Enjoy Your Weekend

After the record-setting heat of the last few days I’m looking forward to relaxing this weekend.
Keep clam!

Thankful Thursday

[Another weekly exercise in gratitude.]
1)  Being able to do a brisker walk than before…
2) Getting strong enough to up the weights I lift at the gym, too :)
3) Our lavender bush just keeps blooming.
4)  Seattle’s much-higher-than-normal heat wave is starting to break.
5) Having the ready cash to move into a hotel for a few nights’ sleep [...]

Things To Read

First: Unapologetically Fat spotted “Obesity Police’s Shaky Science” in The Baltimore Sun, which starts with:
Why is a thin, male smoker considered a physical role model as president but a full-figured African-American woman is considered an embarrassment as his nominee for surgeon general?
…and moves on to discuss the recent obesity research that finds that overweight people live [...]

Science Reporting vs Reality

It’s not uncommon to see health stories that turn out not to be valid.  Sometimes one study is later contradicted by others, which is a lot of what science is about. Sometimes the science news cycle / game of telephone adds confusion. Sometimes a computer model  invents something wonky, but with an appealing hook.
And then [...]

A brief, humorous note

It’s reassuring when a treadmill (or stationary bike, or whatever) will let me enter my actual weight.   ;)

Aerobics at Home

(This is based on Paige’s comment on the Why Go to the Gym? post.  My reply was getting awfully long, and I thought other folks who read this blog would have good input too. )
[J]ust going outside to walk isn’t an option 8 out of 12 months in the year… Reason being, going outside the [...]

Why Go to the Gym?

During a discussion on another site, someone mentioned in passing that “many – if not most – people join a gym to lose weight”.
This made me think a bit.
Do I hear gymgoers talking about losing weight or wanting to lose weight? Some.  But I also hear gymgoers talking about getting stronger, or faster, or increasing [...]

Small Pleasures

Tuesday I got tired of feeling stiff each time I got up from my desk.  I started an experiement: even if I’m just getting up to get coffee/tea or go to the bathroom, I “take the long way”.  I walk through more of the office than strictly necessary, then downstairs a flight and back up.
I [...]

Thankful Thursday

[Another weekly exercise in gratitude.]
1) Friends who get why greeting me with “Wow, you’ve lost weight!” isn’t helpful.
2) Being able to smile and say, “I’ve been working out more and it really changes how I hold myself” and then move onto other topics.
3) Thought-provoking Fatosphere posts.
4) White wine at the end of a long and interrupted [...]

Food Hype

With all the hype about “superfoods” and how they can make you thin or prevent cancer, it’s a wonder that Starbucks doesn’t build an advertising campaign around things like:
Moderate coffee drinkers are at decreased risk of Type 2 diabetes, gallstones and colon cancer. They also show improved cognitive function and develop fewer cases of Parkinson’s [...]

Thankful Thursday…

…just under the wire :)  Today I’m thankful for:

My Making It Big order (BOGO, on clearance) arriving and all four items fit.
I’m taking a long weekend just because I feel like it ;)
Being able to lift some boxes today a lot easier than a few months ago.
Going out to the French place for a Bastille [...]

NYTimes on Fat Acceptance (Again)

“Throwing out the diet and embracing the fat” is not a perfect description of fat acceptance, but very, very good to see in mainstream media.  Many fat blogs are named and linked to;  four or five books are mentioned; and the obligatory “but people are healthier if they’re thinner” doesn’t get the last word — [...]