January/February weight management challenge

[salsabike]

Here is a good post by Krista Scott-Dixon about embracing your body for what it is... (including those same olympic athletes photos):

http://www.stumptuous.com/why-dont-y...-fitness-model

Wow, check out Lynne Cox! Formidable swims.

[GLC1968]

Oh, and in all the excitement...I forgot to post my weight! I'm up to 147.1. Three splurge meals in one weekend will do that to a person. I'm OK with it since my plan is to hold pattern until the 22nd when I will start actively trying to lose again. I don't think I'm *really* up two pounds, either...

[Susan Otcenas]

"Don’t try to look like someone else. Try to look like yourself, only fitter. If you have big muscular legs, use them to squat with. If you have narrow hips, take up running. If you have wide shoulders and big hands and feet, enjoy beating the hell out of everyone else at swimming."

This is my favorite quote from the article GLC posted. Good reminder for all of us to celebrate what we have.

[tealtreak]

"Don’t try to look like someone else. Try to look like yourself, only fitter. If you have big muscular legs, use them to squat with. If you have narrow hips, take up running. If you have wide shoulders and big hands and feet, enjoy beating the hell out of everyone else at swimming."

This is my favorite quote from the article GLC posted. Good reminder for all of us to celebrate what we have.

Amen to that and not to sound preachy...........but how about celebrate being free of ALS, Cancer, or even yeah! I was born with all my limbs and my eyesight...........

[emily_in_nc]

This may be society's way of influencing my thinking, but I am proud of the fact that I have a flat stomach and no back fat at age 58, after having kids, etc. I'm not anorexic, and I love to cook and eat.

You are also most likely genetically blessed. I am about your size (weight and height-wise) and yet starting at around age 45, I started getting more tummy fat, more hip fat (love handles), and yes, back fat. At 50, these things have only gotten worse, especially since I've also put on a few lbs. lately. I also wear a C cup bra so have more fat there as well. I run, I bike, I walk, I do yoga, I don't even own a car, I have strong legs and a reasonably strong upper body for my size, and yet I have a higher % of body fat than is ideal and than I feel comfortable with. I would have to get down to about 95 lbs. or less (or have liposuction) to have a flat stomach again. I have rolls of fat on my belly when I sit down, and I hate it.

I also have lots of fat people in my family on both my mother and father's side back two generations. I eat a much healthier diet than any of them ever did, and am much more physically fit and active; and those facts are all that is standing between me and obesity. I am quite sure that if I lived the lifestyles most of my relatives did, I would be obese.

[goldfinch]

You are also most likely genetically blessed. I am about your size (weight and height-wise) and yet starting at around age 45, I started getting more tummy fat, more hip fat (love handles), and yes, back fat. At 50, these things have only gotten worse, especially since I've also put on a few lbs. lately. I also wear a C cup bra so have more fat there as well. I run, I bike, I walk, I do yoga, I don't even own a car, I have strong legs and a reasonably strong upper body for my size, and yet I have a higher % of body fat than is ideal and than I feel comfortable with. I would have to get down to about 95 lbs. or less (or have liposuction) to have a flat stomach again. I have rolls of fat on my belly when I sit down, and I hate it.

I also have lots of fat people in my family on both my mother and father's side back two generations. I eat a much healthier diet than any of them ever did, and am much more physically fit and active; and those facts are all that is standing between me and obesity. I am quite sure that if I lived the lifestyles most of my relatives did, I would be obese.

I've never had a flat stomach and always have had a large chest, even when I weighed 95 pounds I was curvy. It is my genetic destiny. All the women in my family are round to one degree or another. I now wear a 32F or G bra. My body fat is higher than I want but the best I can do is be sure to work on staying fit and active, as you do.

Losing a lot of weight in my late 50s has left me with too much skin. Which is a drag but it is what it is.

[Crankin]

My genetics are a mixed bag. While my mom was very petite and slim for most of her life (and active at a time when women weren't) she did start gaining in her mid fifties. Then she got diagnosed with an autoimmune liver disease, so all of anything about diet/exercise went out the window. She died at 67. My dad has had thin and quite heavy periods in his life, but I would say he is mostly thin. But, since my mom's death, he eats terribly and still smokes. He's never exercised.
I have very heavy relatives on both sides of my family. My mom's sister is 70 and very overweight. Three of my grandparents had periods of being overweight, with only my paternal grandmother being thin (and strikingly gorgeous) until the day she died. Needless to say, no one was active. My dad thinks i'm nuts, but humors me.
I have not been thin all of my life. I started gaining when I got out of college, lost the weight and was very thin until my early to mid forties. I struggled with an extra 10-20 lbs until I started cycling at age 48. I made a conscious decision, though, to always be vigilant. And, it's not easy, as you said, Emily. DH and I always say that just once, we would like to be like "regular" people, i.e. people who don't care what goes into their bodies and are not active. But, it's not meant to be. As you said, Emily, if I didn't live the lifestyle I do, I would be at least 30 pounds heavier.

[Veronica]

That's three-time U.S. Olympic Hockey Team medal winner Angela Ruggiero, a confident 5 foot 9 inch, 185 pounds. She could wax your a$$ in all its sizes. Chill out about the body image stuff, okay?

Do what you need to do to be fit and healthy, and let others be. If they have a few rolls, it may be healthiest for them.

http://www.womensrunning.com/articles/54

No, not okay - since I am not about body image and I have never espoused that people should be a certain weight or BMI. Excess fat is NOT healthy. Why did you feel the need to bring in physical violence?

Yes, I am very proud of the hard work I put in to lose nearly forty pounds and keep it off. And I am thrilled with the progress I continue to make. Silly me for thinking that I might be able to encourage others to take charge of their lives and do what they say they want to do.

Veronica

[tealtreak]

No, not okay - since I am not about body image and I have never espoused that people should be a certain weight or BMI. Excess fat is NOT healthy. Why did you feel the need to bring in physical violence?

Yes, I am very proud of the hard work I put in to lose nearly forty pounds and keep it off. And I am thrilled with the progress I continue to make. Silly me for thinking that I might be able to encourage others to take charge of their lives and do what they say they want to do.

Veronica

Please do not be discouraged or discontinue encouraging others, with the myriad complexities in my life now that curtail my training time- I am so thrilled to add my time to the google spreadsheet you made! (:

[Crankin]

Veronica, I feel like you do, though as I said before, my accomplishments are different. Why shouldn't I be proud of my healthy body? None of this is easy and if I couldn't get some positive self thoughts from all of my hard work, that would not be good. Yes, looking good and strong and lean enhances my self esteem. Is that bad?

[Owlie]

By all means, be proud of what you've accomplished, and keep on doing what you're doing. Just remember that just because some of us have some extra fat (maybe more than is "ideal") doesn't mean that we're not healthy or have let ourselves go.

Veronica, I certainly appreciate the encouragement. Once I get my bike back, it's back to the indoor challenge for me.

[maillotpois]

By all means, be proud of what you've accomplished, and keep on doing what you're doing. Just remember that just because some of us have some extra fat (maybe more than is "ideal") doesn't mean that we're not healthy or have let ourselves go.

Nicely said.

[salsabike]

By all means, be proud of what you've accomplished, and keep on doing what you're doing. Just remember that just because some of us have some extra fat (maybe more than is "ideal") doesn't mean that we're not healthy or have let ourselves go.

Yes, that.

[SadieKate]

No, not okay - since I am not about body image and I have never espoused that people should be a certain weight or BMI. Excess fat is NOT healthy. Why did you feel the need to bring in physical violence?

Yes, I am very proud of the hard work I put in to lose nearly forty pounds and keep it off. And I am thrilled with the progress I continue to make. Silly me for thinking that I might be able to encourage others to take charge of their lives and do what they say they want to do.

Veronica

You definitely should be proud of what you've accomplished! We're all pleased as punch for you to meet your goal but you have repeatedly implied that we should all have the same insanely low weight goal. Your reaction to the plus-size model and your pinch an inch thread saddened me. You sound like a reformed smoker but on a topic that isn't black and white.

What happened to the woman who encouraged but didn't judge? What happened to the woman who showed up for group rides and rode with the group, enjoying their company? Who never said a word about others' weight challenges other than to encourage everyone to stay positive and keep working. She's the one who got me to try Diablo for the first time and got me seeking other hills to climb. I miss her.

She also had a sense of humor and wouldn't have been deliberately obtuse about "wax your a$$." Nobody ever accused a cyclist of winning a race through physical violence. Well, OK, maybe Mark Cavendish. Oh, and Robbie McEwen.

[SadieKate]

By all means, be proud of what you've accomplished, and keep on doing what you're doing. Just remember that just because some of us have some extra fat (maybe more than is "ideal") doesn't mean that we're not healthy or have let ourselves go.

Owlie, ditto what everyone else said about this.