Day in the Life: Using A Ball As A Desk Chair

According to proponents, “the constant adjustment and readjustment that your body makes on the ball will work your core muscles — even sitting at your desk.” The potential strain this can put on your lower back and spine is, in fact, why some ergonomics specialists recommend not using a ball at work. The research I’ve found doesn’t see much difference between sitting on a ball or a chair, but it only deals with durations of 30 or 60 minutes, not a full day (or week).

Incentives to lose weight?

From The Onion’s satirical corner comes this “man on the street” reaction to the news that the Army has rejected 48,000 would-be recruits for being too fat.  
So let’s summarize my incentives for losing weight: I’ll be hungry all the time, I’ll be tired all the time, and I’ll qualify for Army service.
Not to mention [...]

Thankful Thursday

Obviously I’m on the west coast since it’s still Thursday here ;)
1) Time with my sweetie. 
2) Have a new “exercise ball” to sit on at my desk at the office, paid for by work.  No arms, so “arms digging into my hips and thighs” problem with the standard office chairs goes away.  Plus it’s fun [...]

Letting Go

One thing about growing up: you learn how to let go of things, too.  Sometimes it’s all happy, sometimes it’s bittersweet, sometimes it’s an ugly, ugly loss.  Sometimes  it’s “I let it go” and sometimes it’s “It was ripped away from me” – but it’s gone, and you have to deal with that. 
What brought this [...]

666 …

At the moment this blog has 666 approved (non-spam) comments.  
I just had to share that ;)

DayintheLife: Oh yeah, I’m fat

Every once in a while I run into one of those “Oh, my, yes, I really AM big” moments.  Recently I had three of them.
1) Going to the football/soccer stadium for the Sounders FC game on Thursday.  As stadium seats go they weren’t the worst I’ve been in; some have the armrests so tight I [...]

Knee Rehab: Feeling Good :)

Well, not completely.  I am a bit amused that I can work up to a brisk, steady clip on the treadmill in my office building’s mini-gym with no limp, then limp as I’m walking to my office.  I think it’s partly that I am usually walking a bit slower when I’m off the treadmill…and that the [...]

Things Worth Reading

Do you know your upper arm size in centimeters?  Well-Rounded Mama has a great post on how the wrong blood-pressure-cuff size can cause misdiagnosis and over- or under-treatment.   (Mine is 48.)  
Margaret Cho’s “diet” where you eat what you want, you don’t have to eat anything you don’t want, and you can buy clothes [...]

Thankful Thursday

1) I’ve got a day off!  Whee, I get to play! :) 
2) Knee is reminding me to walk daily  in addition to other exercises.  [....this is the silver lining within the cloud of "Argh, I can't take a day (or two or five) off?"]
3) Knee is not hurting badly and I can walk with only a slight [...]

Health Assessments

Mcfluffy’s post in the LJ fatshionista community about health assessments, and the resulting comment thread, got me thinking. She had one very negative assessement from the website of her health insurance company; she had a very positive assessment from the “general health assessement” from another site.

Chronic Stress Tied to Obesity? Hey, Let’s Make Them Thin…

So I was reading about a study that says kids of families with chronic stress were maybe a little more likely to be fat and wondering what else there is about chronic stress and being fat.   I run into: 
Researchers found a molecule the body releases when stressed called NPY (neuropeptide Y). NPY appears to unlock certain [...]

Optimism

It’s getting tougher these days to think of the glass as half full rather than half empty, but if you’re going to survive this economic crisis – literally – you might as well try. – Time
Optimism.  This can be hard when 2 people you know lost their job in the last week and a third [...]