Weight Loss Documentary

What happens when two British journalists participate in a crash diet experiment to lose five dress sizes in five weeks, aiming to end up a UK size 0 (U.S. size 2)?
The mental/emotional effects are as interesting as the body changes.

It's worth a watch on YouTube; here's the first of five episodes. You can find the rest by searching for "Super Skinny Me" on YouTube.

Thinspo

This just saved me from pigging out on pizza.

Celebrity Sizes

I don't know if it's entirely healthy to compare yourself to celebrities, size wise. But I know that I do it, and so do lots of other people, especially those of us who are trying to lose weight. There's a natural curiosity about those who are held up as "ideal" examples of beauty and body shape.

It's usually pretty difficult to know what clothing sizes celebrities wear (and dang nigh impossible to know how much they weigh). You can't necessarily trust what you read in the magazines and gossip websites. But one place to find out what size some celebrities are (or were at the time they wore a certain garment, at least) is www.clothesoffourbacks.org. It’s an auction site where clothes once wore by celebs are auctioned off for worthy causes.

I'm sure there's still variation in what the sizes mean, as I talked about in the last post, but it's still pretty interesting to "contrast and compare." For example, the one-shouldered red gown that Katherine Heigl wore to the Academy Awards ceremony in 2008 is listed on the auction site as a size "Custom 4," which sounds about right to me.

On the other hand, I was surprised to see that the emerald green gown Keira Knightley wore in the great film "Atonement" was a size 2. I would have guessed smaller, maybe a 0 or even a 00. She just seems a lot skinnier than a 2 to me and seems more than one size smaller than Katherine Heigl.

By the way, Keira's "Atonement" dress went for a whopping $46,000(!) while Katherine's Oscar dress garnered a high bid of $5,000, all for a good cause.

Thinspiration or Depression?

Watching the preternaturally perky -- and thin -- actress Amy Adams in "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" at the movies last night, something occurred to me. When I am in what I call a thin state of mind (eating lightly, exercising, losing weight or at least feeling good about my prospects for losing weight) seeing skinny people inspires me. It makes me want that kind of body, the kind that can wear anything and look good, the kind that can be seen or photographed from any angle without looking fat, and it helps me keep working toward it. It's thinspiration.

On the other hand, when I am overeating, not exercising, and feeling down and hopeless about my size, seeing slim people just makes me mad. Or sad. Mad at myself for not being thin the way they are. Sad that I might never look like them. Jealous, envious, depressed, and full of self-loathing.

It's like being a little poor kid, seeing the local Richie Rich kid playing with amazing toys, wanting them with all your heart, and not having them. Except that unlike the child who needs someone else to buy her those toys, this is something I can get myself. I can have a better, healthier body if I work hard enough and long enough. I can achieve my weight goals. But no one else is going to do it for me. And it won't happen unless I work at it every day. The sooner I accept that, the sooner I get thin.

Apparel Angst

OK, I admit it: One reason I want to be thin is to wear more interesting clothes. And look good while doing so. (That last part is pretty important. It's entirely possible to be thin but, er, a tad TOO interesting, like Bai Ling here):



Let me just go ahead and come all the way out: I am a closet (no pun intended) fashion addict. I read gofugyourself.com daily. I watch Project Runway while on the treadmill. I pour over the photo sets from Fashion Week, especially the Couture shows. I haunt the local thrift stores to find creative clothing combos without spending much cash. This is all a HUGE change from when *I* was huge and hated, hated, hated, HATED shopping.

But today I had a seriously angst-y moment at the Goodwill Super Store. There was this dress, you see, this cute, clingy, interestingly orange dress. Just the kind I like. In a size "small." Make that in a size "too small."

It almost, but not quite, fit. Ten pounds from now, I will be able to wear it. But right now, it shows every morsel of food that has passed my lips and been added onto my belly in the last three weeks of less-than-stellar adherence to my fitness plan.

The dress could look great with the right necklace, the right shoes, and the RIGHT FREAKIN' BODY. None of which I have right now. But all of which I could have, may have, (dare I say, will have?) in the future.

I didn't buy the dress. But I'm going to keep an eye on it; if the Goodwill store has a half-price sale, it's mine. In the meantime, I'm using it for thinspiration.

TOO BIG, ya hear? TOO BIG!

I just finished sorting through a bunch of old clothes. Yeah, I know, it's another thrilling Saturday night at my house! Whoo-hoo! In my defense, it is going down to 14 freaking Fahrenheit degrees here tonight, so even though I hear a movie theater and a live musical show both calling my name, the thought of going out into the cold is seriously not appealing. (The show, by the way, is the Doyle and Debbie show -- see http://www.doyleanddebbie.com/. Heard of them? No? Don't worry, you will when they hit Broadway.)

Anyhow, I ended up putting a lot of the clothes that I was going through into a give-away pile because they are TOO BIG. Man, what a goooood feeling to give away clothes because they are TOO BIG! (Did I mention enough times that they are TOO BIG? They are TOO BIG. Yes, TOO BIG. LOL!)

So I'm a pretty happy camper right now! Sometimes it doesn't take much. :-)

Back on Track

Yes, I was off my blog posting for a few days. I was also off my healthy eating (Please note that I did not say "off my diet" -- this way of eating has to be a way of life for my weight loss to stick, not just a "diet.")

A friend says that out-of-town calories don't count. That's a fun attitude when you are out of town, but not so fun when you try on your pants afterward. Yikes.

Anyway, there was a time in my life when going off-plan for a few days would have been the beginning of the end of getting in shape, but now I know that it does not have to be that way. I can bounce back from a few days of heavy eating and get back on track. It would be better not to go quite so far off track in the first place, but, hey, I'm not going to beat myself up over it.

Getting back to a healthier lifestyle is not easy and I have to ease back into it, working on changing my mindset and then changing my eating patterns. That's what I'm doing this week: getting my mind and my body back on track. Now, off to the gym!

Weigh-in

I weighed myself today at the gym (where I worked out for all of 20 minutes -- gotta do better on that). The good news is that I have not gained any weight back and, in fact, have lost another 1/4 pound down to an even 124.

In celebration, I am posting a picture of my arm. Please contain your excitement. LOL





I am small-boned which means my arms are fairly delicate-looking. On the down side, it also means that any fat shows up immediately. Judging from just that arm, you would think I am already thin enough. Unfortunately, my belly tells a different story.

This will make you put down that cookie

According to an article at BestLifeOnline.com, fat cells are not the lazy, inert slobs we think they are. They are not just sitting around making us look bad. Oh, no. They are busy trying to kill us.

Sounds like the plot of a bad horror film doesn't it? Attack of the killer fat cells! (Oh wait, maybe it was already a movie -- I think it was called "THE BLOB."

Anyway, what the article says is that fat can actually be considered an endocrine organ, meaning that it is producing and secreting various substances all the time. And guess what? For the most part, those substances are not good for us. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

The secretions are called "adipokines" and they include hormones and other compounds that cause high blood sugar, raise blood pressure, and inflame the arteries possibly causing arterial plaque to come loose and block blood flow. Yikes! I'm going to remember that the next time I hear a cookie calling my name.

Funny way to put it (but true!)

Instead of complaining about being heavier than she'd like, my friend Lisa says she's unhappy with her "current gravity pull."
I like that way of putting it! It serves to reminds me of how light I'll be (in weight AND in mood) when I achieve my goal weight.

Skinny-Fat vs. Skinny-Fit

It's one thing to be skinny and a whole 'nother thing to be fit. Unfortunately for lazy-bones like me, dieting alone will not create a fit, toned, good-looking body. Sometimes it creates a body with super thin arms and legs but a flabby butt and thick belly.

Check out these photos to see what I mean. The first is of singer Amy Winehouse, sadly a woman who has more problems than just body shape. But body shape is a problem for her, too. You can tell that she doesn't eat much, but she's sure not fit or toned. She's what I've seen referred to as "skinny-fat."




The second photo is Cameron Diaz. She also probably doesn't eat a whole lot either(more than Amy, though), but you can tell she works out, is active, and has muscle tone. She is "skinny-fit."



Exercise does a body good. I am doing well on dieting but not so much on exercise. This is going to have to change. Right now, I wouldn't dare post a picure of myself in a bikini on here.

The Fountain of Youth

Is slimness the fountain of youth? Well, no...although there are studies showing that thinner people live longer on average and being thin does make it less likely that we'll get some diseases, like diabetes.

Actually, the youth effect that I'm thinking of is more cosmetic -- and involves just a little hocus-pocus.

Last night, I went out with some friends from work, all younger than me (by a couple of decades!). One of them, Crystal, has been thinspiration for me. She is about my height but with a slimmer, more athletic build.

I was surprised -- shocked -- floored -- to find out that she actually weighs a little more than me. (Believe me, it's distributed differently; more on that in another post.)

She, on the other hand, was surprised to find out how old I am. "I thought you were closer to our age," she said. She went on to comment that I weigh less than most people my age; that I'm thin "for your age."

I've heard this before. We live in a society where it's considered normal to gain weight with age. Studies show that it's typical to gain a pound of fat and lose a half pound of muscle every year from your 30's on. This is mostly because of being less active and eating more, but also because metabolism slows and hormones change.

So when people see a thin(ish!) middle-aged person, they are very likely to assume that you are younger than you are. It's all a matter of perception, that 'hocus-pocus' I mentioned earlier.
Hey, I'll take that!

Skinny State of Mind

One thing I'm going to do on this blog is offer weight loss tips that have helped me. Here's the first: I've found that to lose fat, I have to keep it in my consciousness, to be aware of it pretty much all the time; in other words, I have to stay in a skinny state of mind.

If I lose that focus, I find myself mindlessly eating.

To keep from doing that, I find that it helps to do things like look at photos of thin people for inspiration, think about the great fashions I can wear when I'm slimmer, plan what I eat in advance, and imagine getting compliments and positive attention for being slim.

Of course, sometimes just pinching myself at the waist and feeling that fat is enough to remind me to get back on track. ;-)

Thinspiration: weight loss can be done

At my highest weight, I was 5'6" and 185 pounds. Some women may feel sexy at that size, but I was a sexless blubbery blob. I did not love myself, and I certainly did not like my looks.

For most of my previous life -- before I gained all that extra flesh -- my usual range had been 130 - 145 pounds. Once I had the proper motivation, it was fairly easy for me to get back to that range, but getting thinner than that has been a struggle...until now.

Now, I'm going for it! I've had a taste of success (no food pun intended) and I want to share what has worked for me so far and find out what works for others. I also want -- and need -- to hear from others to keep up my motivation and inspiration: I want to give and receive "Thinspiration."