Weight loss motivation and “inspiration” are all over the media. It’s supposed to be helpful, right? Keep you on track. Give you direction. But look at this particular “motivational” image: “Strive for progress, not perfection.” OK, good advice I’ll admit. In fact, it’s advice I’d share. But how about the image? Good grief, that woman …
Tag: lifestyle change
What a Month of Exercise Can Do
I’m back home after spending a month with my parents in my hometown of Daytona Beach, FL. Primarily, of course, I wanted to spend time with my parents who are now in their late 70s-early 80s and both quite healthy and active! But I also hoped to use the time to break myself out of …
Diets Don’t Work and Exercise Won’t Make You Thin
Certain ideas have a way of working themselves into paradigmatic status, mostly because ambiguous “evidence” appears to tell us what we want to believe. Joining the old saw “Diets don’t work” is now the belief that “exercise won’t make you thin.” But let’s look at what’s really driven these assumptions. First of all, diets DO …
Cracked.com is Your Accurate Source for Health Information
Cracked.com will surprise you. Sure it alternates between hilarious and fascinating with articles like “Five Famous People You Won’t Believe Didn’t Really Exist.” But sometimes Cracked.com posts some really interesting stuff, like today’s article inspired by the recent Chris Christie news “According to Science, Fat is Officially Incurable.” The whole point is summed up in …
Changes in Weight and Appetite as We Age
I’m visiting my parents in my hometown of Daytona Beach, Florida. As you might guess, I was never much for the beach. My high school in the 1970s was quite the Jimmy Buffett surfer dude kind of scene. I had a classmate who refused to go with her family on a European trip because it …
When You Gain Control of Your Weight and Others Don’t
Losing a significant amount of weight takes you through an incredible life transformation. Sometimes it’s difficult to know what’s changing more—you or how people and the world treat you. One of the most difficult situations you could encounter is if you have a friend who faces severe challenges in their life. They see you taking …
Reflections on Body Size
I used to consider my body a burden. Its size and limitations created a range of discomforts, inconveniences, and conditions I found downright depressing. Losing half my body weight created an almost surreal awareness of my own body and its size. It’s been so many years now that I can no longer remember what living …
Feeling Control by Feeling Connected
Re-connecting deeply with your physical presence is one of the most powerful steps you can take when working to take control of your weight. So many of us who deal with serious weight retreat into our heads and become numb to the body that can feel like a burden. But ignoring the external “advice” and …
The Fine Line Between Weight and Health
I’ve discussed the concept of weight as an indicator of health. We know it makes no sense to assume that any given person is in a state of diminished health if we don’t actually know anything about them except their physical appearance. In his excellent blog, Dr. Arya Sharma references the “limited utility of BMI …