull I plan to slay is that of a ripe coconut, the better to hold my pina colada as I tan my blubbery backside in Thailand. Apparently, my ancestors didn’t use skulls as tumblers for their Diet Coke, either.”The use of human skulls as drinking vessels—another common motif in popular pictorial representations of the Vikings—is also ahistorical. The rise of this legend can be traced to Ole Worm‘s Runer seu Danica literatura antiquissima (1636), in which Danish warriors drinking ór bjúgviðum hausa [from the curved branches of skulls, i.e., from horns] were rendered as drinking ex craniis eorum quos ceciderunt [from the skulls of those whom they had slain].”

Dirty, blood-thirsty brute!

3) We were not all dirty, barbaric brutes with bugs in our beards. Historical accounts actually prove that the Vikings were among the cleanest civilization in this period’s time. “The Anglo-Danes were considered excessively clean by their Anglo-Saxon neighbours, due to their custom of bathing every Saturday and combing their hair often.[citation needed] To this day, Saturday is referred to as laugardagur / laurdag / lørdag / lördag, “washing day” in the Scandinavian languages. Icelanders were known to use natural hot springs as baths, and there is a strong sauna/bathing culture in Scandinavia to this day.[citation needed]” No wonder I can’t stand a day without washing my hair. There will be no pit-sniffing among my ancestors, thank you very much.

After dispensing this undebatable history to you, I think we can all agree that my obesity is not in any way, shape or form, due to error of my own part. It is clear from these readings that I’m not fat, I’m just a descendant of the Vikings.

(Despite three small, concrete facts…

1. I can’t stand seafood. Vikings ate a lot of it.

2) I can barely hurt a fly. Blood-thirsty? I’m more like Tea-thirsty.

3) I am not a pure viking, as my mom’s side gave me the artistic bohemian heritage from Czechslovakia and Austria. )

So clearly. I’m not fat, I’m just a descendant of the vikings. My weight has nothing to do with college dinners of oil-popped popcorn and guacamole, nor the fact that my biggest form of exercise from the age 13 – 25 was trying to zip up my jeans. I will not take credit for this malady of adiposity – truly, really, thankfully – I’m not fat, I’m just a descendant of the Vikings.

Wednesday Woohoos!

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Hello everybody! So sorry I missed a Thailand Tuesday yesterday. Since the holiday break I have been getting back into the swing of things with work and getting ready for our trip! Woohoo! So – all day yesterday, it never occurred to me to step on the scale. My weight was just… not really on my mind. Other than sweating it out at Zumba, I didn’t want my mood to change based on three numbers. So I gave myself a pass. You know how in Weight Watchers you could pick a week to not weigh in? Yep, I’m using my “Thailand Tuesday Pass” pass. I don’t even necessarily think my weigh in would have been “bad” – but after last week’s frustration, I want to take away the focus on the NUMBER and instead focus on how my life is changing. Let’s begin! (PS I so want to write about Thanksgiving, but I refuse to do it without pictures and my new card reader comes tomorrow!).

Yummy Erewhon Strawberry Cereal!

Before I started my weight-loss journey, I never ate breakfast. I would roll out of bed, shower and basically starve myself until lunch time, when I would pig out. Once I stated meeting with a dietitian, I realized how important it is to fuel your body in the morning. Lately I’ve been loving cereal with ice cold milk – like this super delicious Erewhon Strawberry Crisp cereal. I’m in love with Special K Red Berries but when I found out Erewhon makes a gluten-free, organic, non-GMO option, I had to convert. The lovely folks at Erewhon/Attune sent me a box to try and I’m in looove. My favorite way to have it is with a sliced banana. Woohoo for a healthy, delicious breakfast!

Feeling great after a six mile hike!

Like I wrote last week, I feel like I’m making new progress with fitness. I’m learning to make the gym less of a “Should I” and more of an “I Will”. Yesterday after my allergy shots I felt kind of blah and was pretty much going to blow off my zumba class. My friend texted me that she’d be there, and I threw on my clothes and rushed out the door. Afterwards, I felt so good – and we even stayed after class to do 30 sit ups each. My attitude is starting to change from fitness as an option when it’s convenient to more of a “prescription” for my good health and mood. This makes me happy! Woohoo for fitness!

Last week when my sister and friend Melody and I did our 10k Turkey Trot, I had some of those feelings of “I’m the only fat person out here, I shouldn’t be here.”. And then as I climbed that mountain, and huffed, and puffed, and almost felt like I was having a heart attack, I broke through. I stomped those thoughts out and powered on, until the only thing left behind me was my self doubt. Fitness is one size fits all. You do not need to be thin, muscular or gorgeous to be fit. I saw this picture on George Takei’s Facebook post and I loved it. Woohoo for healthy habits at ANY size!

So that’s all I got for today! I promise I’ll be back soon with posts all about my Thanksgiving and Turkey Trot and a super special hard apple cider recipe. :) Have a great week! Woohoo!

Media using its power for good: Anchor stands up to her bully on live tv

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Hi Double Chinners -

Have you all heard about Jennifer Livingston, the Wisconsin based news anchor who stood up to her bully on live TV? A man sent her an e-mail chiding her for being a bad role model, especially for young girls, for not “paying attention” to her health over the years and choosing to be an obese role model. I encourage you to watch her reply to this man below.

I can’t remember the last time I was so proud of the media for going against the norm and adding some PERSONALITY to the news. The media should use its power for good more often – in this woman’s case, reminding the public that nobody needs to back down in the face of a bully, and that we need to teach our children kindness and compassion. One more note – do you think that male anchors receive notes, e-mails and comments like this about their body size? Sure they do – but not nearly as much as females. Fat shaming needs to end, and in its place we can add in helpful and relevant information about healthy living like activity and diet. Kudos to Jennifer for standing up to her bully and for showing the world that while being female unfortunately means being critiqued on every single fiber of your being, you don’t have to fall victim to the harmful words others so casually throw about.

What do you think of Jennifer’s story? Do you think she’s “advocating for obesity” simply by being an overweight news anchor?

FitBloggin’ Recaps Day Two – Joyful Shimmy, Janet Ober, Hank Hannah and Jack Fit

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The Gang's all here! FitBloggin 2012!

Hello everybody! I am home from Baltimore and slowly getting back into the routine. First things first – I’m lucky to be able to travel as much as I do, but MAN, do I miss cooking when I’m on the road! I just made a delicccccious wheat pasta with a charred broccoli and onion sauce, mixed with lean bacon bits and small mozarella pearls. Super tasty, fairly light (if I keep the serving right!) and homemade. Best of all, I managed to scrape that together before going to the grocery store. Whew!

Laura from Joyful Shimmy learned to love her body by getting naked!

Friday night at FitBloggin’, we had an ignite fitness keynote session. What this meant was instead of the usual boring 1 hour keynote, there was 15 speakers, each broken up into 5 minutes with 15 slides. It was fun, fast-paced and kept us entertained – especially with stories like those from Laura, of Joyful Shimmy, a recovered bulimic who learned to love her body through burlesque! I loved Laura because she was actually the first blogger I met while decorating my badge, and she was friendly, approachable and funny – a perfect introduction to my first fitbloggin’ ever.

Image from JanetOber.com. Click to read her story and buy her book.

There were also really moving stories, like Janet’s. Janet was hit by 5 semi trucks at a time – leaving her leg mangled and nearly destroyed. Despite crippling depression and the serious physical trauma, Janet overcame her struggle and now runs marathons. Her speech was EXACTLY what I wanted to get from FitBloggin’. I’m always the mayor of excuses village, and if Janet can overcome nearly losing her leg, suffering major depression… and then continue to run MARATHONS, I can lose this weight. Excuses are not valid. Janet is a powerful speaker, and her words shook me to the core – not with fear or pressure, but with complete inspiration and validation that if you work hard enough, anything is possible. (Except finding a comfortable bra. I have decided that is impossible.)

 

 

Hank was sick of being the fat guy - so he took charge and shed over 100 pounds.

There were also light and humorous presentations, like Hank’s, from the Business of Losing Weight. Hank has lost over 100 pounds, and to illustrate his points, he did each of his slides in paint. Check out this awesome artwork  – a valiant effort, right?! I don’t think I could do that in Paint!

 

 

 

Jack's No Flack Jump the Track Creative Smack Attack

One of the show stealers of the night was definitely (and not surprisingly) Jack Sh*t. Jack Sh*t is well known in the weight loss blogging community for his offbeat and hilarious blogging style. Jack put together a funny and random slide show with things like slides of iced tea, and things that spark his creativity… including Mentos. Towards the end of his presentation, he magically procured a 2-liter bottle of coke from behind the podium, and dumped in two mentos. It was awesome, and was like the Ozzy-Osbourne bat-eating event of FitBloggin’. I raise my hat to you, mr. gettin’ fit.

There were so many other amazing speakers this weekend, but if I keep going, my jet-lagged body will never have time to sleep! Stay tuned tomorrow to find out about my Twitter Community live blog, and also, which fantastic fitbloggin’ folks I met and chatted with.

 

Lucia’s Weight Loss Success Story – a Memoir of a Former Tubby Tabby

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Rest in peace, Bailey - sweet ole girl!

I’ve never been a cat person. I grew up with a steady stream of reliable labradors and golden retrievers (and one random pug/daschund mix), but cats weren’t really a part of my world other than the quiet, shadowy felines that stalked our suburb at dusk. I had nothing against cats, but in a household ruled by dogs, they just weren’t a part of my world. While I’m allergic to everything under the sun, surprisingly I am not allergic to dogs and cats. As an animal lover, this is a very good thing.

Gumbo, the evil baby turtle.

When I moved in with my boyfriend (now husband), I was yearning for a pet. I wanted an animal that I could snuggle and harass, and our brief trial run with red-eared sliders was a snappy, messy failure. We bought these two tiny turtles from downtown LA, and were briefly enchanted with Gilligan and Gumbo, buying them a heating lamp and turtle pellets and all sorts of useless turtle accoutrements. Our weekends were consumed with trying to clean the 50-gallon aquarium, scrubbing algae off of artificial rocks, and as the turtles grew older and hissed more often… I learned that aquatic creatures were just not for me.

Lucia on the first day we got her. Bliss!

I began stalking Craigslist, my heart set on a gray female tabby with stripes and polka dots, with blue eyes and a little pink nose. I don’t know why I wanted a gray tabby, but I just did. In my mind, that was the quintessential “cat” – a perfect starter kitty for a lifelong dog lover like me. I eventually found her in Long Beach for $20, where she had been rescued from a 7-11 dumpster by a kind college student. When we picked her up, she ran out the front door towards us – and we were shocked at her size. She was the size of a fat hamster- absolutely tiny- barely weighing more than a baked potato. I picked her up, smooshed her squishy, soft little face between mine, and fell in love.

Lucia loves the lazy life

As Lucia grew up, her tendency to overeat and wait impatiently between meal times made me realize how alike we were. We both loved the lazy life, lounging around on weekends on the couch, getting our heads scratched, and laying in the sun. We both had squishy, soft tummies – hers more like a hula skirt that gently brushed the floor as she walked. At her yearly vet appointment, Lucia weighed in at 13.4 pounds. The doctor advised that we should “lay off the groceries”, and in my head, I justified my fluffy feline – she was just big-boned, after all. I was embarrassed that my kitty soul mate was also plagued with fatness, but in a way, we were kindred spirits. While she was never obese or in danger because of her weight, she had some extra chunk, enough that occasionally, visitors would remark on our “tubby tabby”. Concerned, we switched the cats to “Maintenance Cat” food, plastered with funny pictures of huge, hefty cats lounging on spilled sacks of grain.

"I'm not fat!"

At our last vet appointment, I asked with concern in my voice if she was overweight. The doctor pulled on her skin, pinching gently at the soft heap of skin on her belly. “No, actually.” he said. “She’s in perfect shape. She’s just a big cat.” Lucia weighed in that day at 12.4 pounds, a whopping one pound loss, which is huge for species that on average, weighs slightly more than a sack of potatoes. Victory was mine! Tubby tabby no more! Our efforts for Lucia’s slim-down had paid off! It was at that moment that I realized that all changes, no matter how small, eventually make a difference. Lucia’s lifestyle hadn’t changed dramatically, but a simple switch to her food helped make her a former flabby-tabby. Lucia’s weight loss helps to inspire me, because while one less order of french fries seems like a very, very small thing in the grand scheme of weight loss, I know that every little bit helps; and if my tubby tabby can lose weight, so can I.

A Fat Cat’s Fate: RIP Meow

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Meow was a 39-pound cat forfeited at a shelter when his 87-year-old owner was no longer able to care for him. Meow was originally ridiculed when the media stumbled upon him, as one of his favorite foods was hot dogs and he often got stuck inside of things due to his size. Some of us look at this picture and think, “Aw! How cute!”. That’s fine. But the reality is, Meow died a sad and early death because his lungs failed due to the increased pressure on his vital organs from an overflow of fat.

Image from LAtimes.com - click to read the full story.

These are the types of things that remind me why I need to get healthy. It’s not just because of Meow, the fat cat, that I’m reminded what obesity can do to my body and organs. It’s because I had an allergy appointment this week and my blood pressure was high – a reminder that constant, chronic stress and obesity almost double my chances for heart disease. It’s because every now and then I get a dull ache in my right ankle – remnants of Plantar Fascia, a type of heel pain I had when I was 15 pounds heavier. It’s because I’m already severely allergic to environmental pollens, and if I gain more weight, the strain on my sinuses would get even worse. It’s also because I want to be a mother one day, and at my current weight, I’d be high-risk for gestational diabetes. I don’t want this post to be a downer, but Meow was a good wake up call for me this week.

We may laugh about a grossly obese cat or the morbidly obese women in bikinis on birthday cards, but it’s no laughing matter. Even though the tagline of this blog started out as “Because fat is funny and food is fun”, death because of obesity is clearly not funny. I’m not laughing about Meow’s death, and I hope you’re not either, because even though his situation was awkwardly uncomfortable and could prompt a few giggles, he’s gone now because somebody didn’t hold up their end of the pet-caretaker bargain. Had he been fed a suitable diet, he’d be alive and snuggling in somebody’s lap today. And when I think about why I want to lose weight, it’s not about wearing cute turquoise jeans or buying a size large. It’s about feeling the sunshine on my face well into my 70s, baking cookies for my grandchildren, and earning the privilege to become a cranky old lady. So tonight, I thank Meow for a painful but necessary prompt to remind me why I need to lose weight. Weight loss isn’t something I can do when I have “time” or when things calm down. I need to do it now, because I will ALWAYS have excuses, but I may not always have my health.

Rest in peace, Meow.