July 2009 Blog Posts

This post is for Joe. Joe commented on my last post, "Oh, Applebee's" and while I could have just responded to his comment, I decided I would rather address his thoughts in a new blog post. Here is his comment: "This is pathetic. Taking a survey on FB to see if others think you are fat? Getting depressed for buying a bikini? Blaming Applebee's for 200 calories? Enjoy your life already!! " First, I would like to say I enjoy my life much more than I write. By nature, I am an extreme pessimist, and in even the best of situations somehow manage...

I don't know how many of you are following this, but for those who aren't you may want to re-consider choosing Applebee's as your healthy food option. I know I felt personally betrayed when this lawsuit came about a year or two ago: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/382643_applebees10.html?source=rss It is still unsettled so far. Basically, the woman alleged that the menu options marked "Weight Watchers" on the Applebee's menu have grossly understated calorie counts. The menu options were then brought to a lab, where it was determined that the lady was right, and sometimes by more than 200 calories the menu items were misrepresented. Would I sue a restaurant if...

What if the following quote is true? "With 'weight loss' you don't want to lose anything. Here's why: What does your brain make you do when you lose something? Find it!" This is taken from an article written by James Miller of the Examiner and it made me think for a moment (see the rest of the article here http://www.examiner.com/x-3011-Atlanta-Wellness-Examiner~y2009m7d25-What-exercise-maximizes-weight-loss). I mainly thought, "Aha! This is why I'm not losing weight-my body WON'T LET ME!" No, Ariana. No. I know I talk a lot about excuses on this blog. Why? Because I make a lot of them. In work, in life and especially in weight...

You've seen it happen a thousand times. It's probably even happened to you, yourself. You get in the groove of eating healthy and exercising and after a few weeks, you see the pounds begin to drop. The declining number on the scale and the extra room in your pants is encouragement enough to get you to keep pushing yourself to lose weight-and you do. But then one day, one ordinary day, when you're still doing the same thing you've been doing that has helped you lose weight, it just stops. Suddenly, you cannot lose any more weight, despite how much you try. Some...

This may very well be the greatest lie a group of people has ever told to themselves or other people, but apparently, there is a movement out there where people who once struggled with their weight loss are now "embracing" their non-weight loss and encouraging behaviors that make them gain weight. I tweeted this link from the New York Times earlier today: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/health/nutrition/16skin.html?_r=1 Basically, after years of following diets and regulating what they ate, these people, as advised by their therapists, gave up trying to lose weight and ate everything and did everything they would not do while trying to lose weight. While...

I'm pretty confident in saying I think I'm not the only one who HATES bikini season. Whether you're in a luxury bathing suit store or Target, you can try on a dozen bathing suits and even if you leave with one or two, you leave a little sadder at what you saw in the mirror. For those who don't experience this every year, good for you! Hopefully someday I, myself, will be at that point. But for now, bathing suit shopping is on the top of my not-fun list. To make it a little easier on myself, and hopefully yourself, I've researched some...

A few days ago, I came upon this article. It asks whether pushing someone to do something, particularly to lose weight, can have opposite effects from those intended. http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/jul/12/if-partner-pushes-too-hard-try-a-new-tactic/ It's a touchy line when it comes to motivation and weight loss. Motivation can be great to jump start your weight loss. But with someone always telling you how you need to lose weight, you may begin to feel bad about yourself. This article takes it one step further and explores what happens when your other half takes the motivation too far and it begins to hurt your feelings. I know that I, personally, am...

Something fat is sweeping the television airwaves these days, and I'm glad. It used to be that people only wanted to see skinny, beautiful people on tv. Now, bigger, beautiful people are becoming the new craze. The first one that caught my eye was Dance Your Ass Off-after watching the first episode, I've been obsessed, and you may find me tweeting about it often. This next one looks even better (if you're into cheesy reality tv like me) So, this Fall, Fox will bring us a real treat. It's called More to Love, and for complete details on the show, go here: http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/03/fox-more-to-love.html It is...

I like this quote, because I think many of us forget this when we're trying to lose weight. Sometimes, we get infatuated by what the scale tells us, instead of the progress we've made, though the numbers can be used to lead us in the right direction. I got it from this article, which I linked to on our Twitter page this morning: http://tinyurl.com/ldjd7o The article is about what you do when your work outs aren't working out. This can happen when your body becomes too familiar, and in fact immune, to your workout routine and your weight begins to plateu. They say...

Boy, do I have something cool for you buddies! More specifically, you buddies on Facebook, which I'm sure many of you are. It's a new Facebook application created and sponsored by Weight Loss Buddy called Am i Fat? You can get there through this link: http://apps.facebook.com/am_i_fat/home.php Once you go to that link, go to set up and you can send invitations to your friends asking them, "Am I Fat?" They can then respond with a yes or a no. They determine whether you are fat based on the photo you use in the app. You can also post the app to your wall...

Fish tacos. Mmmmmmmm. Wait, I've never had fish tacos. But I want to. Today at work, I was proofing a page written by our food columnist about her travels to California and the most delicious fish tacos she's ever had in San Diego. I'm traveling to San Diego in two weeks, and while I've never considered eating a fish taco before, her story made me cravvvvvvvve them. Basically, a fish taco is a soft shell taco with a few strips of grilled white fish, a cabbage slaw and a lime zesty sauce-or at least that's what it is in her description. She described this...

A few days ago, I posted this link on Twitter and maybe Facebook too: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/fashion/25skinintro.html?_r=1&em Essentially, it's a New York Times article saying that doctors are not now or even close to a cure for cellulite. Many people don't know much about cellulite. Many people think you can only have cellulite if you are overweight. The truth is, anyone can have cellulite-men and women, fat people and skinny people. Anyone. The sad truth is that cellulite doesn't affect everyone equal. Typically, it is more common for women and even more common for overweight women. But hey, there is a chance that when you're out on...

You're not going to believe this-I barely believe it. But Skechers claims to have created a shoe that, by simply wearing it instead of other shoes, will help you lose weight. I'm having some trouble posting photos to my blog, but here is a link to the Shape-Ups Web site that explicitly explains how this ugly little shoe can make all your dreams come true (yea, right). http://www.skechers.com/info/shape_ups I guess I can kind of see where they were going with the almost astronaut-like design, and how they could convince avid weight loss-seekers that the rounded heel could actually cause the person to work...