NYT on The Biggest Loser: “Health Can Take A Back Seat”

From The New York Times‘ article on The Biggest Loser today:
Doctors, nutritionists and physiologists not affiliated with “The Biggest Loser” express doubt about the program’s regimen of severe caloric restriction and up to six hours a day of strenuous exercise, which cause contestants to sometimes lose more than 15 pounds a week.
At least one other [...]

What would you put into a Fitness for Life class?

Everyone’s talking about Lincoln college requiring students with a BMI of 30 or larger to take a “Fitness for Life” class.
What I’m wondering is, what would you like to see in such a class?  Not what is usually in such classes, or what Lincoln is including — what would rock your socks to see?
Here’s [...]

Feeling Better

I caught up on sleep over the weekend.  This is good thing, since I turn into a bear of very little patience when I don’t have enough.  ;)
I also realized yesterday that I’ve gone days without taking ibuprofen for my leg.  I passed “Not hurting all the time” a little over a week ago and [...]

Thankful Thursday

(Yes, starting these weekly exercises in gratitude again — just under the wire :)
1) I took a Vacation.  My first full week off in over a year.   Even though I’m still limping.  Woohoo!
2) I’m adjusting to using a cane as needed, and discovering I don’t get more looks than usual with it.
3) …already blogged, [...]

Oprah Mag printed the words “fat acceptance”

Yeah, I’m kind of in shock too.
It’s in the December 2009 issue. The Fat Fight in the “Connections” section, by Robin Marantz Henig and Jess Zimmerman.   Actually it’s a pair of articles: the first is by the mother, Henig; the second is by the daughter, Zimmerman.
Henig discusses how she tried to be “supportive” of [...]

Virtual Window Shopping: Zaftique

[Looking at supersize / extended size clothing which is to say, clothing I can wear. Preferably modeled by fat people.]
Zaftique carries a lot of clothes are sexy.   Curves are emphasized; stretch (and lace and chiffon and velvet) is often utilized.   Not everything’s tight, mind, but a lot of it is.  There’s also a  sense [...]

Airflight Update

As it happens, I could get the armrest down on a standard coach seat.  There was definitely hip compression going on, it wouldn’t be comfortable long-term…but it was down.
However…
The man of the house has broad shoulders.  I mean, I have broad shoulders, and his are broader, and the two of us sitting together in 2 [...]

Losing Weight Doesn’t Prevent Cancer?

From an article on myths and facts in cancer prevention in The New York Times comes this interesting sidebar.   Specifically, among things that have not been shown to prevent cancer are:

Exercise
Fruits and vegetables
Losing weight
Low-fat diet

So why are these so often recommended?
“I think it’s wishful thinking,” said Dr. Susan Love, a breast surgeon and president [...]

Checking in from the airport…

…to say what the F is with airline personnel looking at me like I’ve sprouted an extra head for having purchased a second seat?  If I’m not obviously fat enough for the seats maybe it’s not that I’m so fat but that the seats are so small!

A thought for the new week

Recently, I read a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in which 300 “moderately obese people” were followed on three different diets: the low-carb diet, the low-fat diet, and the Mediterranean diet (healthy fats, some dairy products, abundant fruits and vegetables). After the first five months of tightly controlled dieting, the dieters [...]

ADA: Not all fat people get diabetes

From the American Diabetes Association:
In a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the American Diabetes Association, 2,081 Americans were asked questions to test their diabetes knowledge.  The results showed that several diabetes myths and misconceptions are common and diabetes remains a misunderstood disease.
[...]
Myth: If you are overweight or obese, you will eventually [...]