Be an Exercise Hedonist

Fortunately, I have always enjoyed exercising.  I have to give my parents credit for instilling that in me.  Thanks, mom and dad for throwing me outside when my backside seemed glued to the chair in front of the TV.  Even at the point in my life when I was heaviest, I would sometimes do aerobics, walk to work, walk my dog around the neighborhood and the park, and play games like kickball with the kids I worked with.  Occasionally well-intentioned people would encourage me to exercise, assuming I didn’t because of my size.  But I was, and I probably would have been even bigger had I not.

In recent years, I’ve tried P90X, the Body for Life method of lifting weights, Zumba, Jazzercise, yoga, as well as various classes at my gym.  And from all these, I’ve realized this:  I am not a masochist!  I don’t need the aching knees, and the feeling old because I need a nap in the afternoon.  One class I tried at my gym was called Anaerobics, where we would exercise one muscle at a time for what seemed like 5 minutes each.  Doesn’t that sound like fun (imagine my voice dripping with sarcasm here)? 

What I do like is awesome music (hence my love of dance), moving my body, and feeling strong and sexy. Back when I did Jazzercise, I would actually get a feeling of euphoria.   Euphoria beats feeling like a creaky old woman, IMO.  If I get bored I try something new.  This summer I’m going to try getting back into biking, and maybe even lap swimming if I can learn more skills beyond my standard doggy paddle! 

My Battle Scars

Do you ever find your own ugliness fascinating?  OK, let me explain what I mean.  I don’t think I’m an ugly person overall, but the skin on my tummy is pretty darned ugly.  I have battle scars from this war of the bulge I have fought for so long, and from two pregnancies.  That skin has been through the wringer! 

I can see why women get tummy tucks.  I’m sure lots of women feel the same way I do about their abdominal skin.  But I will never forget an episode I saw of the TV show, “Dr. G:  Medical Examiner”. It was about a mom who had lost weight and decided to go under the knife to fix her loose tummy skin.  Horribly, she died from the complications of her tummy tuck.  I hope I never want to risk my life for vanity.  Losing weight for me was about being healthier and hopefully having more time on this earth with my husband and kids.  And I’m not one to want to wear a bikini again—they were never in the cards for this one-piece girl.  Lastly, and very fortunately, I am happily married to the man I’ve been with since I was 18.  He knows where my battle scars come from and they don’t seem to bother him.

So, I don't want a tummy tuck, but I do have an idea that some may find strange.  For some reason, I’m interested in examining my stomach even more closely. My idea is to take close-up photographs of the flesh there in the hope that they will look like landscapes—maybe even beautiful or interesting ones. To quote Jason Mraz’s song, I’m going to try to see "The Beauty in Ugly”. Maybe I can transform my feelings about my tummy skin this way.  Someday, if the photographs turn out in a satisfying way, and I work up enough courage, I’ll post one here with a follow-up blog entry. 

P.S.  A friend just posted this picture on Facebook, the same day I posted this blog entry.  This is NOT my picture.  But it's beautiful.

Be Wary of Weight Watchers

I joined Weight Watchers for the first time in 1990, and have rejoined many times since then.  Sometimes I had success on the program and sometimes not.  I’ve joined with friends and by myself.  The most I ever lost in one go was about 20 pounds.  I used to think Weight Watchers was the best weight loss method out there.  But I no longer think so.  I do like that they weigh you in, and give you rewards ranging from applause to key chains, if you lose weight.  It’s nice to have that accountability and get praise after working hard to lose weight each week.  And they give you a new blank journal every week to write down what you’ve eaten, which is proven to help people lose weight.

But over the years, I’ve seen an increase in their emphasis on processed food.  The first time I joined, there were either no, or very few of their foods for sale on the premises.  Now there are racks of it.  Last meeting I went to, there was even a segment where people talked about their favorite processed snacks, and brought in their empty snack bags for all to see, like an unhealthy version of show-n-tell.  Ick.

Weight Watchers Magazine bombards you with images of food.  The booklet they give you when you first join contains pictures of luscious desserts (I ripped them out).  The meetings are usually discussions on food-related topics and recipes.  Should an organization dedicated to weight loss really be doing this, when the rest of society is already tempting us with these images and messages?  For Pete’s sake, can we focus more on exercise, or the psychology behind successful weight loss, maybe even the freaking weather?????  The bottom line is that they are a company dedicated to making money, and unfortunately, I believe they are more concerned with that than about people’s health.  Reinforcing overweight people’s obsession with food, and encouraging them to eat non-nutritious salty snacks that they will probably lose control with, is, in my opinion, unethical.