whew!
Exams are now over ! I also seem to have kicked that
persistent upper respiratory infection and as we speak, my
daughter doesn’t have an ear infection (touch wood). We have sold our
house (after finally getting it on the market, it sold in less than 30
hours). The Man is away with work a lot and The Boy is now on two weeks
school break. Life has just been so busy! Add to that some sporadic
work and the fact that I have had to send my laptop back to be repaired
(resulting in limited online access) it all results in not being able
to post on here in what seems FOREVER. I am scared to log into Google
Reader because I haven’t had a chance to read any blogs in a looooong
time. Not even the Fatosphere, which shows just how busy I have been!
Eiffel Tower, Paris
the big fat diet bandwagon and the smart women who fall off it
We are all familiar with celebs jumping on the diet bandwagon
and peddling the likes of WW and Auntie Jenny. And we have all seen how
one celeb is replaced with another after some time, generally without a
lot of fan fare and generally because the original “star” has regained
the weight they lost or failed to lose any in the first place. There is
an abundance of weight loss and diet pills and programs. Here is a good analysis.
News today tells how Kate
DeAraugo, former winner of Australian Idol, and her “tuckshop lady arms” had been
snatched up by Auntie Jenny but it seems the deal didn’t work out quite as planned.
Kate was criticised several times during her time on Idol for her
tendency to “plumpness” and her curvier shape was more than evident
when she was placed next to fellow group members of The
Young Divas. While several of the other girls flaunted the
“bootilicious” shapes promoted by performers such as Beyonce Knowles,
Kate also carried her weight on her upper arms, neck, chin and all
those areas not covered by the term “bootilicious”. Paulini had the
butt, Ricki-Lee had the boobs and later, Jessica was just the cute
little sister. It was Kate who got stuck being known as the “tuckshop
lady” (school cafeteria/dinner lady for those not in the
know). Then I found about Duromine and natural sleep apnea treatments.
So Kate called Auntie Jenny (or they called her, more likely)
and they got in cahoots with the idea of whittling Kate into a white
version of Young Diva, Emily WIlliams and meanwhile convincing
thousands of young women to follow that example. Unfortunately (or
fortunately as I think) something within Kate didn’t “agree” with
Auntie jenny’s fare and the whole deal has been called off. Kate cried
gluten intolerance. Or was it lactose intolerance? Or was it more
likely that either a/ she couldn’t stand to put the crap they call JC
food anywhere near her mouth or b/ she managed to ingest it and didn’t
lose any weight anyway? I would vote A myself but B probably isn’t far
off the mark either. Kate pretty much gave the game away when she
stumbled on Australian radio, saying one moment she had a gluten
intolerance and the next that it was lactose that was the culprit.
Considering Kate has been on the diet since January, it has taken them
a while to work out she has a “problem” with the food. So much so, that
rival WW has claimed that Kate used their “lifestyle changes” while
spruking Auntie Jenny. Now how funny would that be if it were actually
the case?
Personally I thought Kate looked fine when she was on Idol.
Just as she has looked fine every time she has been slammed for being
fat. She is a young woman who carries some extra weight, has a great
singing voice and seems to have a bright personality. Who cares if she
has tuckshop lady arms? (Yes, Kyle Sandilands, we know you care.
But we don’t care what you think).
But we should warn you: No weight loss shake is going to help you if you aren't ready to change your eating habits.
I have a lot of friends who are always dieting/losing weight and one thing I have noticed is that one finds a scheme they want to try and others join in - but just because it works for one person doesn't mean it will work for you!
Arbonne Weight Loss Shakes Reviews Weight Loss Best Diet
At the very least, naturalist, journalist, not to mention girl-power player, Alexis Smith, would love one to know you??re a good looking bad-ass. In a study performed by Sports Medicine, Based on available evidence on athletic greens, protein appears to be the macronutrient of paramount importance during weight loss owing to its ability to preserve lean mass during weight loss and promote fat mass loss when consumed in higher quantities.? It is not certain, however, whether or not Arbonne Weight Loss Program contains enough protein or the right kind of protein for these effects to take place. They got some nice anti wrinkle creams too and advanced dermatology.
ProForm Treadmill Reviews, Ratings, Deals And Comparisons
ProForm Fitness is a leading brand of treadmills and other fitness machines for home use. Once you're past the beginner stages, you'll want a treadmill that can handle the number of miles you run per week. Took pictures, sent them to proform and said we should be hearing from them soon. As you can see this was quite a task to review but after some careful consideration we were able to make some conclusive decisions on the best ProForm Elliptical trainer for the money. You should, however, expect to need to perform routine maintenance on your treadmill every?once in a while. Once folded, simply tilt the treadmill back on its wheels and push it to its storage space. Believe it or not, Wi-Fi is not an essential component to your treadmill (I know right!).
My Fat Spouse… is awesome and I adore him just the way he is
There has been an interesting conversation happening over at Babble regarding a particular
website that is largely (no pun intended!) anti-FA and certainly
anti-radical FA. I am not going to link to it as I don’t really want
all the followers there, coming over here. If you are desperate to have
a look at it, follow my link to Babble and go from there.
Basically the commenters at Babble who hail from MFS have a
problem with the fact that they now have a fat spouse. There is a lot
of talk about spouses who “have let themselves go” and as a result they
are no longer sexually attractive. Yoganut says that a person “has a
right to be upset” when their spouse makes a choice to get fat.
Interestingly enough, I haven’t come across too many people who had
made a conscious choice to get fat. But anyway… Yoganut also goes onto
say that she has yet to meet an obese person who has eaten a “clean
diet and exercised”. Personally, I have yet to meet anyone, fat or
thin, who has eaten a “clean diet” their entire life or even for any
extended period of time. And what exactly constitutes a “clean diet”?
Are you allowed to eat a chocolate bar once a month? Once a year?
Never? Or is it transfat that is out? Or carbs? Who decides exactly
what a clean diet is? It is all so arbitrary and that is what makes the
whole idea of a “clean diet” so ridiculous. But people like yoganut
can’t see that. They are too preoccupied with their imaginings of
fatties with IV lines of baby flavoured donuts inserted in their veins…
She continues by saying that “obesity itself can be a huge
strain on the relationship”. Well no, that is not the case. Adipose
tissue itself cannot do anything to a relationship. It is attitudes to
fat that cause problems. And yes, laziness can cause problems in a
relationship. But fat doesn’t automatically equal lazy. Plenty of fat
people have proved that. Trying to equate fat with lazy is another
straw man and it ain’t gonna float. Yoganut also says that these MFS
members didn’t choose to marry an obese partner and that is what they
are so upset about. Well hey, a lot of women didn’t choose to marry a
bald guy but that is who they end up with. A lot of men didn’t chose to
marry a woman with pregnancy induced stretch marks but that is what
they end up with. And if I am a redhead when I get married, does that
mean I have to stay a redhead through my marriage? If my spouse doesn’t
like me being a brunette am I meant to stay a blonde? What about if I
have always wanted a nose ring but my spouse hates them, am I meant to
not get it? Or the tattoo I have always wanted? Am I meant to keep my
waist length hair at that length the rest of my life? PEOPLE CHANGE. If
you get married with the expectation that your spouse is going to be
exactly the same person, and look exactly the same way, in 5, 10 or 20
years, then you are in for a might big shock. And even if on the off
chance they do look the same, chances are their attitudes about a lot
of things are going to have changed. Tell me, MFS members, do you all
look the same way you did when you got married? If you were fat when
you got married and are now thin, and your spouse was bitching about
you on the internet, how would you feel? Maybe your spouse liked fat
wo/men and now you are thin and they don’t like it. How would it be
then? I am sure you would be really impressed with said spouse whining
about it online.
If you don’t like who your spouse has become then do yourself
and them a favour and end the relationship. I am sure they would be
happy to be free of the nagging, harping and bitching you are
constantly barraging them with. And obviously you will be happy because
you are free to pursue a new, thin spouse. After all, we all know that
being thin is the key to a happy relationship.
metamorphis - not the good kind
I find it intriguing how some people’s personalities
change so much when they lose weight. I don’t know that it is a case of
the “real” personality coming out, I think it is more likely to be a
different side of their existing personality. Perhaps it is a
personality evolution (involution?). Whatever it actually is, it can be
downright nasty at times. Particularly when it comes former fatties and
their feelings toward other fat people.
We have all heard that reformed smokers are the worst when it
comes to anti-smoking rhetoric. I think former fatties who used a product like Leptigen and got scammmed would also be
pretty high up there on the “worst of the reformed” hierarchy. I am
sure you fellow fatties have had to listen at some point to a
former-fatty waxing lyrical about the wonders of their miracle weight
loss, be it from some super-you-beaut-weight-loss-program that either
they or someone else have formulated or some
amazing-virtually-non-invasive-weight-loss-surgery.
is always “so different” to everything they (and by implication, you as
well) have tried before. This oh-so-successful way to lose weight is
pegged as being anywhere on the diet continuum from “so easy! I never
feel hungry! I eat all the time!” to “I had to learn to get used to
feeling hungry, I had to learn some self control”. No matter what the
method is, if the former fatty believes it has worked (for now anyway)
then “of course it will work for you!” and if you politely decline the
offer of a free registration coupon/joint weekly weigh ins with the
former fatty/a referral to the former fatty’s bariatric surgeon then
you are naturally relegated to the
lazy-undisciplined-have-given-up-hope school of fatties and are totally
beyond all redemption as far as your “well meaning” former fatty
friend/acquaintance/relative is concerned.
I have had dealings with someone like this, as I am sure most
of you have. I knew a woman some time ago that I found warm, engaging,
friendly, accepting and non-judgemental. Or at least she came across
that way. I also thought she was gorgeous. She had voluptuous curves
and showed them off to her advantage. She dressed with a certain flair
but more than anything her aura was warm and inviting. She drew people
to her. She was interested and she was open. She made you feel like you
were perfect and wonderful just as you were. She rejoiced in the
luscious bodies of other zaftig women like herself and she helped other
(including myself) to celebrate and accept our own bodies no matter
what size or shape we were.
Since I first met her, that woman has lost weight, amongst
other physical changes. I didn’t necessarily agree with what she did
but it wasn’t up to me, it was her body and she could do what she liked
to it. But as she changed, things started to bother me and they weren’t
physical things. I realised that her rhetoric regarding self-acceptance
was simply that - rhetoric. And it didn’t seem to extend to herself. It
was obvious to me that she had deep seated self image issues. Her
appearance was more than just taking pride in herself, it was a full
blown obsession. Then, and now, I wish she could see beyond
her appearance. I wish she could see the bigger picture. But
I don’t think there is much chance of that happening.
Even though I personally thought she was crazy being so self
obsessed, I still figured it was her business. I didn’t have to agree
with her politics and who was she hurting other than herself? She was a
grown woman and able to make her own decisions about what she was going
to implant/inject/paint her body with (or conversely, what she was
going to remove/loose from her body). But then things got nasty.
Suddenly, seemingly overnight, this woman became a very vocal
and outspoken fat hater. She began to lash out at fat women: at fat
women she knew in person and at fat in general. She equated fat with
giving up and not maximising self potential. She began to espouse the
laziness and undisciplined nature of fat people. She pandered to the
idea that fat people eat all day long (and eat crap food while they do
it). Again and again she said that fat is “disgusting”. She spoke of
weird and wonderful (more weird than wonderful) methods to rid her body
of fat. She decried anyone who wasn’t trying to lose weight (at least,
anyone that she though should be). Gone was the warm, caring, accepting
woman I had met several years previously. She had been replaced with
someone else. Someone else entirely.
I am sad that the woman I first met is no more. But
what can I do? Life is often about choosing one’s battles and this one
is not for me. Not for lack of trying because being me, I have tried.
But to no avail. She has chosen her path and I have chosen mine. She
will continue to inject, peel, colour, pluck and reshape her body and I
will carry the fat that she so despises and live a life I am satisfied
with. I think I have a pretty good idea who is happier with themselves.
reduce this but not that
Upon reading Cacie’s guest post regarding her breast reduction
over at Shapely Prose, I want to put something out there. It will
probably start a shit storm but hey, what’s a bit of controversy
between FAers?
The general consensus at SP seems to be that a breast
reduction is all good if that is the path you want to tread. However if
Cacie was planning to have gastric bypass or gastric banding or lipo or
any other number of procedures aimed at reducing particular parts of
her body, I am pretty sure the response wouldn’t be so positive.
Why?
Why is it ok to have a breast reduction but not to reduce any
other part of your body? Is it because women don’t generally have their
breasts reduced in order to lose weight (not primarily anyway)? The
women I know who have had reductions did so because of pain and
aesthetics. Not so different to many people who want to lose weight (by
whatever means). There ARE people who are fat who are in physical pain
because of the extra weight they are carrying. Losing weight won’t
necessarily remedy the problem but extra weight can exacerbate it. By
general FA standards, trying to lose weight is not an acceptable
exercise (no pun intended). Not for any reason. Yet a breast reduction
can result in the same outcome (less pain, more “acceptable”
aesthetics) and is largely considered acceptable by FAers. Why is that?
There are many problems that can come with a breast reduction, just as
there are with weight loss. Yet still the double standard.
Again I ask, why is that?
What do you think?
(I don’t have a strong opinion on this one. I tend to lean to
the “It’s your body” camp but I do find the obvious dissonance
occurring to be intriguing). There are - Just read reliable reviews of
things that work.
This Angry Fat to fit mommy won’t just shut up and go away, no matter
how much you want her to
W ine Selleck, a friend of lead developer Matt Mullenweg. I’m
working on fixing well-known bugs for an upcoming release and looking
forward to finally submitting this theme to the Wordpress Theme
Directory. I’ve also added a Paypal button so you guys can donate if
you want/feel to. To all of you who donated, thanks!
Modern Clix is a minimal blog theme inspired in the Swiss
Style of Design: It features Arial/Helvetica, grids, a generous use of
whitespace for better readability and a strong focus in typography.
WordPress is an open source blog publishing application. It is
the official successor of b2\cafelog, developed by Michel Valdrighi.
The name WordPress was suggested by Christine Selleck, a friend of lead
developer Matt Mullenweg.
This Back fat is sin!
I can’t believe that some people carried on so much
about a so-called “chubby” Karolina Kurkova (who is apparently one of
those supermodels). Well actually, I can believe it but I think it is
ridiculous. The horror that is back fat was spied on Ms Kurkova during the
recent Sao Paulo fashion week and of course, she was consequently
slammed in the press for daring to wear a bikini while in such terrible
shape. She was apparently displaying her cellulite, back fat and love
handles for all and sundry to see and of course, that just isn’t the
done thing. Personally I think the designations of ‘back fat’ and ‘love
handles’ are more than a little exaggerated. The woman is standing and
walking with her hip jutted out in an unnatural manner, if she was
standing with her spine straight I bet her ‘back fat’ wouldn’t be
nearly as conspicuous, if visible at all. I also think that the two
creases she does show on her back (on just one one side mind you) can
barely be referred to as ‘back fat’. And as for love handles, puleeze…
where??? The strap on her bikini bottoms doesn’t dig into her hips,
there is no muffin top effect on her hips so where exactly are these
love handles??? And cellulite, well there are very few women who
(without the benefit of airbrushing) don’t have any cellulite at all
anywhere on their body. According the the press reports, the audience
were ’shocked’ at Kurkova’s appearance. Yes, it qualifies as shocking
to see a woman with two creases on her back because she is standing
strangely and with some cellulite on her un-airbrushed butt. Horrendous…
I am sure they would all rather Korkova looked like the now
deceased, Eliana Ramos who died at the grand old age of 18 from a heart
attack which could have been (and probably was) induced by
malnutrition. I am not going to post a picture of her, if you want to
see it you can follow the link to the original article re Karolina
Kurkova. Basically Eliana Ramos looked like a walking skeleton. And yet
that seemed to more acceptable than for Karolina Kurkova to appear with
back creases and cellulite. Sure, dying from the associated effects of
malnutrition is much better than back creases and cellulite. No
question at all…
still Angry Fatty
WordPress is an open source blog publishing application. It is
the official successor of b2\cafelog, developed by Michel Valdrighi.
The name WordPress was suggested by Christine Selleck, a friend of lead
developer Matt Mullenweg.
Modern Clix is a minimal blog theme inspired in the Swiss
Style of Design: It features Arial/Helvetica, grids, a generous use of
whitespace for better readability and a strong focus in typography.
To all of you who donated, many thanks! I appreciate each
donation that contributes to development.
WordPress is an open source blog publishing application. It is
the official successor of b2\cafelog, developed by Michel Valdrighi.
The name WordPress was suggested by Christine Selleck, a friend of lead
developer Matt Mullenweg. I’m working on fixing well-known bugs for an
upcoming release and looking forward to finally submitting this theme
to the Wordpress Theme Directory. I’ve also added a Paypal button so
you guys can donate if you want/feel to. To all of you who donated,
thanks!
Modern Clix is a minimal blog theme inspired in the Swiss
Style of Design: It features Arial/Helvetica, grids, a generous use of
whitespace for better readability and a strong focus in typography.
WordPress is an open source blog publishing application. It is
the official successor of b2\cafelog, developed by Michel Valdrighi.
The name WordPress was suggested by Christine Selleck, a friend of lead
developer Matt Mullenweg.
If you can’t beat ‘em, pay someone to get rid of them…
This is appalling. It is more than
appalling. It is disgusting. Guaranteed to stir up fat vilification and
to have fat haters drooling all over the place, the Queensland
government has offered $1 million to the town or city that comes up
with the best idea to “beat obesity”. Additionally, “schools and
workplaces will be able to compete for separate “fat-buster” prizes
worth a total of $600,000″. The State Premier, Anna Bligh, “wants the
state to become Australia’s biggest loser - of weight”. Well I can tell
you right now who the biggest loser is - Anna Bligh! How on earth can
they possibly think this is a good idea? Do these people not have fat
relatives or friends? Do they not understand the potential consequences
of this sort of propaganda? Do they not remember what happened last
time a government didn’t like the physical characteristics of a group
of people? Obviously not…
I can just imagine the way the fat kids at school are going to
be treated now, or the fat people in the workplace. Let’s just sit back
and watch the depression and suicide rate increase shall we? Ms Bligh
tries to save face by saying this isn’t just about “losing weight. It
is about encouraging Queensland communities to become healthier across
the board”. Well then why even mention weight loss? Why not stick with
the idea of movement because it is fun and fresh food because it tastes
better? Why not? Because everyone loves to stick it to the fatties.
Which Ms Bligh does again by trotting out the “more than 4000
Queenslander’s die prematurely every year from obesity-associated
diseases”. ASSOCIATED people, that is the key word in that claim. They
are ASSOCIATED with obesity, not caused by obesity. When are these
people going to understand the difference?!
*sigh*
And then just to infuriate me even more (if that is possible)
is this pile of statistical crapola
in which the number crunchers claim obesity in Australia “gobbles up”
$58 billion year. Once again people, the phrase is “associated
with”…not to be confused with the phrase “caused by” and they are not
interchangeable no matter what some journalists seem to think. Funny
how no one mentions how every gold medal won by an Australian athlete
costs about $16.7 million in tax payer funds,
not to mention the costs of all the non gold medal winning sports
funding in this country. Oh but that’s right, sport is GOOD and fat is
BAD… how silly of me to forget that salient point…
State Governor takes on ‘fat aussie’
Victoria’s governor, David de Kretser, seems to have a
bee in his bonnet about obesity. Or is he just jumping on the same
bandwagon that so many others are already fighting for seats on? I
became intrigued about this recently when my husband told me the
Governor would be paying a visit to his workplace in the not too
distant future. To be honest, I didn’t even know the name of the
Governor of my state at that point, mainly because the role really
doesn’t seem to carry that much power or relevance in today’s society.
So Google-fu at the ready, we endeavored to learn more
about the direct representative of the Queen of Australia (that would
also be the Queen of England) in our state.
For those less than familiar with the
hierarchy of Australia’s constitutional office - don’t be
concerned. Basically because we are an offshoot of the Mother Land and
not (yet) an independent republic, we still have positions of pomp and
pageantry such as the Governor General of Australia and
the individual State Governors. They
don’t really seem to do a heck of a lot more than make a lot of
speeches and greet the monarchy when they deign to pay us a visit but
the Governor General does have the power to sack the federal
government. Yep, the GG can boot the party in power (and consequently,
the democratically elected Prime Minister) out of office. And it has been done
before…
But enough
of the lesson in Australian history and politics, let’s get back to
Professor David de Kretser AC. My
husband sent me a link to a speech recently made by the
Governor, relating to obesity and climate change. Initially I thought
the Governor was going to (attempt) to make a link between the two
issue, i.e. fat people cause global warming, just as others have done
(or at least tried to). Thankfully, de Kretser didn’t take it quite
that far although he did link the two together in that they are the
‘big issues’ of the moment. Interestingly, in that particular speech,
he spent only a few paragraphs talking about OMGtheFATZ and
considerably more time on climate change. This gave rise to a glimmer
of hope: perhaps he was just mentioning theFATZ because that is the
trendy thing to do these days? No such luck.
I had a peek at the other speeches Professor de
Kretser has made since taking on the role of Governor in Victoria. Of
the 10 speeches (listed on the governor’s webpage) given this year
alone, half of them featured obesity as a major theme. HALF. One would
think there are no other problems in Australia, let alone the world,
other than theFATZ! Sure the Professor
mentioned other social issues but none get as many mentions as theFATZ.
This made me wonder even more. I had already worked out that the
Governor wasn’t himself a fatty - that seemed pretty obvious. But when
I started reading about his career history, it all began to fall into
place.
Professor David de Kretser is a medical
researcher. He is a doctor, a scientist. Admittedly, his
field of expertise is men’s
sexual health but it is easy to see his vested
interest in slamming theFATZ. He continues to be a member of the
Executive of the Faculty of Medicine at Monash University, a member of
the Faculty of Medicine Research Committee and is currently (and has
been since prior to his appointment as Governor) the Executive Chair of
the Monash Institutes of Health Steering Committee. He is also the
Associate Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
(Biotechnology Department). Additionally, he has too many patents
already granted or pending for me to mention but I will be at least one
of them has something to do with theFATZ and clenbuterol. Biased much? Nah…
Of course Professor de Kretser
doesn’t stand to make any money out of his research activities does he? Or
his patents? Yeah right… What it boils down
to is a man in paid public office, using his position to draw attention
to a social issue whose ‘defeat’ would bring him great personal profit.
Tell me again he isn’t biased…
