Fat

[rikita]

sorry that your mom is also making comments like that, mich...

i guess in my mom's case it is also because she is really really thin, so she has a strange view of what is normal weight... i try to eat healthy, but i do like sweets and especially when i am stressed i need to allow myself some things i enjoy sometimes. but else i usually try to go for healthy food...

hm, she hasn't really expressed any wish for grandchildren so far, so not sure it is that... maybe i should try it out though...

[mich64]

Since the brain injury, I have gained weight due to my lack of exercise due to my balance issues so I am excited that when they put me on an excercycle with a back rest last week at physio that I could do it!!! So now I have a way to work on my cardio to help with the excercise portion of weight loss.

My parents are wonderful and have been so helpful throughout my recovery, but I do think it was difficult for them to watch me gain weight because I was such an acitve person and they know I am uncomfortable with it as well.

Just keep doing what makes you happy Rikita!
Cheers,
Mich

[Kimby]

Oct 28, 2011 18:59:22 GMT rikita said:

hm, she hasn't really expressed any wish for grandchildren so far, so not sure it is that... maybe i should try it out though...

You are lucky she isn't pestering you for grandchildren as so many potential grandparents do. A baby is much harder on your health and your lifestyle than a little extra padding around the waist! (So I've heard.)

[rikita]

well my mom had her kids quite early (well late for east german standards, but for "western" standards she is still quite young... she never said that it was too early - though she did say she moved in with my dad too early and thus was very glad i lived alone for quite a while before getting married - but maybe she in fact thinks it is better to wait longer with kids, don't know...

[rikita]

an exercycle is like these things you sit on that are like a bicycle, but for exercise? i am glad it is going well with that!

[bixaorellana]

That's exciting news, Mich. For someone who was not only active, but athletic, having to cut way back on activity must have been so frustrating for you.

There should be a universal rule that no one make any comments about other people's appearances unless they're unequivocally positive. "Oh thank god you cut your hair" is NOT a compliment, for instance. And any remark about weight -- "you'd be so pretty if you'd drop a few pounds" -- makes a person just want to hide in the house.

My family often does not feel the need to edit. One sister is still smarting years later from another sister saying, "Are you sure you want your hair to be that color?"

[mich64]

I learned to cope with the frustration one recovery at a time and now I am at my leg and arm and hopefully during this process I will also lose some fat and gain back the muscle. I just have to keep trying.
Cheers!
Mich

[bixaorellana]

Mich, if I'm not being too nosy -- were you put on steroids at some point for your injuries? I've heard that can cause weight gain.

Does anyone know if there are other drugs or supplements that cause unwanted weight gain?

[Deleted]

Some of the estrogen replacement drugs can and do cause fatty tissue to develop.
The over the counter supplement DHEA commonly recommended by GYN's to help with menopausal and post menopausal symptoms do the same.

[mich64]

No Bixa, no steroids were prescribed for me. My weight gain is attributed to non activity due to my balance issues and possibly some medications earlier on, but I do not remember what they were.

Mich

[lagatta]

Rikita, an exercycle is a stationary bicycle, such as one often sees in gyms and indeed, in physical rehabilitation centres.

There is still a stigma about adult tricycles as a thing for "old people", when they can be a useful means of cycling around for people of all ages with balance issues who might well fear or be unable to ride a regular bicycle.

And oh, bixa, those backhanded "compliments"...

[tod2]

My son who has always had a tendency to be overweight has gone back to the gym and partially abandoned his gym equipment at home. He has lent me his 'jiggle' machine called a Maxxus V-Trainer.
Does anyone else know if these really work? I know the advertising says its marvellous but I was just wondering if standing on the darn thing for 15min at a time does anything else apart from making my legs itch, and my flab wobble

[onlymark]

By itself, with no other exercise, it's crap. It's supposed to stretch the tendons and contract muscles increasing blood flow. Apparently the Russians in their space programme think they work well - but for me I'd use one purely as a bit of a massage feeling.

[bixaorellana]

I wonder if that V-trainer is supposed to work the way certain isometric exercises do? If you're standing on the thing & sort of bracing yourself, I guess that would be a form of exercise, maybe.

[bjd]

Is that anything like the Power Plate places that are popping up here in France?

[Deleted]

I think most people use those jiggle machines for masturbation.

[onlymark]

The spin cycle is better, an ex girlfriend told me.

[lagatta]

Absolutely. Old-fashioned washing machines were great for all kinds of massage. For me, I leant my tummy up against one when I had agonising menstrual cramps. The new energy-saving front-loaders are far less effective for such ends.

[bixaorellana]

As so often before in my life, I'm forced to conclude that other people are far more imaginative and resourceful than I!

[lagatta]

This young woman is shockingly "fat", so it seems: www.thestar.com/living/fashion/article/1142267--holland-s-next-top-model-deemed-too-fat-wins-suit-against-elite-agency?bn=1

(Don't be afraid to look - she won the Netherlands "next top model" contest, and is admirably slender, but has a bit of a feminine behind and slightly muscular thighs).

This stuff is positively ridiculous.

[Deleted]

I know a lot of women who would want to be that fat.

[bixaorellana]

Odd -- today the link has her clothed on the catwalk rather than showing her alarming pudge as in yesterday's picture.

The agency should give her a chance. After all, look at the stats on this porker who made it big. Yeah, the hips are slightly smaller, but this person is 3 inches shorter than Ananda Marchildon.
Height: 5' 8" / 172.72cm
Bust: 34" B
Waist: 26" / 66.04 cm
Hips: 35.5" / 90.17 cm

SPOILER: Click to show

Kate Moss

[Kimby]

Have you ever gone on YouTube and seen the anorexia-admiration films? Sick!

However, the health of the world population would be a lot better if we could average the plush overfed Americans with the gaunt starving Indians and Africans. And runway models.

[bixaorellana]

So ~~ any post-Thanksgiving fat stories, diet resolutions, etc.?

[bixaorellana]

Fork the fat! Would this really work? Probably, with enough motivation .......... or if it were surgically attached to your hand. Click photo for article.

[Deleted]

Yes, I saw that report, too. I would just throw the fork away and eat with my hands.

[bixaorellana]

Hands? What a great idea! I've been putting my face directly in the plate ever since someone sent me that fork for Christmas.

[bixaorellana]

There is a new and necessary thread on anyport about losing weight: anyportinastorm.proboards.com/thread/7575/lose-weight. And there are certainly many threads on the forum about food -- how we fix it, what we ate, memories of it, wasting it, etc. etc.

Following a link and then another and another from one of those threads, I came across this discussion of "plus-size" and decided this old thread on attitudes about what constitutes fatness needed to be revived.

One question that occurs to me when looking at articles about plus-sized models being beautiful or about having a positive body image no matter what, is this:
isn't is sometimes detrimental to see carrying too many pounds as okay, when getting rid of that weight by eating more healthfully would be better for you?

[mossie]

I know I may be howled down, but there's an old saying


"I prefer my ladies built for comfort, not speed"

[chexbres]

I lost the equivalent of a large adult, about 2 years ago, and managed to keep most of that weight off until about 6 months ago. No miracles, no surgery, no nothin' but changing the way I looked at food and my approach to life. When you reach a "teachable moment" - which in my case was the threat of imminent cardiac arrest - sometimes you are able to make the necessary changes. I'm trying to put on the brakes now, so I won't have to work so hard to lose as much as I did before.

In New Orleans, a large number of people are dirt poor and can't afford to eat healthy food. Or, they are depressed for a variety of reasons, and eat for comfort. Or, the food just tastes so damned good that nobody can stop eating it. So, there are lots of morbidly obese people there, it's a normal state of affairs, and nobody thinks much of it - especially since you can always find clothes that fit and everyone assumes that fat people are happy just the way they are, since they're always cooking and making music and stuff...

But the serious health issues that go along with this condition are also considered normal, and neither the medical community nor the government seems to show any real interest in changing that. Doctors "gently suggest" that a patient might show some interest in following a diet, but they don't insist on it for fear of alienating the patient, so just hand out prescriptions for obesity-related illnesses, instead.