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Fat Acceptance (No, I will not make you a sandwich)
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Back when I worked for the Postal Service we got a (voluntary) group membership at a local health club, it wasn't super duper fancy, but it was a cut above the 24 hour fitness. It had a large number of older people who went there, and the had a separate womens only weight area as well as the main co-ed part of the gym (as my friend Diane explained to me; girls don't want guys to see them use some of the machines because it's either creepy or humiliating or both) but the best thing about it was that there was just a wide variety of body types who used the place. There were a lot of old guys who just used the gym for raquetball and the sauna, and half of them were pretty fat, it wasn't judgmental and not the sort of place you felt self-conscious working out in. Compare that to the gym here on the Bangor base with all the grunting Marines and it's very clear that gyms vary greatly.
It's true. In fact, it has also been stated that I've got two turntables and a microphone.
I guess I took your post on page 3 somehow more literal then you meant it? Or perhaps I took it as outwardly directed, not inwardly?
Negative re-enforcement, btw isremoval of a condition, not punishment.
I'll admit that I've always been fairly fit - but until I grew older - I never 'exercised' per se. But what I did do, was play sports... A lot of sports. I played football (soccer), rugby, basketball, tennis, martial arts etc. I rode a bike everywhere because my parents expected it of me (never got a lift), I spent my days swimming at the beach and when we got older - started surfing.
I never once thought about that I did as 'exercise' because I enjoyed every second of it. Even if my friends didn't play any sports, they still played outside and rode bikes.
My point is that I've seen kids gyms. I remember having to run at school. But if you want a kid to be more active, then get them involved in something that they enjoy.
Fuck man, the high school near me has a pizza hut in it.
I actually like the idea of you throwing up your hands.
Being overweight is the business of the overweight person. I'm glad to see fast-food restaurants have lost business, and have altered their menus in an attempt to keep up with the 'health trend'. I think, slowly but surely, society is working towards slimming down. Supermarkets are filled with what I would have labeled contradictions years before. Now you can buy microwavable low-calorie, low-carb meals, some of which are mentioned by weight-loss organizations and I can say that so far from what I've seen they're on the level. Companies are providing healthy alternatives that are slowly nearing the same convenience as fast-food. It's a good place to start.
If you're not overweight, and if you're not responsible for someone who is overweight, then this isn't your problem. Don't tell your friend to lose weight, don't drop subtle hints; just leave them be. Any smoker will tell you, it gets more than annoying when people around you keep telling you to quit. They know they should quit (by now, everyone with enough liberty to go out and lose weight by themselves knows what they need to do) so don't make it your problem.
See, that's just wrong. You really can't do much about restaurants near a school apart from zoning laws (which I wouldn't agree with) but people should raise more of a stink about Pizza Hut in school.
I mean, didn't some schools ban coke machines a while back?
Everyone should exercise but if you are obese it's not an exercise issue, it's a calorie issue. You need to eat fewer calories. The easiest way to do this without feeling really hungry all the time is to determine which foods in your diet are the most calorie rich and replace them with filling but lower calorie fare. Eat the salad. Skip the dressing. It's good for you.
I would add that if there was some way I could read and post on this forum while on the elliptical (I can't run, my throat dries right up), I would never leave the gym, as you guys probably know by my posting habits.
more smaller meals helped me a lot, on top of obviously making the healthier decisions. not eating at all then eating a lot of food at night is one of the worst things every but it's easy to fall into when you're not being conscious of it.
The place I work out is actually a musclehead gym - but I like it for that reason. The dudes are quiet, considerate, focused on working out, not there to flirt or pose really. I like that everybody is just wrapped up in what they're doing.
Surely its both. But my main point was that it's easier to convince kids to do something that's fun. Food is a hard one, because it is usually dictated by the family, rather than schools.
Where did I say we shouldn't improve the quality of health class? At the same time, quality of information isn't necessarily an incentive to the overweight kids, though.
Egg drop soup, because how full you are is determined by mass.
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/healthtool-fast-food-choices
Here's a tool to help you.
When I do get fast food I like Taco Bell and I get two spicy chicken soft tacos, it's around 300ish calories and it has lots of fresh tomatos and is very flavorful. As far as quick meals go, it's pretty close to the sort of thing I would make for myself at home (grilled chicken + vegetables = meal!)
The thing about soups is that they are very high in sodium. It can cause other issues, and for the dieter it can increase hunger feelings over time which can lead to failure of the diet. Spicy foods are good but salty is generally bad.
The only way you'd be keeping them healthy through school is if the school's feeding them, and cafeteria's aren't everywhere. Teaching a kid how to eat healthy is good, but when that kid has little-to-no control over what they eat, all you're doing is providing them information for the future. And that's if the kids keep up with those classes.
Skipping soda (or pop or coke or fizzy drinks or whatever the fuck you call it) is probably one of the most important if you are a big soda drinker. Cutting one 20 oz soda a day will make you lose (or not gain, anyways) like 2 pounds per month.
Ideally almost all of your fluid intake should be ice cold water*, but having a little diet soda, black coffee or tea, or some juice (being mindful juice is high in calories compared to actually fruit, so it counts as a treat and not as good for you) is fine.
This obviously applies more to sedentary people, rather than someone who does physical activity all day. Still, it's ridiculously easy to cut weight with minor changes.
* If the water is cold enough, it actually has a negative caloric value due to the energy required to heat it. I think it's like 100 calories burned per gallon of ice water.
and this is bad?
While I don't think "don't be afraid" is good advice, because I've been in that same place, in most cases there is no reason to be afraid. But, its OK to be afraid, as long as you don't let the fear control you. Letting what other people may or may not think about how you look control whether or not you try something that could be good for you or fun isn't a good way to go about things.
It can be tough, but after I got out of high school I eventually decided I wanted to get in better shape for my own health, and I've never once seen a case of anyone being mocked or bothered about their weight in the University or community centre gyms that I've gone to. I'd say 75% or more people in any gym have headphones in and are concentrating on their own workout. Maybe commercial gyms have different environments, I don't know.
Oh, and asking a friend who already goes to show you around is a good way to get over the fear if you really want to try the gym. Some places also have intro sessions you can pay for where a trainer at the gym will give you a tour, show you the basis of how to use the machines, etc.
We are pretty much trained from birth to have stupid eating habits. We're born with an intuitive sense of when we need to eat and when we're full, and then our parents and our culture make a conscious effort to fuck that up. Our parents insist we clean our plate, no matter what. If we eat everything on our plate, then we can have dessert, letting us eat even more. Don't eat until you're full, eat until the arbitrary - and probably too-large - amount of food on your plate is gone.
And then we grow up thinking that the proper amount to eat is the entirety of what we're given, no exceptions. We wander into a restaurant and are handed stupidly large quantities of food, plus all-you-can-eat bread and soup and salad. And how much do we eat? Every last bite.
It is not surprising that we are a nation of fat-asses. It is difficult to grow up into anything but, unless you have either a quick metabolism or some very good dietary habits, which you sure as fuck won't acquire by watching American culture at work.
Maddie: "I am not!"
Riley: "You're a marsupial!"
Maddie: "I am a placental mammal!"
Even Subway's 9-grain wheat bread has high fructose corn syrup in it. It's maddening, considering how much of our food is filled with this crap.
It's ineffective. You're not keeping them healthier in general through school, you're providing half-ass prep for when they have the resources to actually lose weight, after school.
I have a really, REALLY negative attitude towards the idea of "losing weight". I'm not adverse to exercise, I think people should eat healthy, and losing fat should be the goal people strive for. Losing weight is something that sick people do.
Our national obsession with health and being fat at the same time, I think, is in part due to people trying trendy "easy" things, stupid infomercial exercise machines that (90% of the time) don't fucking work, and this goddamned OCD-styled tethering to the scale.
The scale is not a determinant of how good you look. Your weight (in pounds or kilos) is not a determinant of how fat you are. You know when you look good? When you look in the mirror and see new muscles popping out of what used to look like a stack of pancakes topped with two pink saggy tomatoes. When you go from seeing nothing but flat fat to a bit of your rib sticking out (the muscles covering the ribs, mind you) to the cutout of your obliques on the sides of your stomach starting to show to your stomach finally shrinking up, not when the scale tells you you're the proper weight for your BMI.
I'm sorry, I really just had to get that off my chest.
If I had kids I would have walked up and said "Do what you like, but if I hear that you fed my kids something unhealthy, I'll do whatever it takes to see if I can press charges. And if I'm around when you do it, I'll pull you away from my child by your hair."
My fiance's mother grew up in an area where people actually died from starvation. Now that she lives in the UK (dont get me started on the state of food there) she was told that she has high blood pressure. The idea that you can eat too much is completely foreign to her and the antithesis of everything she was told growing up.
We're not that far removed from these 'bad habits'. Hell, my grandfather went through both wars. He'll eat any fucking thing.
And now I love cooked spinach (and raw) thanks, Dad!
what is your alternative? isn't it better to do something? school is about education
Same with my household.
I think, as a nation, we should ban scales and only sell calipers.
The problem is that people see huge plates at resturaunts and such and think, "This is a normal meal" It isn't. It is far too large for your average non-olympic athlete. For your typical desk jockey. Until people realize this, it isn't going to change.
edit: and yes, yes it has been mentioned. Damn it jeffe.
Metabolically, and hydratively, the only two things that really matter are "Does it have sugar" and "does it have caffiene" - "colored" drinks hydrate you just fine, as do diet sodas, and caffiene is actually good for short term weight loss - the amount in soda has more value as a stimulant then penalty as a diuretic. And the temperature thing, at a comfortable cold drinking temp you're talking maybe 5-10 calories difference