Gaining 50 pounds proves nothing to no one

So, more than a year after the Maria Kang debacle, I wake up to this on my newsfeed.

"Woman packs on 50 pounds to prove 'no excuses' for being overweight"

www.today.com

Apparently, a while back, Katie Hopkins decided she was tired of having people tell her she was "lucky to be thin" and blaming their obesity on things other than themselves. She got so tired of it that she decided to eat 6,500 calories a day until she gained 50 pounds, just to show that it's only caloric intake and lack of exercise that makes people fat.

The only thing her "experiment" proves to me is that Katie Hopkins likes to fat shame. A lot. So much that she would undertake a drastic change in daily habits--one that made her cry because she thinks eating that much is so disgusting--so that she could continue to fat shame. It's that important to her.

And, honestly, it's totally off the mark.

All Hopkins did with this little foray into the world of overweight was prove that she, as an individual, with a normal metabolism, no physical or mental ailments that would beleaguer her weight control, enough money to afford a good diet, her genetic makeup and a bunch of other individual factors that make her a candidate for weight control success--would be overweight if she ate larger quantities of food than her body is used to.

I'm pretty sure science proved that already, first of all.

And secondly, proving that you personally eating a lot makes you personally gain weight says absolutely nothing about the rest of the population. To get all academia, it's not replicable and it's not generalizable.

So, congratulations on making yourself cry and force feeding yourself to gain weight so that you could then go back to your normal diet, lose the weight, and continue to fat shame--now in your mind, justified.

Hopkins has also said, "I don't believe you can be fat and happy."

To which I point her to this Tumblr.

Maybe Hopkins can't be fat and happy. She proved that to herself (unnecessarily since she already knew that about herself), but just because she doesn't like the extra weight and had to put massive effort into gaining it does not make that true for literally anybody else on the planet.

We are all different.

Hopkins, of course, is going to lose the weight in three months time by again drastically altering her diet and upping her exercise levels.

And that's great. But it doesn't prove that other people can do it.

It only proves that you can.

So, now, you're not just a random ignorant person making other people feel bad because you lack empathy and education about the different factors in obesity. Now you're an active participant in tearing people down to make yourself feel better about your life, willpower, cultural situation and genetics.

Congratulations, and good luck on your weight loss journey.








 

Beginner Body Combat for Moms and Other Not-Necessarily-Fitness-Type People

Look, it's no secret that I love Body Combat. I'm even considering becoming an instructor, once I have the time. I keep trying to get people to go, but the workouts are an hour long, the gym cost is expensive, and most of my friends have kids. It's just hard. Also, when you walk into a class of 50 people who have been doing it for years, it's intimidating. Most people don't come back.

And that makes me sad.

I don't have any real miracle story, except that I started it two years ago, when my kids were three and we were all about to lose our minds. It's been a mental sanity savior for me. I didn't do it to get results. I did it because it was so fun, and I clearly don't care about looking like a fool.

So, the first few weeks when I looked like a dead, and yet somehow constipated, 85-year-old penguin out of water, it didn't phase me. I get how people could not want to look like that, though. Particularly if they're already under immense societal pressure to be something they aren't.

So, to combat (HAHA) the time, expense and fear factors, I made a preliminary (and really shitty) video of ONE track that we do (a typical workout is eight different tracks, then push ups and abs).

The class goes fast with not a lot of instruction, so I picked a track with ONLY three moves (all kicks) that just repeat forever. I might do one for punches, but I probably won't do too many more. As crappy as these videos are, I'm not sure Les Mills would laugh if they thought I was making it easy for them not to make their bajillions of dollars on this.

HOWEVER, I would like to point out that the point of this ridiculous and silly video (in which my kids also do it) would be to push more people into spending their hard-earned money, and well-deserved time off, on body combat. Just a thought before you all sue me.

Either way, the point is, doing this has saved me not because I had some massive fitness goal, but because it was so much fun and it stopped me from eating my children. Seriously.

I did end up losing about ten pounds, and I swear I'm more muscular, even though the pictures aren't quite as convincing as I thought they'd be.

Regardless, the main point of this post is that you should do it too! It's easy. Or at least, it could be easy. You can do it at your own pace, tailor it to your own needs, and the biggest point...you don't have to do it right. Doing any of it, even wrong as hell, is really fun, and worth it, imo.

Okay. Here is my masterpiece.








Go kick some stuff and laugh at me, you'll feel better. OH! And watching it, I just figured out what I did wrong in the second half. You're supposed to be front kicking with the other leg and back kicking with the other leg. See? I know nothing. But still, we have fun.

And if body combat isn't for you, maybe Zumba is! You can check out the best shoes for the dancing workout here.






 

How to Love Me - Guest Post

Melanie Greeke took time out of her busy schedule of wrestling her three lovely children to write an inspiring piece on body image that I'd like to share here.

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As women, we are told how to look, what we have to do to achieve this look, and how inadequate we are if we fall short. This irritates the absolute shit out of me.

Women in a size small have a hard time finding clothes and feel fat in a swimsuit. Why? Because the media has given us unreal expectations of what a female body should look like. Size small? Not small enough. Super-model size thin? Too thin! Eat something, you skinny bitch. Size 10? "You'd feel so much better if you were a size 8." Size 20? "You have such a pretty face, I don't understand why you don't lose the weight!"

Because fuck you, that's why.

I had gastric bypass in August 2010 in an attempt to prolong my life because my weight and family history were leading me down a road I didn't want to travel, with two little girls who needed their mom to be healthy.

I didn't have gastric bypass to be skinny; I didn't do it to look sexy. I did it to improve my health for my children. And it worked.

But, even after gastric bypass and losing weight, I still feel the need to hide my thinner body. Oh no, the extra skin on my arms is unappealing to some! Oh no, stretch marks!

Melanie, stop it. Your insecurities are ridiculous. Let it go. You are absolutely the only one who cares enough to notice how much your "bingo wings" jiggle when you gesture your hands...and even if people do notice, who cares?  You know that shit is jiggling, too. Nothing to be ashamed of here.

So, I'm paving a new way for myself, and hopefully my daughters. We are going to love ourselves unconditionally. We will not engage in body talk or body hate. If we are feeling like there is room for improvement, we will improve, but no more standing in front of a mirror crying because skinny jeans make my thick Portuguese thighs look like sausages! No more will I allow the media to try to bamboozle me into thinking I'm anything less than absolutely spectacular. I'm going to love me for me. If I feel I need to change, I'm going to do it by myself and for myself. No man, woman, or TV personality will tell me what I need to look like.



 

Fitness Corner - 30 Days of Fitness: Contributor Post

Today, Joella from Fine and Fair takes us away from the Couch to 5K for a hot sec to talk about a different, and yet totally doable, fitness routine. It's based on the 30-day shred, and she's got nothing but good things to say!

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Last Wednesday, I did 250 squats.

I don't know about you, but for me? That's kind of a big deal.

When it comes to physical fitness, I have always been, let's say, inconsistent. I'd get into a solid workout routine, keep at it for a few weeks, and then forget that exercise is a thing for months on end. Surprisingly, all of that changed during my pregnancy with Canon. I was determined to remain healthy and strong throughout my pregnancy, committed to doing everything in my power to ensure the best possible outcomes for both of us. For the first time in my life, I was exercising consistently. I was doing yoga, water aerobics, swimming, walking, and even took up Zumba. The day before I went into labor, I was waddling, slowly but surely around the indoor track at the Y, when an older woman smiled at me and called out "Hope your water doesn't break!"

After Canon's birth, I was frustrated with having to recover from surgery before I could start easing back into the consistent physical activity I'd grown accustomed to. I started out slowly with walking, then the Babywearing Workout, then yoga, then Zumba. Consistency was difficult to come by while managing the needs of my 3 year old and my newborn, but I did what I could, when I could, re-building my strength and endurance as I went.

Fast forward to mid-April, when I started to see something about a 30 Day Squat Challenge popping up on my radar. At first, I brushed it off. I've never been successful at completing a fitness challenge. I made it 2 weeks into Couch-to-5K before hurting my knee and giving up. I made it a week into a push-up challenge once before forgetting about it. And despite owning Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred [affiliate link]for 5 years now, I've never done it consistently for more than a couple of weeks, and am decidedly...um...not "shredded."

But.

I decided to go for it, and I invited friends to join me. We got together in a facebook and encouraged and supported each other. We had a daily reminder of how many squats to do. We had a body-positive space to participate in this challenge together. Not all of us made it until the end, and those who dropped out or modified the challenge to suit their needs were fully supported.

So on the first day, I did 50 squats. And on the 30th day, I did 250 squats.

Next up, I plan to start a 30 day push-up challenge that starts with 5 push-ups and works up to 40, with several rest days thrown in for good measure. After that, the sky's the limit! A leg-lift challenge? Planks? Crunches? All of the above! In due time, of course. Will you join me?

The private Fine and Fair Fitness Challenges group is HERE. Just click "Join Group" in the upper right-hand corner, and you'll be added! Our next challenge will be starting soon, so join now and introduce yourself!


When you work out, you'll need a sturdy sports bra, so make sure to read about your best options here.





 

Life Is All About the Trends - Guest Post

Kimberly Wright, owner of a new and awesome blog, No Progress without Pain, has written a great post for me about how to keep on keeping on.

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In my house we have some motivational sayings. Some are less eloquent than others. We have a daughter with special circumstances and we have a rule never to let her say she can’t do something. We have taken an even harder approach to our own endeavors. Though some of those ‘motivational sayings’ aren’t really parenting blog appropriate.

We all get down, it’s human nature to get down about things, but I feel like sometimes my family falls into ruts harder than others. I know I personally do and I need to remind myself multiple times a day that it’s not about each up and down it’s about the overall trend.

For the last 6 months I’ve been training and following a very strict diet that my doctor placed me on due to some out of control blood work. I fall into a rut because I want all the results of these workouts and diets immediately. It is the American way after all. That’s obviously not the way it works, it’s a painfully slow hard process of changing my lifestyle and recognizing what makes me feel better and what makes me feel like a walking talking mombie (mom-zombie).

If you just look at one week it might look bad. I can “gain” 8-10 pounds seemingly overnight, but it’s not really a gain. If I look at the trends though since last fall it’s a nice sloping downward hill line showing how much all my hard work is paying off and becoming hard-earned progress.

I forget almost daily to focus on the trends and not on the day-to-day good or bad.

It’s an excellent rule to remember not only for weight loss and health but also for all aspects of life. Is today just unrealistically horrible? Did your kid cut the back of her jeans and then sit on the corner screaming for a new mother (true freaking story). That’s ok, because there will be a good days that will even out that trend and make you forget (ok maybe not forget, maybe jut accept) that bad day.


 

Fitness after Baby

Hanna over at bouffe e bambini was kind enough to share with me today her amazing journey through post-partum weight loss. Her personal how-to guide caught my attention last week, and she graciously agreed to tell her tale here.  Thank you, Hanna!

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Is there life after having 2 babies and gaining 100 pounds????

ABSOLUTELY!!!

I'm living proof! 

Hi there, My name is Hanna and I am so honored to be here guest blogging today. You can find me anytime over on my blog {bouffe e bambini} where I post lots of fun recipes,  some cute pictures of my babes, and some fun fashion stuff. 

This is me! 

It's so nice to meet you. Today I am going to share my weight loss journey with you.

I hope I can help inspire some of you who have had a baby or two and found yourself stuck in a rut, struggling with weight and just not feeling like your self anymore. I have been there my friends. I have lost 105 pounds and am so excited to share my story and inspiration with you.

Here I am with my little loves. My son little Milton is 2 and Ginger is 9 months. I'm a busy lady!

Meet my husband, big Milton!!!

So this is how my story begins.......

First, we were a happy couple!!!!

Then we fell in love and got married.

Then I got pregnant........

Gained 100 + pounds........

And had a beautiful baby boy.

My life was forever changed in more ways than one.

First of all let me say that I honestly feel like my life had truly just begun with the birth of my children. I have love for them like I never knew existed. I often feel like my heart might burst with joy when look at their shining little faces. You can read more about me and my transition into motherhood {here}

This is the condition I was left in after my first born. Then I got preganant again 4 month later. WOW! I was pregnant for 2 years straight.

The wonderful news was I was a mom and had given birth to a healthy baby boy and girl. The not so wonderful news was that I had become obese! Yes, obese. Not exactly how I wanted to describe myeself but the truth.

Honestly, when I was pregnant I thought I was so big because of the baby not realizing that when the baby came out I was going to be just as big. I was completely shocked at my size. When I looked in the mirror I had no idea what I was even looking at. I felt like I was trapped in someones else's body; a very uncomfortable body.

• My thighs rubbed together and I would develop a rash if I didn't have pants between my legs at all times.
• I had little bumps in my armpits where I would shave because they would rub against my upper arm and chafe.
• I couldn't cross my legs
• My back ached; I could barley lift my new born baby without throwing my back out
• I was always sweaty, especially under my breasts
• I felt disgusting; I have never been so uncomfortable in my life.
• I was embarrassed. I would run into an old friend and they would kind of look at me like "oh that poor girl used to be so cute but now she had kids and look at her" I HATED THAT!!!
• I had stretch marks ALL over my abdomen, thighs, upper arms and even down to the back of my shins because I had gotten so big.
• Nothing fit. I wore pajamas and plus size maternity clothes for a VERY LONG TIME!
• I stopped caring totally about my appearance; Never making an effort to look nice.
• My wedding rings didn't fit and I had gained so much weight some of my shoes wouldn't even fit.
• 
  

Basically, I just felt horrible inside and out. I felt very unattractive. I would hardly let my husband touch me becasue I felt so ashamed of my body. I stopped wearing make up all together. I wore my hair pulled back every single day and always was in old ratty PJ's. It was so depressing. I was really unhappy.

It wasn't long before I knew I had to loose the weight and not just a few pounds, I knew I needed to loose A LOT, and so my journey began.........

I was motivated and darn right DETERMINED to loose this weight. I wanted to be healthy and happy for me, my husband and my kids, It wasn't just about me. I have heard over and over again in my life that "you should just love who you are no matter what size". I love that and I think it's a great sentiment but the honest truth is for me I couldn't love myself in that condition. What's there to love about not feeling good? When I am thinner, I feel healthy, sexy, accomplished and it radiates to all areas of my life. 

 

Here are a couple before and after pictures that I hope you find inspiring.

Starting out is the hardest part of the whole journey. Lossing 100+ pounds is a very daunting task to say the least but I am just an average, everyday woman and I did it. That means you can too! 

 I did it completely on my own. I never joined Jenny Craig or weighth watchers. I didn't take diet pills, have surgery or starve myself.   I just had a vision of who I wanted to be and I made that vision come to life, Again, you find my detailed plan {HERE}. 

I think it is important to think about it long and hard before committing to something like this becasue it is a long journey but it is VERY attainable. If you have a little will power and a little dicipline you can make it happen.  It's important to set a reasonable, realistic goal and you can read more about that in my {GUIDE}

I wanted to talk a little bit about common pit falls. Many women who desperately want to loose weight will come up with a list of reasons why they don't think they can acheive thier goals so I just wanted to let you know that there is always a way. Here is how I dealt with many typical obsicles while trying to loose weight.

Common Obstacles:

• NO CHILDCARE.   I am a full time mom. I have no childcare whatsoever. I made time to exercise anyway. I bought a double stroller and a baby carrier and I walked everyday. You don't need to go to a gym to loose weight. I did while taking care of 2 babies under the age of 2.
• FULL TIME WORK.  I also work full time as a nurse, 12 hour night shifts to top it off. You must make time to prepare food for yourself to bring with you to work so youtr not tempted to eat the junk in the cafeteria.
• A SPOUSE WHO WON'T FOLLOW THE SAME MEAL PLAN AS YOU.     My husband eats pretty much everything I don't eat. He eats sweets, breads, potatoes, pastas. He eats whatever he wants. So no big deal. Prepare meals that can be shared by both like prepare chicken, mashed potatoes and broccoli. You eat the chicken and broccoli and let him eat everything else. You'll be surprised how easy it is to make it work. 
• NO TIME. I worked full time and was a full time mom during my entire weight loss plan. My best advice is to be prepared. ALWAYS, keep snack friendly food around the house and carry it with you wherever you go, fruit, almonds, cottage cheese are great examples. This way you won't be tempted to binge on whatever food is lying around the house.

I have dieted many times in the past and this is the first time in my life I have lost this amount of weight in the healthiest way I know how. I never felt hungry or deprived.

My best advice is BE KIND. BE GENTLE. FORGIVE YOURSELF and then jump right back on that wagon and try agin. Concictency was my greatest tool.

A few more tips:

• Be grateful everyday
• Just let it go
• Remind yourself how amazing you are, this is hard work
• Talk about it, accept praise from others, if you work hard, you deserve praise. It feels so good

I just have to say that I feel better now after having 2 babies than I have ever felt in my life. Not only am I in love with being a mother but now I can truly enjoy my kids and feel great about myslelf. What a great example for my kids as well. They see their mom as healthy, happy and radiant. That is a wonderful thing my friends.

I truly hope that I have helped to inspire at least one of you to give it a try. It is possible. It is doable even with kids and work and every other crazy thing life throws at you. I am passionate about this and I would truly be happy to answer any questions or just chat about how difficuilt weight loss can be. Please feel free to email me anytime at "www.bouffeebambini@hotmail.com"

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