A New Year for the Fatfighters!

Well, see, I didn't drop off the side of the universe. :)

Nah. I've been sick a couple weeks. Some sort of frustratingly stubborn low-level inflammatory thing--not a cold, not the flu, probably an allergic or autoimmune flare-up like I've had in the past--so it put a big crimp on my holiday and my Pilates. For the first time in 6 months, I missed a whole week of sessions. Well, week and a half. This bums me out like you wouldn't believe (yes, I have become accustomed to my thrice-weekly workouts with my trainer and the noticeable increase in strength).

I have to count my blessings, though, even though there's a 40 pound invisible cat sitting on my chest making it hard to breathe, not to mention what seems to be cotton wadding down my nose and throat. Why? Cause I normally used to have anywhere from 2 to 6 bouts of acute bronchitis per year (due to my crappy respiratory and messy immune system). This year, I didn't get bronchitis ONCE. I'm crediting this to eating better (most of the time, including lots of produce, clean foods, oganic products) and exercising regularly and vigorously.

Maybe sliding back into old crap food habits after my organic delivery service went on hiatus contributed to my feeling poorly. Dunno. Maybe it's just the usual stuff I get during this time of year--which has always been problematic. I am used to Christmas wheezing. I've missed many a family party over the decades due to Christmas sickies.

In any case, I'm just praying I can shake this off and get back to business--exercise, eating well, writing creatively, and decluttering my house and spirit--in the coming first full week of 2009.

Aren't fresh starts wonderful?

I want to feel well enough Friday to hit Whole Foods or Fresh Market. I want to visit the local organic juicer and get fresh squeezed green juices in quarts to get me some yummy enzymes. I want to begin the Beck Diet for Life book and see if I can get my psychological groove going. I want to breathe well enough to get back to Pilates. I want to stop ordering too much take-away.

Simple steps, but they seem so complicated in one-lump paragraph. (I recommend folks visit Lyn and get her habit-a-week posts and try that.)

I indulged in a bit too much cake and chocolate and mousse this holiday, so I just ordered up some low-carb goodies from Netrition.com to kick-start January with less sugar and more protein. But man, I really need my fruits and veggies. I haven't been able to shop in TWO WEEKS, and hubby is just afraid of produce. He really is (funny) helpless in the face of choosing fruits and veggies. So, the fruit bowls are empty. Literally EMPTY. No oranges, bananas, apples, pears, lemons, avocados, limes, tomatoes in the bowls. No grapes, cherries, berries...just some papaya that I asked him to get to aid in decongesting and some pineapple juice leftover from a take-away dinner from Pasha's Mediterranean.

Ah, man, I hate being sick. Makes me feel so helpless and useless. I breathe best when I'm very still. Any exertion makes me gasp. So, I can feel the fat creeping back and the muscles devolving. I want to keep my hard-earned (expensively-acquired) muscles!

I know. I know. Keep it positive. Start 2009 with great hope.

Hope was the word God gave me for 2008. I even bought a piece of fairy art from the delightful Sara Butcher to showcase that work:



(If you go to the link above to her site, Sara has another very charming HOPE fairy in the upper left of her blog layout, and it's in color and very cute.)

I look forward to hear what word the Lord will give me for 2009. Sometimes, I don't get it until two or three months in, but it always seems to address a need for that year. For instance, in 2008, after 20 years with his employer, my hubby got laid off. You can guess that hope came into play big time. God came through with a really good job for him, and he kept me bronchitis-and-pneumonia free. He made it possible for me to do Pilates (with the severance money from lay-off).

I will commemorate my 2009 word with another piece of small art, if I can afford it. I "hope" so. :) Ah, yes. I think HOPE is a word that's good for all seasons of all years. Especially for those of us struggling with obesity and health problems. I'm glad I have my little fairy to remind me.

I ask God to bless you all in your fight, in your struggles, in trying times, and to bring health and joy and great friendships and much love in 2009.

See you soon. (And if you're the praying sort, prayers for my breathing to normalize would so much be appreciated.)

OH...and if you want a challenge, Fitcetera's gorgeous blogger Katschi has one going. The Six Week "As If Jillian Were Riding Your Butt" Challenge. I signed up.

Oh, lawdy, lawdy. I really need to get my respiratory system back in line to do it, but here's to...er..HOPING.

Onward in 2009...and downward!

~

The Only You that YOU Can Control Is the You of Today--But That Could Save the You of Tomorrow...

Diana, the Scale Junkie, left a comment in a previous post where I mentioned how HARD HARD HARD it was to make the scale budge since I entered the perimenopausal stage:

I'm swimming in the premenopause pool and if I could go back and rip the fork from my 30something hand I would.

Oh, yeah. If only at 20-something and 30-something we could get a visit from out older selves and not only hear what we need to hear but SEE what we become.

The last time I was "normal weight"--ie, a weight inside that medical chart for my height, I was getting married. I would crawl on the floor to beg my younger self, that new bride, to be vigilant, disciplined, and know that health issues would derail her life at age 30, so do something NOW to keep the immune system and health as good as possible. And should it all go kaplooie anyhow, to not gain the 10 pounds a year as a stay-at-home chronic sickie, or I'd do more damage.

I'd crawl on my face to ger her/me to avoid the future of morbid obesity.

But we can only rip the fork out the hand of the self that is the exact age we are today. That's all we have.

And our next-decade-of-years self will thank us if we do it now. We can only change the future for HER, the me-yet to-be, the you-yet-to-be. The me that was, well, she went along obliviously and, here I am. Stuck with her lousy choices.

Here WE are.

If you are still a woman well before "the change," CHANGE NOW. Learn by my mistake, Diana's mistake, the mistake of every woman who only tries her hardest to change when she's facing the big 40 or big 50 or big 60.

Do it while your body is at its peak. Learn new habits of healthy eating and movement when your metabolism is revving along. If you're 20 and obese, do it now. Look at older obese women and BE VERY AFRAID. Do it noww, while you have healthy joints and can exercise harder and longer. Do it while your hormones are on your side. Do it now that so many books and blogs offer wisdom and help. Don't spend the money on frivolous things like cute clothes or shoes or a beach vacation, that will not change your health: pay for that gym membership, that training, that nutritionist.

Do it when you have all those years stretching before you...full of potential for vitality.

It only gets harder. It only gets worse if you wait. Your joints start to wear, and exercise becomes tricky. Habits become ingrained even deeper the longer you have them--lose the overeating, non-exercising habits NOW.

You don't wanna be in our shoes--middle-aged and struggling.

Can't fight the past. Can't bring back our youth.

Can only change the now and hope that makes for a better future.

A healthy week of future-creation to us all!
~~

When Princesses Are Morbidly Obese... And Princes, too!

I, Princess Dieter, am morbidly obese. That means that I have a lot, lot, lot, LOT of weight to lose. The official definition for morbid obesity is as follows:

a BMI of 35 kg/m2 or greater with severe obesity-related co-morbidity or BMI of 40 kg/m2 or greater without co-morbidity [1]. Superobesity is defined as a body weight exceeding IBW by 225% or more, or a BMI of 50 kg/m2 or greater.

If that's gobbledygook to you, allow me to wave this magic wand I borrowed from the Slenderize Me Fairy--thinnityskinnityshoo!--and translate: If you're more than 100 pounds over your ideal weight or your body mass index is more than 40, you're morbidly obese. If your BMI is 50 or more, you're morbidly superobese. That's depression.

Princess Dieter has a BMI of 47. Morbidly obese. (I do not like the sound of that. Do you?)

Calculate your BMI by going HERE.

If you're curious about that Ideal Body Weight (IBW) thing, try THIS SITE. According to them, I am large-frame (ie, my fingers don't meet around the smallest part of my wrist, with a gap of about an inch). But I clicked both large and medium frame to see what values came up.

If Princess Dieter were medium frame (ie, my fingers barely meet around my wrist) : Ideal weight range is 142 - 156.2 lbs. (64.5 - 71 kg.).You are overweight by 132.8 lbs. (60 kg.).

If I am large frame (which is likely, I've never been remotely considered petite in structure--being wide-hipped and broad-shouldered and not-tiny in the feet, either, even when I was normal weight) : Ideal weight range is 152 - 167.2 lbs. (69.1 - 76 kg.).You are overweight by 121.8 lbs. (55 kg.).

Notice something about those numbers?

They're SANE!

They're not crazy, Hollywood, catwalk anorexic size 2 figures. The complete range (ie, taking the medium frame low and the large frame high) would be 142 to 167 pounds. That's not skinny by a long shot. And yet, 145 was a comfortable weight for me when I was in my late teens and early twenties. That is to say, I was active, flexible, and looked normal, though not slim. I was a size 12/13 back then, and while I wished I was one of the thin gals, that actually was a pretty good size for me in terms of activity and health.

Taking into account the large frame range, I'm aiming for 160. The upper end, sure, but still, that's a number I haven't seen on my scale since the mid-80's. It would be like turning the clock back about 20 years.

I can live with that? :)

So, my current weight? 289. A simple bit of arithmetic gives me the amount of weight I aim to lose: 289 - 160 = 129.

Ouch! I feel the pain. But then, so do my feet and knees and back and general self-esteem.

Did you figure out your ideal body weight? Did you calculate your BMI? Wanna share it here and put down your number, the amount you wish to lose?

The story begins...at 289 pounds and a 47 BMI on Tuesday, May 8, 2007.

When does your story begin and how long is that road in terms of pounds?

Come on. Give yourself a fairy tale name if you prefer anonymity, and join me. How about one of these:

Duchess Dieter
Marquesa Makeover
Contessa Calorie Counter
Lady Living Healthy
Dame Dieting
Princess Willpower
Countess Cooking Light
Princess Portion Control
Queen Low-Cal

If you're a gentleman, you can join in, too. Pick a name:

Prince Power Smoothie
Duke Dieter
Count Calorie Slasher
Marquess of Leansberry
Earl of Exercise
Sir Fresh Produce
King Calorie Killer


Make up your own monikers. Have fun. Start the journey off with a tiara or a crown or a satin sash--and a smile!

:::waving borrowed wand for a happy beginning to everyone:::

Once Upon A Time...

...there lived a not-so-young, not-so-fair, and not-so-royal, not-actually-a-maiden sort of gal who, after many years of frustration and failed attempts at transformation, really and truly and mightily got fed up with being bigger than a castle.

And so, one day, as she puttered among, well, maybe not ashes, but perhaps among the dust bunnies, she made a hopeful wish to be more along the size of a graceful garden shed rather than a humongous queenly residence.

No fairy godmother appeared. No pumpkins changed shape. No mice grew into liveried servants.

So, the castle-sized gal--not young, not fair, not royal, not maidenly--got off her rump and said, "I guess I better make my own wishes come true."

And so, with an eye toward a happily-healthy-after, the gal approached the tomes of wellness and the wisdom of the fitness sages, and choosing one particular star to guide her path--a very shiny star full of joy and hope and light--the maiden embarked on an adventure.

So, the story of Once Upon a Diet begins...

~ ~ ~