Today I posted a lot. I'm not sure about what schedule I will use for posting, at least every other Friday, I just had a lot I wanted to get off my chest. I'm also not sure about what I generally want this blog to be about. I'm not really interested in politics, but I am working to lose about eight pounds and then maintain so I could post progress. I am also actively growing my hair extremely long (past my butt at least) and will be happy to discuss progress on that front. Likely both of these will be discussed regularly because like the blog title states this is really just cathartic to me. It's my thoughts and feelings as a young adult posted in a way that I hope can at least be helpful to those my age and younger or that they could at least relate to. It's a tough world we live in emotion wise.
Anyways, have a nice day and thank you for reading this. Comment on what you would like to hear about.
Peace.
Friday, March 20, 2015
Is Weighing Daily Too Obsessive
Well... It depends... You see I prefer to weigh myself daily because if I don't I tend to pack on the pounds rather rapidly. I am well aware of my body's typical fluctuations and know that while a one or two pound difference between days is fine a three pound difference means I should look into what I ate and how I exercised the day before. If there is an obvious cause (the other day I consumed around 1300kcal for dinner alone in pizza and breadsticks, this would be obvious cause) then I am more diligent the following day to correct the problem, if not then I know to prepare for incoming mother nature. I did not weigh myself at all since mid January and gained over ten pounds. For me, daily standing on the scale is a good tool.
On the other hand, I have heard several stories of women who become obsessed with wanting rapid results or feeling terrible any time their weight moves away from the "magic number". I would say decide what you feel is best for you, but if monitoring your weight on a scale leads to stress and anxiety another good method is to have a nice pair of skinny jeans or a tight dress that will fit too tightly if you gain (or loosely if you lose) too much weight. It's especially handy if you like wearing skirts or leggings regularly because I find that I can gain a lot with looser clothing still fitting me fine, and a lot of my clothing is loose.
Just thought I'd add my two cents on what seems to be a major argument on every fitness outlet I follow lately.
Peace.
On the other hand, I have heard several stories of women who become obsessed with wanting rapid results or feeling terrible any time their weight moves away from the "magic number". I would say decide what you feel is best for you, but if monitoring your weight on a scale leads to stress and anxiety another good method is to have a nice pair of skinny jeans or a tight dress that will fit too tightly if you gain (or loosely if you lose) too much weight. It's especially handy if you like wearing skirts or leggings regularly because I find that I can gain a lot with looser clothing still fitting me fine, and a lot of my clothing is loose.
Just thought I'd add my two cents on what seems to be a major argument on every fitness outlet I follow lately.
Peace.
Thin Shaming
I really wish I could write a post that says it exists and leave it at that. I don't understand why this is such a big argument. Half of the fat acceptance movement seems to revolve around insulting perfectly healthy girls. I'm all for treating fat people like people and not mooing when they walk by or playing a trumpet or whatever new nonsense kids are up to these days, but what bothers me is that people who shame me for my small size are all adults and frequently older adults. I have only been called names once by a younger person and she was clearly very unhappy with her life and very insecure. Instead of taking it personally I wished her a good day and tried not to think on it. So for a background I am 5'3", natural blonde hair, blue eyes and currently 118.2lbs. I am not happy with this size because I am too big for all of my clothes. I prefer to be under 115. On my body that small three pound gain is enough to cause everything to be difficult or impossible to button (which might give you an idea of how much gaining twenty pounds affects me). I am regularly told by "well meaning" adults that I should eat a cheeseburger, get some meat on my bones, I look like a skeleton/anorexic/bulimic/bag of bones, etc. I have had people pinch me to see if I have any fat at all. (I have a fairly curvy shape for how little I am complete with some filled out breasts, plus my bfp is around 26% right now) I do not like being touched and I don't believe these people would have appreciated me pinching them and exclaiming that they must have no muscle at all. I am also highly offended by all of the eating disorder and holocaust survivor comments. I do not look anorexic or like a holocaust survivor by any means. I have seen anorexic women and they have this look about them. Their heads and eyes look abnormally large and their skin looks stretched across protruding bones that I have never seen looking in the mirror at my own frame. Visible chest ribs, no breasts, visible tendons in arms and legs, painful movements, etc. In addition, I have heard these comments for my entire life, including when I was a small child. I am not going to say thin shaming is worse than fat shaming, I am going to say that they're equal. They are equally humiliating, degrading and generally terrible to experience. Women are particular offenders of all kinds of shaming and though I feel it's useless to say I want to let you know that all builds, hair colors and eye colors can be beautiful, especially on a woman with good nutrition and exercise. These two things can really add gloss and health to hair, brightness to eyes and a nice glow to the skin. It isn't a panacea but it certainly doesn't hurt and I'm tired of hearing about how I shouldn't bother exercising or eating healthy because I'm already skinny or too skinny. I have never told someone to stop eating because they're too fat (because it's rude to say these things, and harmful). Why can't we quit being mean and support everyone on a path to health together?
Peace.
Peace.
Oppresion on the College Campus
I am a standard college student working my way through an engineering degree. I have a long background in science courses as well as the standard liberal arts courses for GE credit and there's one thing I'm really sick of. The oppressiveness. I hear stories from my grandmother over how hot debates on all sorts of issues were a regular thing when she attended college in the sixties, but anymore it seems that any opinion that differs from the norm is rejected and taunted as ignorance. We are all supposed to go along with the idea that ethanol fuel is better for the environment even though several studies have shown it to have greater CO2 emissions than standard gasoline. In addition I'm all for lowering CO2 emissions (along with all other pollutants), but it is complete blasphemy for me to mention that there are other factors that could be contributing to climate change including the very natural up and down trends of Earth's climate over the more than four billion years since it's been formed. Geologic activity is up and that could contribute to climate change as well as our activity. I will repeat, I am all for reducing pollution (and litter for that matter), but I don't believe that simply eliminating our factor in this will stabilize the climate when our planet has a long history of changing things up. It bothers me as much as certain vegans who are always telling me about how their diet prevents and cures cancer. There is no scientific evidence for this and while you are certainly eliminating a lot of carcinogens with the lifestyle, there is still a risk of cancer. Please don't skip those cancer screenings. You could die a very preventable death.
Short rant you guys. I've been dealing with this quietly for several years and I'm tired of never being allowed to have an original thought.
Peace.
Short rant you guys. I've been dealing with this quietly for several years and I'm tired of never being allowed to have an original thought.
Peace.
Real Health at Every Size
Health at every size is simply not realistic but I like the idea that I believe it's trying to accomplish. Nobody would say that a stick thin anorexic or bulimic girl is healthy so I don't understand why we should assure a 300, 400 or 500lb person that they are healthy when quite often they are not. In addition, many of the individuals preaching health at every size are simultaneously telling thin girls that they aren't healthy, beautiful or even real women. To me that completely misses the point. Now if health at every size means that every person, regardless of their size, health conditions or age is working to live a healthy lifestyle in the best way they can then I am all for that. However, in that instance I would argue that those HAES cards to bring to the doctor should be tossed out. (origins) If we want to get real about our health then our doctor is the best person to recommend steps to take to better it. If your doctor is unable to help then ask for a reference to a nutritionist. If your doctor is rude or dismissive (which happens more often then it should) then I would advise finding a new doctor. A doctor unwilling to listen to you about this problem could be dismissive about other health problems as well, however, refusing to adhere to medical science for medical problems will not solve anything. I understand that BMI can be very inaccurate in some cases, I myself at my preferred healthy weight tend to be around a 18 or 19 which looks borderline unhealthy on the chart. I have had to build muscle in order to stay out of the underweight zone. I know people who bulk up at the gym and their BMI's fall into the overweight range even though they are also very healthy. These instances however account for an extreme minority of the population which means that generally, people between a BMI of 18.4-25 are close to their ideal weight and have significantly reduced their health risk for several conditions.
In addition, I have heard several myths surrounding healthy living and would like for there to be an end to them. A BMI of 24 is not the ideal weight for everyone. I look very chubby nearing a BMI of 24 and have gained nearly 20lbs over my preferred weight. I know I'm not the only one. I was introduced to this idea by an ex-boyfriend who was hoping my breasts would grow if I gained more weight. I am pear shaped so it doesn't work that way.
Thin and healthy individuals can die of heart attacks, have high LDL cholesterol and end up with diabetes. Weight and health are not the only considerations for these diseases however if an individual who may have otherwise had a low risk of these conditions gains a serious amount of weight, especially around the waist, they have greatly increased their risk of getting these conditions. A healthy individual with a long family history or very bad luck genetically can end up with these conditions as they age. There is a misconception that the thin person will be put on medication right away in every instance. This is false in the instance of high cholesterol at least. They will be given the same scolding about diet and exercise any overweight person would receive and be given a reasonable time to lower their numbers on their own before the doctor will hand over a prescription. More and more scientific evidence is showing that good nutrition and regular exercise are better for controlling cholesterol and insulin resistance than medication.
Our brains are wired to dislike exercise (evolutionarily advantages until very recently), but that doesn't mean the carrot sticks or burpees are bad for us. A hunter gatherer walked/ran about 15km daily (male or female) and consumed around 2200kcal. If they didn't want to laze around and rest in their very limited down time they would have quickly gone into a calorie deficit they could not afford. They also had food as often as they could find it/catch it, this hardwired us to enjoy high calorie foods because we needed the fuel. We work in offices now though, sitting at desks most of the time. We have to curb these natural urges and eat the healthier options while trying to maintain a healthy level of fitness. We have the power to override base instincts. One to three cheat snacks (or even one cheat meal) a week however will not offset your progress unless you are recovering from a sugar addiction.
Drinks can contain calories. They are not very satisfying. I feel there is nothing more I can add to this.
This last one is simply ridiculous and I'll just leave it here for laughs. Women with strong abs will not be able to expand enough during a pregnancy and should cease all ab work months before conception for an ideal softening of the stomach muscles. Old wives tale you guys. A strong deep core will help you push out your baby during labor and the rest of your body (assuming everything goes well) knows what it's doing. Your abs will also not crush the growing baby. I promise. Listen to your OB-GYN, not the interwebs.
Peace.
In addition, I have heard several myths surrounding healthy living and would like for there to be an end to them. A BMI of 24 is not the ideal weight for everyone. I look very chubby nearing a BMI of 24 and have gained nearly 20lbs over my preferred weight. I know I'm not the only one. I was introduced to this idea by an ex-boyfriend who was hoping my breasts would grow if I gained more weight. I am pear shaped so it doesn't work that way.
Thin and healthy individuals can die of heart attacks, have high LDL cholesterol and end up with diabetes. Weight and health are not the only considerations for these diseases however if an individual who may have otherwise had a low risk of these conditions gains a serious amount of weight, especially around the waist, they have greatly increased their risk of getting these conditions. A healthy individual with a long family history or very bad luck genetically can end up with these conditions as they age. There is a misconception that the thin person will be put on medication right away in every instance. This is false in the instance of high cholesterol at least. They will be given the same scolding about diet and exercise any overweight person would receive and be given a reasonable time to lower their numbers on their own before the doctor will hand over a prescription. More and more scientific evidence is showing that good nutrition and regular exercise are better for controlling cholesterol and insulin resistance than medication.
Our brains are wired to dislike exercise (evolutionarily advantages until very recently), but that doesn't mean the carrot sticks or burpees are bad for us. A hunter gatherer walked/ran about 15km daily (male or female) and consumed around 2200kcal. If they didn't want to laze around and rest in their very limited down time they would have quickly gone into a calorie deficit they could not afford. They also had food as often as they could find it/catch it, this hardwired us to enjoy high calorie foods because we needed the fuel. We work in offices now though, sitting at desks most of the time. We have to curb these natural urges and eat the healthier options while trying to maintain a healthy level of fitness. We have the power to override base instincts. One to three cheat snacks (or even one cheat meal) a week however will not offset your progress unless you are recovering from a sugar addiction.
Drinks can contain calories. They are not very satisfying. I feel there is nothing more I can add to this.
This last one is simply ridiculous and I'll just leave it here for laughs. Women with strong abs will not be able to expand enough during a pregnancy and should cease all ab work months before conception for an ideal softening of the stomach muscles. Old wives tale you guys. A strong deep core will help you push out your baby during labor and the rest of your body (assuming everything goes well) knows what it's doing. Your abs will also not crush the growing baby. I promise. Listen to your OB-GYN, not the interwebs.
Peace.
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