Ditching Dieting
“The diet industry is the most successful failed business in the world”
According to The Guardian the British parliament hosted a discussion centred around the causes of body image anxiety that pervades the UK right now.
A group that campaigns against body anxiety known as Endangered Bodies took to parliament to demonstrate the negative impact that dieting and the dieting industry has on the mental health and physical health of Britons, particularly women.
And it’s true. Living a healthy lifestyle is important, but it has to be through achievable means and established within realistic limitations. The diet industry goes beyond that however and has us restricting ourselves with unsustainable diets to meet body image ideals that are entirely unrealistic. It’s damaging to our mental health and can even be traumatic.
Think about it.
You see the promotions for this new diet that promises to make you lose that unwanted belly fat in just a few weeks.
And suddenly you realize that compared to that perfectly toned woman in the ad you have the stomach of Santa Claus.
You probably need to lose belly fat too. No, no, you definitely need to lose it.
Before you know it you’ve swapped your your husband’s famous buttermilk pancakes for egg white and steamed broccoli
and you’re cancelling dinners with friends because there’s nothing at the restaurant for you to eat.
And you still don’t look like the woman in the ad.
Now you feel like a complete failure. Why can’t you do it? Why can’t you just be strong and follow a diet and have a model’s body? What’s wrong with you?
Now you’re upset with yourself and you give up and start eating even more unhealthy than you did before you started this stupid diet. Why not? You’re doomed to be fat and ugly anyway, right?
. . . then you see promotions for a new fangled diet . . .
and so it goes.
Diets screw with our brains and our bodies. Whereas once we used to be able to eat intuitively when we were hungry or craving something, now we have to refrain from giving into these cues otherwise we become failures. It stresses us out and makes us lose confidence in ourselves when none of it, none of it, is our fault. In the end it leads to a cycle of dieting and gaining weight that is unhealthy to our bodies, causes traumatic body image anxiety, and makes us miserable.
Even though I can run a marathon and a 24 minute 5K and I can squat more than a lot of guys at the gym and I can climb mountains, I still feel like the unhealthiest of sloths if I give into my food cravings. I still struggle with my body confidence almost daily. My body image is much better than it used to be, but I’m still working on it.
Awareness is the first and most important step in generating momentum for a movement to alter ideals ingrained in society like body image anxiety. I applaud the British parliament to opening the doors for discussion on this important topic and Endangered Bodies for building awareness of the harms of the diet industry.
It’s time to stop the dieting.
H&M Takes Photoshop to the Extreme
I hardly read women’s magazines anymore. I don’t like looking at their images of women. No matter how fully I comprehend that the women in the pictures are photoshopped (sometimes horrifically) to ensure that they have no pores, no bellies, no wrinkles, and no cellulite—to ensure they are flawless—seeing them always makes me conscious of my own large pores and of my pudgy middle. Of all of my flaws, really. Flaws that I might not have otherwise considered to be imperfections had the ad not pointed out to me.
Curiously, after reading magazines I end up wanting to go out and buy some magical pore reducing serum.
I don’t like looking at these types of ads because they work. They’re made to make me feel insecure about myself just to sell me a product to correct some flaw that they invented. I usually don’t end up buying the products, but I do buy into the idea that my appearance is somehow not good enough.
But I don’t even know what to make of this news that H&M is using completely computer generated images of women’s bodies as its lingerie “models”.
They’re not real women. And I don’t mean that in the “Real Women Have Curves” sort of way. No. These bodies are literally not real. They’re generated by a computer to be the ideal figure of a woman and then the head’s of real gorgeous women are pasted on top.
(source)
This is happening, folks.
I’d like to say that knowing this would make it easier to push our self-consciousness aside when looking at advertisements of women, but as with photoshopped images, I believe that we’ll still be looking at these computer-generated women and saying “I wish I looked like that.”
Has it gotten so bad that advertisers can’t even find models with both the looks and the body to hock their wares? This does not bode well for the female psyche when even models, who are understood to have some of the most desirable figures in our culture, aren’t good enough.
I won’t buy lingerie from H&M and not just because I find it hard to find anything I like in that store, or because the company has succumbed to the lowest of the low in the world of women’s body image, but primarily because knowing that their lingerie only fits a computer-generated body I can’t image that it is tailored well enough to fit a real woman’s body, like my own.
Lifestyle History
Image by Durell Studio on Etsy
In today’s post on Weighty Matters, a blog I read daily from an Ottawa-based bariatric doctor, Dr. Freedhoff mentions the importance of doctors discussing your lifestyle history with you. The lifestyle history includes what you eat, how you eat, and in what ways you are physically active. He says:
“It would certainly help a physician to get a sense of how their patients are managing their two most important determinants of health, and provide a myriad of opportunities to try to help collaboratively trouble shoot common barriers to healthy lifestyles.”
I usually only see my doctor once a year and he always has a resident working with him who goes over my history and performs the physical. While the resident often asks if I exercise, the only question I ever get about my eating habits is whether or not I’m vegetarian, a question usually sparked by my low iron levels.
These are the minimum 10 lifestyle questions that Dr. Freedhoff recommends all physicians ask. I answered them too so I could get a feel of where my health is:
How many meals do you eat out (including cafeterias), order in or take out (including prepared supermarket counter foods) per week?
One.
Do you feel comfortable cooking?
Yes!
How many meals a week do you cook yourself by means of the actual transformation of raw ingredients?
About four dinners from scratch per week. The rest is usually leftovers or dinner at my dad’s house.
How many glasses of milk, juice, sugared soda and/or alcohol do you drink a day?
About 1 cup of soy or almond milk in my morning smoothie. As for booze, I have about 1 drink every 1 or 2 weeks.
What do you put in your coffee or tea, and how many do you drink a day?
I drink about 3 cups of plain tea a day and coffee with milk or cream about once a week.
What’s your typical pattern of daily eating (ie do you miss meals or snacks and what do you typically have for breakfast/snacks/etc.?)?
Breakfast is usually a smoothie or oatmeal with fruit.
Lunch is dinner leftovers from the previous day.
Dinner is usually homemade and involves beans, vegetables, and some grain.
I eat a lot of sugary snacks throughout the day, like candy or chocolate.
(If married and/or with children) How many meals a week do you eat together as a family?
4 or 5.
What was your favourite sport or activity as a kid and why aren’t you doing it today?
Basketball– it was the only sport I was decent at. Curling was my sport of choice in high school and university. I don’t do either of these anymore because I’m too busy weightlifting, kickboxing, and running.
I also loved yoga as a kid and I still do it today.
How many minutes of simple walking might you be able to add to your day without it being a hardship, and when would it be (ensuring goal here is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely)?
I could realistically add 20 minutes of walking per day at lunch time (as long as it’s not snowing) or added to my daily walk with Bagigis.
(If a parent of still at home children) Are you living the life, food, fitness and health wise, that you want your child to be living, and if not, what do you think you might improve?
I’m not a parent but if I were I definitely wouldn’t let my kids eat as much sugar as I do.
I’m sure as a bariatric doctor, Freedhoff has more reason to explore a patient’s lifestyle history, but I think it would be helpful to both patients and doctors if these questions were asked. It obviously gives the doctor more insight into the patient’s health and it is a gentle reminder to the patients that their lifestyle is not as healthy as it can be and can be improved without taking drastic measures.
I might be at the opposite end of the patient spectrum though. Sometimes I need a reminder that I am healthy. And this reminder couldn’t have come at a better time since yesterday just happened to be one of those days when I was really struggling with body image and feeling good about myself. In answering these questions I felt more confident about how I’m living my life. I eat wholesome, home cooked meals and am very active. Despite my slight sugar addiction (which I’m really trying to control) I’d say I’m a pretty healthy chick.
Winning a 5K at 65 Years Old
I was recently thinking about winning a 5K in my age division. Not running a 5K, mind you, actually winning a 5K. It’s a long term goal (and I mean loooooong)
I think most recreational runners focus on personal bests rather than actually winning a 5K. I’m usually one of those people too. But my goal isn’t to win a race that will come any time soon it’s actually to win my age division of a race when I’m a senior citizen.
I’ve been telling myself: “You’re going to win a 5K when you’re 65”. I’m completely convinced that this is going to happen and that nothing in the next 40 years will prevent it.
There are a few reasons why I want to win a 5K at 65. First of all, I think it will be easier to win my age division if most people my age are playing shuffle board in Boca. I like to set attainable goals where statistics are on my side; I’m practical like that.
Secondly, running a 5K at 65 means that I’ll still be in shape at that age. I see my active lifestyle continuing into the future. I want to be able to bench press my 15 year old grandkids and teach them to run 5Ks too.
Also, and most importantly, old women who are active kick ass. Knowing that I’m going to win a 5K at 65 keeps me hopeful and inspired that I too will kick ass one day. Seriously. I just read this story about a 98 year old who became the first woman to become a 10th-degree black belt in Judo. At 98 years old!
(source)
Earlier today, I saw a story on TV about the world’s oldest synchronized swim team of 80 to 90 year olds kicking their legs in the air like women a quarter their age.
Right now when I’m at the cusp of my quarter life crisis wondering what direction my life should take and if I’ll ever find fulfillment in the monotony of daily life, it’s refreshing and exciting to think that I could still be so full of life and accomplishment when I’m a senior citizen. It makes me feel like I have all the time in the world to do some amazing things in my life.
Who knows, maybe I shouldn’t set my sights only on winning that 5K. Maybe I can take up some entirely new activity. Actually, now that I think about it, I’m pretty positive I’ll be the oldest performer in Cirque de Soleil sometime in the distant future.
Why hating your body is futile
I’d venture to say that most of us overweight women are not happy with our bodies. Images of glamorous women praised for their ability to hide behind a matchstick are unavoidable. As are the advertisements for weight loss regimes and rapid weight loss schemes. I’m not thin enough! I get it. Enough already.
We’re suffering from some serious anxiety issues. No wonder we’re all on prozac or self-medicating with pints of Haagen Dazs and retracting to unhealthy lifestyles. We’ll never be good enough anyway.
But what if you learn to accept who you are and what you’re capable of? What if you learned what triggers your eating and how to deal with it? What if you started to believe that you were beautiful? Would it help you become a healthier person?
Researchers at the Technical University of Lisbon say yes.
So there’s this study that they did says that hating your body is futile.
Well, okay, so it doesn’t say that exactly but that’s what it implies. If you’re a large and in charge woman you’d best be putting down them diet books and swapping ‘em for some body love mantras because that’ll get you to shed more pounds.
Overweight women were enrolled in a weight loss program for a year.The control group was given “general health information about good nutrition, stress management, and the importance of looking after yourself,” while the treatment group attended “30 weekly group sessions where issues such as exercise, emotional eating, improving body image and the recognition of, and how to overcome, personal barriers to weight loss and lapses from the diet were discussed.”
The study found the women on the body love plan lost more weight over the year than the control group– 7% compared to 2% of their start weight.
The results aren’t that surprising though.
I mean, we’re overweight women, we’re not ignorami. We don’t sit down to a meal of potato chips, deep fried chicken, and a pint of ice cream and think we’re eating healthy. We don’t binge in the middle of the night when there’s no one around because we think it’ll help us shed a few pounds.
It takes a lot more work to recognize why I want to eat yet another cookie than it does to list off nutritional information about why it’s bad for me. Maybe I want the cookie because I’m bored, or maybe because my body is craving sugar, or maybe it’s because I think I look like shit anyway, so I might as well indulge in something that will make me happy.
I know what’s good for me and what isn’t. I know when my behaviours and eating habits aren’t healthy but I often don’t really understand why I am doing them.
So maybe we should shelve our diet books for good and start learning more about ourselves than what’s on our plate. …maybe we’ll end up looking better in the end anyway.
A Gorgeous Wardrobe
I went to Toronto to see all my best friends from high school this weekend. Tina and I drove up from Windsor and stayed in with our girlfriend in her gorgeous Etobicoke townhouse. She’s still sorta getting settled in the house but the rooms that she finished decorating look like something out of House and Home magazine and it’s obvious she considers every aspect of the space. It’s a gift, I think, to be so stylish.
Her finesse extends to the piece de resistence 3rd bedroom that she converted into a dressing room/make-up room. Women are thoroughly impressed when they see this room. Jealous, usually. There are mirrors and warm fabrics and beads delicately strewn. There’s enough make-up to make a department store make-up cosmetics counter jealous. She has a brush for absolutely every application—and she actually cleans them. A jewellery ‘box’ that’s more like a jewellery hutch. There’s a place for everything and everything in it’s place. It feels like a room that should belong to a wealthy housewife in the roaring 20s. It’s that cool.
This woman needs a side business developing wardrobe rooms for Toronto’s nouveau riche. She’d make a mint.
When I see the room I feel like a chump. My daily routine, which takes about 30 seconds and only occasionally involves me actually looking in the mirror, seems so juvenile in contrast. I never quite learned the delicate art of looking polished and fabulous and it makes me feel like I’ve missed some rite of passage or coming of age. Like she knows how to be a real woman who looks great and radiates beauty and I’m still stuck in adolescent awkwardness and crossing my fingers that womanliness will just kick in some day.
*I used pictures of our excursion to the Toronto Zoo in the post because my friend would likely decapitate me if I posted pictures of her domain of femininity (or at the very least, call me a jackass). It was my idea to go to the zoo this weekend—further evidence that I’m still not a woman yet.
Body After Marathon
Body Image Issues
I headed to the gym after work today like almost every other day. I changed into my yoga capris and a tight sweat wicking top. On my way out of the locker room I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I was not impressed.
The first thought that crossed my mind was: FAT. I’ve been doing pretty well with not fat talking but today wasn’t one of those days. My thoughts rushed back to the contents of my gym bag and whether I would be able to find a more forgiving shirt inside, but I knew I had nothing. I almost forced myself to believe that I needed to go home to change.
But I didn’t. Fuck it.
I went out and had a fantastic lower body workout. I was too busy thinking “oh god, my legs!” to bother with fat thoughts once I got into my weight routine and luckily the thought didn’t cross my mind again. The thought didn’t consume me like I know it would have in the past– that’s what I call progress in bikini confidence. It’s a work in progress.
Truth of the matter is that post marathon, I am not happy with how I look. I already mentioned that I’m starting to change that by focussing more on my strength training workouts again (right now I’m doing the Superset routine). For cardio, I’m also adding in more interval training instead of distance running. And, of course, I’m always incorporating yoga into my life. But the biggest thing that I have to change is my food.
So you’ll probably be seeing a lot more healthy food on the blog—and less delicious cookies, and sticky buns. More protein. More snacks or smaller meals. And I’ll update you on my Body After Marathon progress.
Sunday Night
Matt and I went to dinner for Father’s Day with my in-laws at Caldwell’s Grant in Amherstburg. I was so full from the weekend of eating so I just had a salad with sauteed mushrooms and I only ate half.
Afterward, we went for a walk in the park and at Fort Malden (a beautiful old fort that played a major part in the Battle of 1812)
Fitness
Today’s workout was Leg Day from my Superset Routine. I was tempted to leave the gym afterward but since I had nowhere to be and no dinner to cook (because there are so many leftovers from my dad’s party this weekend) I decided to stay and do cardio.
I love doing this routine on the spinning bike. It’s a quick half hour HIIT:
Spinning Tabata Intervals
Perform the following on the spinning bike:
- 5 Minute Warm-Up – at an easy pace and resistance
- 4 Minute Set – complete the following 8x
20 seconds sprint
10 seconds recovery
- 1 Minute Recovery
- Repeat the 4 Minute Set + 1 Minute Recovery 3x for a total of 20 minutes
- 5 Minute Cool-Down
I will incorporate this workout into my cardio at least once a week.
I wish everyone were a massage therapist
You know those judgemental people in your life? They’re the people that criticize others’ outfits, their hair, their weight, their make-up (or lack thereof), so you know damn well that they will be criticizing you too. They’re the people that you have to spend extra time getting ready for when you expect to see them. They’re the people that you probably don’t like very much. You know those people?
Well, a massage therapist isn’t one of them.
I had my first full body massage last week. A treat to myself after my marathon (well, it was paid for by my extended healthcare, but it was a treat nonetheless). I’ve never had a massage but I’ve seen people getting them on TV shows like The Bachelor so that practically makes me an expert, right?
Truth is, I was feeling awkward about the whole thing from the minute I got to the massage therapist’s office.
(source)
My therapist’s introduced herself as Meera which reminded me of a meerkat and made me smile. It was a good name. She ushered me into a hardly lit room with a massage bed covered with sheets and blankets and bolsters and with calming music and nature sounds playing in the background.
Meera told me that she would leave the room while I got undressed but told me to leave my underwear on (which was good because I probably would have assumed that they were supposed to come off and that would have been way too awkward). I laid down on my stomach on the massage bed with my face squished in the face hole (I’m sure there’s a proper name for this but we’ll pretend the technical term is facehole), waiting.
As I lay on the bed waiting for her I started to get anxious and to worry. My back had huge chaffing scars on it from running that looked more like lashings, my legs were prickly because I hadn’t shaven that morning, my feet probably stunk, I was pretty sure there was a pimple on my bum, and of course my body isn’t quite as firm as I wish it could be.
Here I was in my embarrassing body waiting for a person to see me 90% naked and then touch me. Everywhere. I wondered what she would think. I wanted to apologize for my body before she started. I thought she should be warned.
And then she started to massage my back. As soon as she started to touch me I let go of it all because the massage felt so right. It’s like when you are shopping for a dress and everything you try looks horrible and you’re starting to hate your body…and then you try on that one perfect dress that makes you feel stunning. Yeah, it’s exactly like that.
I know it sounds like hippie bullshit, but the massage made me feel great physically, and even better mentally because I completely forgot about my body issues. I stopped thinking about how I looked and started thinking about how I felt which, during a massage, is amazing.
I wish more people made me feel that way. I wish there were more Meera’s in the world than judgemental people. And I wish I could make people feel more comfortable with their bodies too.
Bikini Living – confidence
Bikini Confidence is a big part of getting ready for bikini season. Probably the most important. You can eat right and exercise all you want, but if you don’t love your body and have confidence in who you are then bikini season will always be dreadful.
I’m tired of hiding behind a towel at the pool.
The truth is I’m afraid of being judged. Wrapped up in a towel, no one can point fingers and say “She’s too [insert nasty comment here] to wear a bikini”. Okay, so no one will actually point a finger, but people do think these things. I know this because I have thought these things about other women.
I know, I know, I’m a terrible person and a disgrace to feminism.
Those thoughts came from my own insecurities and my own desire to be that girl– the one with the self-confidence to flaunt her best assets and ignore the judgment.
I am completely inspired by these women who put their confidence on display and love their looks– that’s difficult to do given all the images of perfection that are thrown out at us every single day. I’m not quite there yet. I still have insecurities and I’m still working on that.
Since I began my Bikini Birthday project I’ve become much more accepting of my body. I know what parts I have worked hard for and what parts I was born with. I have seen how it changes and how it stays the same. I have started to feel more comfortable in it as a part of me that I should embrace rather than reject.
I may be a work in progress but here are my tips for building self confidence in daily life:
Do Yoga
It’s about body awareness. Yoga keeps you in touch with your body. Yoga lets you really focus on the strengths and weaknesses of every aspect of your body in the present moment. Yoga teaches you to accept what you can and cannot do; what you are and what you are not.
Think of all the things you have to remember just to be in downward dog: Heels pushing down, kneecaps pulling up, shoulders pulling down your back, all corners of the hands pushing into the floor, chest dipping, head dangling, tail bone lifting, and breath flowing.
Your body will thank you for giving it your undivided attention during yoga.
Pieces of Flair
Never underestimate the power of fashion.
You don’t need 37 pieces of flair- juts one. Including even one small item in your daily outfit that makes you feel pretty/sexy/dainty/strong/whatever-you-want-to-feel is effective in setting your mood for an entire day.
Wear something sparkly and you just might ignite a spark inside you.
Today's flair - a big flower pin
My Body is Pretty Damn Awesome.
This continues to be my mantra. Establish your own positive mantra that reminds you of your best attributes and encourages you to focus on all the great things you’ve got going on.
I established this mantra when I wrote my winter ‘Get Comfortable Plan’ and it really has worked. I am so more comfortable in my body in spite of my being the heaviest I’ve been in years. I’ve kept away from the scale and started to reflect on all the amazing things that my body is capable of.
Set Goals
Setting goals for myself– like ‘running a marathon‘, ‘doing a yoga headstand’, and even ‘baking the best cinnamon buns ever’ — and then working towards them gives me a sense of accomplishment and pride. Achieving goals reminds me that I am more than a number of a scale and I am more than just my pant size.
Dance
Having my own personal dance party in an empty house with my favourite music blaring is quite possibly the most satisfying thing I can do for myself. I forget all about how I look, I completely lose inhibitions, and I just let go.
It makes me happy. No. It makes me elated.
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