Waist matters & frustration - some venting

[Selkie]

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And I recently heard that apples are more intelligent than pears!

.

Where did you hear this?

I'm sure you didn't mean to offend the pears among us, but IMHO, there are a lot of very intelligent pears posting on this forum.

FWIW, I'm neither a pear nor an apple. And I readily admit that "groups" claiming to more intelligent/better than other "groups" is a real hot button issue for me.

People come in all shapes and sizes, and let's face it, other people usually don't pay attention or even care about another person's shape. They are more interested in whether a person is kind, interesting to speak with, a good friend, etc.

[marni]

Where did you hear this?

I'm sure you didn't mean to offend the pears among us, but IMHO, there are a lot of very intelligent pears posting on this forum.

FWIW, I'm neither a pear nor an apple. And I readily admit that "groups" claiming to more intelligent/better than other "groups" is a real hot button issue for me.

People come in all shapes and sizes, and let's face it, other people usually don't pay attention or even care about another person's shape. They are more interested in whether a person is kind, interesting to speak with, a good friend, etc.

to quote a Danish James Thurber type poet " you wouldn't worry what people think of you if you knew that they seldom do."

marni

[uk elephant]

thank you, Knot! I totally failed your little test, although I knew my core was in need of help anyway (combination of surgery and years of bad posture). Your description of bad posture sounds just like mine. I had better start doing something about it. Starting.....now! Puh, that's hard work! But how do you breathe and read papers and concentrate on work while also focusing on contracting stomach muscles and lifting boobs?

[Crankin]

I started thinking about posture a few weeks ago. I am a pear, and always have had a small waist, even when I was heavier.
But lately, my whole ab area (upper and lower) feels loose. I don't have a belly, but I just don't like the changes I feel. I am definitely in the bad posture category, so I am trying to be aware and pull those muscles in at all times. It's really hard! I tend to lock my knees, too. I notice that almost everyone around here does that.
Catrin, you know, I felt the same way about my rear end. After getting into shape, years ago, it's not huge anymore, but it's never going to be firm and toned, like my core. Well, maybe with lots of squats and lunges, but I am not willing to do that. I am in proportion, and accept the fact that it's my weak spot.
Yea, if I had even average sized boobs, I wouldn't look so pear-ish.

[ny biker]

I started thinking about posture a few weeks ago. I am a pear, and always have had a small waist, even when I was heavier.
But lately, my whole ab area (upper and lower) feels loose. I don't have a belly, but I just don't like the changes I feel. I am definitely in the bad posture category, so I am trying to be aware and pull those muscles in at all times. It's really hard! I tend to lock my knees, too. I notice that almost everyone around here does that.
Catrin, you know, I felt the same way about my rear end. After getting into shape, years ago, it's not huge anymore, but it's never going to be firm and toned, like my core. Well, maybe with lots of squats and lunges, but I am not willing to do that. I am in proportion, and accept the fact that it's my weak spot.
Yea, if I had even average sized boobs, I wouldn't look so pear-ish.

I fake an hourglass figure by having broad shoulders.

[NoNo]

So yesterday I tried keeping good posture the entire day at work. I seriously never have to leave my desk, so there's tons of potential for bad posture. By 1:30 I was tired. It was hard to stay upright! I wanted to lean or slouch or hunch so badly. By 4:30 I was glad to be heading home, where I knew I'd be on my feet most of the night.

But there was a problem: I'd started to get a headache just before I left work. Then I got home and it got a little worse. By the time I was done working around the house around 9, it was a pretty bad headache. Not my normal headache which starts in my neck, but my skull was locked up. I fell asleep watching tv, which normally helps. Nope, pain was still there. I staggered to bed and spent a fitful few hours trying to sleep through the shooting pain in my skull. At 4AM I couldn't take it any more and popped some Excedrin. It took a while, but the pain finally subsided. My question: Could the headache be related to the effort of keeping upright all day? Like I was using new muscles and they cramped up? I very rarely get a headache where my skull locks like that, so I thought there might be a correlation.

[NbyNW]

My question: Could the headache be related to the effort of keeping upright all day? Like I was using new muscles and they cramped up? I very rarely get a headache where my skull locks like that, so I thought there might be a correlation.

Could be. When I get a tension headache, it's VERY painful, and there are muscles in my neck and shoulder that tend to be tight as well. I have a muscle relaxant that I take before bed when I get to one of these, but if it's the middle of the day and I don't want to sleep, or if I don't have access to my medication, I work on trigger points in my neck, shoulder and face and it helps relieve the worst of the pain.

In Pilates we work a lot at keeping shoulders relaxed and neutral. In a lot of the exercises there can be a tendency to shrug the shoulders, or in my case, hyperextend them. It's another body awareness thing to develop.

How is your desk at work set up? Is the height of your chair appropriate to your desktop/keyboard? What about your monitor? Do you need a footrest? All of these things should be positioned to promote good posture. There's probably a good diagram of this floating around on the internet somewhere.