Every Gym’s Nightmare

Me first:

I’ve decided to buy myself a treadmill. I never buy myself presents, but I’m buying myself this one to celebrate my promotion.

And also because:

1) The weather is starting to turn bad and I wont be able to walk/run outside (im wimpy and I’ll melt)
2) I’ll save money on gas by not driving to the gym all the time
3) When my hours change, i will be even less likely to drive to the gym in the morning, so i can get up and use it right away
4) I’m always boringly responsible with my money
5)It will be motivation to finally clean out my spare room
6) I want one

I’m looking at this one, (i know, I know, its walmart, but its so cheap) but i want to go to the store first and see what they have cause i dont want one thats all flimsy and loud. I’ll probably go look this weekend.

Present for you:
if you are Alex. and if you are interested in the answer to her question. Head over to GroundedFitness and read Q and A: Any Advantage to Alternating?

SarahF, Ill get your question up soon I promise. Gah, I can;t wait until things calm down and Im not running around all over the place (work, writing, gym, visiting my mom, etc.) with my head cut off. if i were a chicken. I said that wrong.

And now a present for all of us: HAMSTER! I can’t be happy when there are hamsters around

toothpastefordinner.com

30 minutes is no longer enough cardio for the clinically obese. head to groundedfitness to read the new requirments.

Alex and SarahF, Ill get your Q and A’s up this evening/morning on groundedfitness as well. Thanks for your patience.

Wow, how very telephone operator of me.

Justy2003 called me out:
Hey Kelly, I found this article and had a question about it, which has nothing to do with this post really…
Here’s the article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7530345.stm
It says for people maintaining weight loss you should work out MORE. But I remember you previously saying that once you’re in maintenance mode you can work out a lot less than you were when losing. Just wondering your thoughts on the article.

K, I either miss spoke, or i didnt explain myself clearly. Either way: i need to clear it up.

i went back to my trusty ACE Personal Trainer textbook to find my answer.

“[The Maintenance Stage] usually begins five to six months after the start of training, and hopefully, extends for a lifetime. To ensure long term complaince, the exercise program should be enjoyable, fit into the time schedule without undue stress, meet personal needs and goals, and be adaptable to changes in weather and location…..Maintenance of physical fitness, however, is acheivable even when training volume (but not intensity) is decresed by half.”

Having lost the weight, and being in maintenance stage are two completely seperate things. As I said before the maintenance stage is “successful, sustained lifestyle modification.”

You can bust your ass in the gym and drop weight, but you arent neccissarily in maintence mode. you may be trying to actively maintain your weight, but in true Nationally Certified Personal Trainer terminology, maintenance is only when you dont have to actively try and change your lifestyle (like by being on a diet, trying to lose more weight, forcing yourself to go to the gym/workout: basically “white knuckling it”) True maintence is when these things are engrained in you and you aren’t having “good” days and “bad.”

Maintenance in terms of being at the weight you want, and maintence in terms of having fully adopted your healthy lifestyle habits, nutritionally and fitness wise, are two completely seperate things. True maintence stage is when you these healthy lifestyle modifications are engrained in yo uand become second nature- so theres no chance of gaining your weight back, as you dont over eat and you are no longer sedentary. If you relapse and gain wieght, you are not in the maintenance stage.

I hope that made sense. Call me out again if it didnt.

Head over to GroundedFitness and read: I’m a Giant MF-er

First I want to thank everyone for all your input on the whole fat acceptance thing. Not only has it taught me what amazingly smart, understanding and compassionate readers I have, but I also learned a lot from your points of view.

Unfortunately, it also showed me not only how horrible and insensitive some people can be, but how proud they are to share it.

nataliedee.com

On to more important things: ME.

I have been officially pedometer-free for over a week now, and honestly, I feel like Im better off without it. Not only do I not have to worry about dropping it inthe toilet, or it making an ungly bulge under my shirts, or people asking me if its a pager (i dont think ive ever met anyone who actually owns a pager) but Im getting more quality cardio in. I used to just make sure i hit my end goal of 12000-15000 steps, but now I focus more on the time (30 minutes on the elliptical, and hour walk or run, etc.)

Im kind of excited because my hours are going to change after my promotion and I hire someone to fill my old spot (which I am nervous about, because how in the hell am i supposed to know what kinf of employee they will be after meeting them once? and I might be overly critical cause they are replacing me and I think of my clients as MINE and no one is good enough for them. except me. im like an overprotective mother.) ANYWHOOZIT Ill probably be working a 10:00-6:00ish schedule instead of the 5:15 am -1:30pm im doing right now, which means WELCOME BACK MORNING WORKOUTS!! Oh, how i have missed thee. I love going for a run or walk at dusk or heading to the gym when no one is there except for the diehard crowd- i can’t wait.

The only down side to working out in the morning is I tend to feel more rushed. When its the last thing I have to do for the day, I can really take my time and kind of move at my own pace, which usually translates to a longer workout. When I workout in the morning, before work, I feel like i rush through it and perhaps dont get as much in as I normally would.

Do you guys work out in the morning/afternoon/night?

Don’t forget to head to GroundedFitness, too!

I finished it early, so i went ahead an posted it.

Head over to GroundedFitness and see my veiw on the movement, and how we, as a society, treat the over weight.

Thanks for your guys’ input on the post previous posts. I didnt quote anyone, but i did use a lot of the points you brought up.

My sister has this to say about the Fat Acceptance post/comments:

It’s really interesting to me to watch how people behave over how other people look.

Even if you couch it with “Well, I just want them all to be HEALTHY!”, it still boils down to you being worried about what someone else is doing…why, specifically?

If it’s because it’s a friend or family member that you KNOW is engaging in unhealthy activity though they have the means to do otherwise, that’s one thing. That friend or family member is someone you have personal interaction with - you have firsthand experience with their habits, and you have an emotional connection with that person - you put stock in their continued existence on the planet.

But if it’s just someone you see walking down the street, you don’t know what their state of health is. You don’t know why they’re big. And unless you’re some kind of superhuman that really DOES give a shit about the well-being of absolutely everyone on the planet, I highly doubt that you are actually, personally, specifically, individually concerned for each and every Headless Fat Person whose ass you see on the nightly news during the latest piece screaming about how the world will soon fall off its axis because 600 people in the Detroit Metro area have gained 500 pounds apiece in the last year, thus throwing the balance of the universe off.

I always wonder what the real motivation for this kind of behavior is.

Also, just want to throw this out there —

If you believe health care costs for the obese are ruining your life, then you have a long road ahead of you to fix it. And, oddly enough, it doesn’t involve saying, “Hey! You! Fatass! Stop eating so much!”

It involves a whole slew of other things.

For instance, eradicating poverty. Because just as important as HOW MUCH you eat is WHAT you’re eating. And poor people can’t afford stuff - it’s kind of what being poor means. If you only have 50 dollars a week to spend on groceries to feed your family of 4, are you going to head for the boneless, skinless chicken breast for $6.99 a pound? No, you’re going to head for the 99 cent package of hot dogs, the 10 cent ramen, and the 87 cent mac&cheese. Yes, the chicken is much healthier for you and your family, and you probably KNOW that - but buying that chicken will take a considerable chunk out of your 50 dollars and mean that you’re going to have no food for other meals.

Y’know, unless we want to see about passing some legislation that poor people are only allowed to eat on Mondays and Fridays (with one alternating Wednesday a month), because they’re not allowed to buy things that aren’t healthy. I imagine that’ll get rid of a lot of fat people for you.

Thoughts?

go to Grounded Fitness to find out!

Just popping in real fast to thank you guys for all your kind words yesterday. and today, i guess.

Unfortunately, my mom got turned down by the skilled care facility, so she will be further away than hoped. We haven’t found one to take her yet, but we know it wont be close. Itll all work out though, so no worries.

I just got back from the gym today and am feeling especially energized after the sweat session. its a nice feeling, but i have to go shower before my dog makes me sleep on the floor.

I found this article on Breaking The Mirror, and thought it was timely to our discussion. Anyone seen it? I wish it would come to Seattle, the only independent films we get are about zombies or paisley.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a post that’s actually about something.

In the mean time, enter my Badass Giveaway at GroundedFitness. Now.

And a reminder to eat your fruits….

nataliedee.com

Don’t get mad, but I’m going to have to push the Fat Acceptance article off until Monday on GroundedFitness. Its a big peice, I’d like to spend a lot of time on it, and i didn’t know this, but over at b5media, they have theme days every month. This month is “Independence” (for July, get it?) so i have to leave that post up for a bit, (check it out here) and then the winner of the Badass Kettlebell Giveaway is going to be announced on Friday, so I want to give the attention the post deserves. I also want to thank you guys for all your comments, and encourage you to keep leaving them, cause my peice isnt done till i hit “publish” ;).

I’m a little stressed right now. i know i mentioned it a while back, but didnt elaborate because I’m not very good at personal stuff. My mom is very sick, and has been in the hospital for a long time. Her prognosis is not good, and we are currently looking for a skilled nursing facility to house her, which is a lot harder than you’d think. There are two near my house, the rest are really far away. One near me said no, and wouldnt budge. i raced over to the other one and sat down with admissions rep to plead my case. there are some insurance issues and they are sending someone over to speak with my mom tomorrow and make their decision. Im scared to death. if they accept her, she will literally be 2 blocks from my house. i can walk and see her everyday. if they dont, she will be in downtown Seattle, where I would probably only be able to see her about once a week, due to my schedule and budget for gas and parking. Now you guys know why Im a little ball of stress all the time. But tomorrow it will hopefully all work out and we can fall into a little bit better of a routine instead of me driving a half hour each way to see her at the hospital she is in right now. So, that is also why i am pushing the article back to Monday. I just can’t focus on it right now.

Ok, enough serious stuff.

I pulled my hammy yesterday using the very same kind of kettlebell im giving away. Be careful, folks, and most importantly, stretch. Meh, whoever wins it is way more badass than me, anyway, so they probably eat hamstrings for lunch. Gross.

I’m off to do some strength training, take a bath, make dinner and, hopefully, fall asleep. I havent been sleeping very well lately and its catching up to me. I need a night veg and do nothing. See ya’ll tomorrow.

Do some pushups because it’s……

nataliedee.com

I need your opinions, folks. I’m working on a peice about the Fat Acceptance Movement, and would like your thoughts.

Im usually pretty opinionated, and while I’m open to other sides, and may change my opinion later, I usually come at a topic with clearcut stance. Not so much this time. I’m doing as much research as i can, and the piece will be up this Thursday on GroundedFitness, but I would like your opinions on this first (and permission to quote some of you.)

As a personal trainer, a woman, and an ex bulimic, its hard to make up my mind. One one hand, being overwieght is unhealthy, and as a personal trainer I am not comfortable just saying, “as long as you are happy…” when it comes to your weight and, thus, your health. As a woman, I’m sick of being judged by both men and woman, whether it be positively or negatively, based on the way I look and my body type. As a exbulimic, I just want to stand up a cheer for those that accept themselves no matter how they look. It hard, Im torn and I would like you help.

OF COURSE, overweight people should never be the objects of ridicule, face discrimination, or be looked down upon, but does this movement promote being unhealthy? Obesity is as an epidemic right now, should the focus be on accepting the weight, or doing something to change it? There is some decention in the movement between the overweight trying to lose the weight and those that are proud to be their size and have no intention of dropping an ounce. Is this contradictory? Hypocritical?

I’ve provided some links so you guys can read up on the subject if you wish, and please leave more link, your comments, personal experiences and opinions- i want to hear from every shape, size, sex- everyone.

The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance
The Fat Acceptance Movement- Wikipedia
Big Fat Blog- a blog about fat acceptance
Kate Harding’s Shapely Prose- a blog written by fat activists

And don’t forget about GroundedFitness’s Badass Giveaway. Contest ends July 25th.