Extremes Are Just Wrong!

Continuation of yesterday's rant against fatties being 'conned' (may be?)  into feeling they must become super-athletic. Surely, that notion has to be damaging, yet it's so prevalent. One of my concerns now is that couch potatoes are being drip-fed the idea that they must become runners. I see so many huge people lumbering along on pavements, red-faced and obviously distressed. Part of me thinks - well done. Another part of me thinks that bloke is going to keel over any minute. There is no joy or look of determination or satisfaction on his face...this is a penance, a punishment for being fat. OK, so he may learn to love running..or he may give up, because going from being a sedentary being to one who runs is just too great a leap. However...the very fat would-be runners are everywhere. Take a look. They are. I am wondering - why? Surely you have to be reasonably fit to RUN?

I am also wondering if running is the magic bullet of weight-loss that I have been searching for. I don't seem to be able to lose weight. I can, but my weight-loss doesn't match my efforts at all. OK, so I am a post-menopausal, middle aged woman who takes seven different prescribed medications every day, for various chronic complaints. Some have weight-gain as a side effect. I am concerned that I can maintain my weight, but not lose it.

Perhaps I am just peculiar. I know that despite my efforts, which have been genuine, I am finding it hard to lose weight. I am not  finding 1) cutting back and  2) cutting out food-wise and 3) ensuring I move more particularly hard, but I am having little success in seeing the scales show much change either way. OK, so I have lost 13lbs, but I have lost count of the months it's taken me to do that! Months! Yes, when I have had bad weeks I hold my hands up. I don't expect to see change, but when I have successfully exercised and eaten well there is also little change. Strangely, when I have had the odd bad day, the scales show no movement...no gain. It's as though my body just wants to maintain the weight I am! It's wierd. Even weeks of twice a day exercise - walking at a brisk rate and a session on the exercise bike, plus all the other things I do which involve movement in the course of a day, the scales just don't budge! OK, I know losing a pound here and a pound there, doing it (really!) slowly is GOOD, but it's also very frustrating. It's also tempting to think "Why am I doing this! It's too hard!"

I have told myself my lifestyle is so much better and losing weight is a bonus. I know slow weight gain is recommended too...in that if it comes off slowly and steadily good habits are formed so it won't all come back quickly either. (Not sure about that theory, but it has been promoted.)

I have thought about WHY the weight is resisting saying goodbye to my body.

It could be that I am kidding myself and my portion control is way out...but with hand on heart I can say it's not.

It could be that I need to cut back on calories even further, but thanks to a blog elsewhere I was able to get a fairly scientific theory for the number of calories I should allow myself. I should be going for 1600 daily which would give me a 2lb per week weight loss. I am however not counting calories. I did initially, so I got an idea about how much food I could eat in a day. I am able to check the calories in certain foods...loads of online calorie counters to use...so if I feel the need to, I'll check. I am however against diets per se and the counting of calories. I want to eat healthily and move more, and see weight drop off.

I don't binge eat. I do however comfort eat, but for the most part I haven't done that since I got serious.
If I am tempted beyond endurance (and that hasn't happened too much since I started this campaign) I'll taste the food which is tempting me.  A taste suffices..and has done ever since the doughnut episode, written about several weeks ago. It's hardly happening at all now...I am successfully weaning myself off so many foods -  which I believe is the way forward and a more sensible approach than total abstinance.

I don't imagine that for the remainder of my life I will eschew every single food that I enjoyed before. That's an unrealistic expectation, therefore I am learning how to exclude those foods for the most part, and becoming aware that when I want them they can be damaging, so sense is needed. They'll never be labeled 'bad' though.

I lost weight once by denying myself every single thing that I enjoyed and it really fucked up my head and yes...slowly I started indulging again without giving much thought to what I was doing. Doing that just screws us up. It's stupid. I don't want to go to that place again, therefore, "all things in moderation, some things rarely," has to be the way forward. For me. I can hear some people tutting and immediately saying "THIS is why you are not losing weight very successfully."

I'd disagree. My lifestyle today is quite different from the one I had in March of this year. Very different. I am aware of my food intake, it's planned, as is my very conscious effort to move. I am eating less, eating better, and moving more. I have the odd day off from that - the "I must exercise" part. Given I wasn't exercising at all before, I am wondering if my body has gone into shock ;-) (I jest...) I am reasonably fit. I don't huff and puff when I walk and I can climb stairs without getting out of breath...several flights of stairs...not a tower block's worth. I can walk for long distances without having to stop...always have been able to.

So what am I not doing? Given I have no truck with the diet-nazi approach and faddy diets, and the going- for-the-burn approach in exercise, I think my way forward makes sense.

I am asking myself - do I have to starve myself? (Conventional wisdom says no.) Do I have to become a running super-athlete like the huge people transformed on The Biggest Loser? I'd say no - no way.

Such extremes are used for entertainment purposes. Many fat people undertaking such arduous tasks with so much blubber on their frames would pass out or have a heart-attack. Entrants are medically checked before they take part and are monitored and supervised every step of the way. Many overweight people would not be up to going straight into those physical endurance tests. That isn't realistic. It's fascinating, and I am pleased that people change, but it's a TV programme devoted to extremes. I don't think we are expected to follow that example! To each their own, but isn't it true that you can't run before you can walk?

I am not in this so I can become an athlete or to run marathons or to punish myself. I am resisting running. I may want to run later on, who knows, but really - I'll settle for middle aged, slim and fit.

Huh. If only.....that seems beyond my reach too :(

I believe that the Good Lord gave us a finite number of heartbeats and I'm damned if I'm going to use up mine running up and down a street. ~ Neil Armstrong on jogging, in an interview with Walter Cronkite

Anyway, sorry for the moan. How do you feel about 'pushing' yourself to that extent? Am I just being contrary or do I have a point? I feel almost guilt-tripped into becoming someone who signs up for running challenges. Great if you enjoy it - if not, be a spectator and do your own thing, exercise-wise. The point is - we have to move and we have to sweat, but there's sweating and sweating - right? ;-)

Now get off that chair and move. Go on.