I was doing my daily blog reading today and came across this #ashamed posting by MrsFatass. My first reaction was one of outrage and frustration … that was then immediately followed by sadness and shame.
No … these feelings weren’t directed at Sue, her piece was very well written and full of emotions. These feelings were directed at the Georgia Ad Campaign toward “fighting childhood obesity”. I prefer to call it the Georgia Ad Campaign to “destroy children’s confidence and misplace the blame of childhood obesity”.
Look at these horrible posters they’re using in the campaign:
Now don’t get me wrong, the words and the message itself isn’t bad … what is bad are the photos. Rather than exploit the children they should instead be showing pictures of the obese parents waiting at drive through windows for dinner. Or maybe show the portion sizes of the food that most parents serve their kids compared to what they should be eating.
Shock and awe can only take you so far and certainly can have it’s use at times in any battle but these photos are just inappropriate.
As someone who’s been overweight my entire life and who’s parents used to give me second and third helpings at meals I can understand where some of the blame lies. As someone who’s father used to constantly call him fat and who was looked down on by other parents and children I understand the emotions these kids feel and how humiliating being overweight can be. As someone who learned little to nothing about fitness and nutrition in school I can understand how this epidemic has reached this point.
As a previously overweight kid I also know that these photos do nothing but hurt children’s confidence and self-esteem and that they’ll certainly do little to nothing to help address this epidemic.
If you were an overweight kid and you saw any of these posters or commercials can you imagine how you’d feel? Seriously think about that for a second …
I bet you’d want to curl up in a ball and hide in your room. Do you really think you’d have the self-esteem or confidence to ask you parents why you’re overweight? Do you think you’re doing to suddenly just figure out what you need to change to get healthy? Do you think any parents are going to look at these pictures and suddenly have an epiphany to change their ways because they see their kids in the those faces?
Now if you’d put the parents in those photos waiting in fast food drive lines, eating the crazy portion sizes, or perhaps sitting in front of TV eating dinner that’d be interesting. I’m sure they’re afraid of angering the fast food or restaurant lobbyist though so that’d never happen. Instead they choose to take advantage of children already struggling to find themselves or their place in society.
As a father that grew up overweight and understands the pains of being obese throughout my childhood I’m very conscious of what my kids eat and how active they are. I struggle every day trying to make sure I’m a good role model and yet not overbearing. I’m constantly striving to teach my kids how to make educated food choices and have fun being active and fit.
The blame and responsibility of childhood obesity lies with the adults, the parents, and the educators not the children. It’s time we all stepped up and took responsibility and act in our children’s best interest to help them be happy and healthy all throughout their lives.
If you’re moved by this or want your viewpoint to be heard then please check out this post. Also use your Twitter and your Facebook accounts to let the creators of these ads know what’s on your mind. Finally, join me, MrsFatass, and others tonight (Friday) for a Twitter chat from 9-10 PM EST using the hashtag #ashamed.
See you there!
While that may be a butchered extension of the Japanese proverb:
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
I think it’s a fitting description of the ups and downs of my journey. I’ve been busting my hump all week getting up at 5 am for my workouts and making sure I ate healthy foods. This was also one of the first weeks in a while that my wife and I were able to cook meals the entire week, triple win!
We My wife made a great Chicken & Turkey Sausage Jambalaya slow cooker recipe and a delicious Healthy Pizza on our new pizza stone that we picked up from the new Sur la Table this weekend. Needless to say it was the first time we’ve ever used a cooking stone and it was our best pizza ever. We’re definitely going to be using it to test out many more fun pizza creations!
Anyhow, it was a focused week and I felt great so lets see how I did and if it lines up with how I feel:
Previous Weight — 282.0 lbs (on 01.20.2012)
Current Weight — 280.2 lbs
Change In Weight — -1.8 lbs
While I’m happy with the loss I was hoping to break into the 270′s this week so I’ll admit I’m a little bit disappointed. I did however feel great all week and I’m losing so I guess can’t complain too much.
It’s about progress, not perfection
It’s a simple mantra I’ve been using for a very long time. I try to live it, breath it, and keep pushing ahead following it as best as possible. Small losses every week add up to huge losses over time.
This weekend I’m planning on putting some serious miles on the trainer at night with my new Sufferfest videos. I need to make a serious dent in the miles for my goals in the saddle this month. I’m planning on doing a review of the videos once I use a few more of them, stay tuned.
Was your week as good as mine? Any good weekend plans?
My first Sufferfest Workout using The Downward Spiral.
It felt great and it hurt … the good kind of hurt though.
That’s certainly how I felt all throughout last fall watching my weight gain on me faster and faster, at times faster than I’d thought possible. Looking back, I can’t figure out why I just sat back and let that weight back on my body. After all I’d done to lose it you’d think I’d stop the back slide sooner.
So what happened?
After my triathlon in August was completed I weighed in at 260 lbs. Between then and my first trip to Brazil in October I gained around 12 pounds. From October to the end of the year and the holidays I added on another 22 pounds … 22 pounds! I know I’ve always had trouble during the holidays but that’s ridiculous.
During that same time period from August to the end of the year I only worked out a handful of times. Sure I got a few workouts in here and there and at times had a streak of 2-3 days but there were just as many missed weeks as there were mini streaks.
My success to date has been due to two primary pillars, exercise and nutrition. Whenever I find a healthy balance of both pillars I’ve had great success. When I get lazy or complacent and lean more on any one of them than the other I begin to fall.
If I don’t get my workouts in but eat well then I usually start making excuses for why I don’t need to be as strict. “I didn’t work out anyhow” … “I’ll be back on track tomorrow” … “I’ve earned it by eating well for a while”. From that point I just slide and slide further and further to the point where not only am I not working out but I’m not eating well either.
If I don’t eat well the I’ll usually start making excuses to skip a workout. “It’s too dark” … “I already ate bad so what’s the point of working out” … “It’s already 7 PM and I’m not up for it”. It always seems like it’s easier to skip a workout for me than it is to skip food, especially in the fall. When the days begin to shorten and it’s dark when I get up and when I get home from work then it’s so hard to get that workout in.
Without that balance of working out and eating right I invariably fall off one of my proverbial pillars of fitness … this time that fall was a 34 pound topple.
Q: So what’s a person to do to ensure they don’t fall off their pillars and maintain a balance?
A: Set some goals
If you’re at all like me, I’ve always done better when I set goals. Whether it’s an 8k or a Half Ironman, as long as I have some type of goal to work towards I’ll usually stay motivated and keep making progress. The goal I set last year was a pretty huge goal and afterwards I rested on that goal far too long … so long that I fell off my pillars. After that lazy spell I was thrown a 1 … 2 … 3 punch with eating out far to often, some pretty significant international travel roadblocks, and then there’s the holidays.
A: Not only do you have to set goals, you also have to reevaluate them from time to time to ensure they’re still keeping you motivated and that you’re making forward progress.
Well I’ve now set a few goals that should keep me going for a while. With a new bundle of joy coming in June, my 6,000 mile challenge, and my trip this fall to Fitbloggin I’ve got some serious goals to meet for the foreseeable future.
I’ll obviously report back how I’m progressing on each of these goals throughout the year. I’m hoping to report on my cycling challenge at the end of each month and I’m sure I’ll mention it from time to time throughout the month. I’m planning a complete monthly mileage and time breakdown at the end of each month to stay accountable.
Have you set some realistic yet challenging goals recently? Have you revisited your goals to see that they still make sense?
Well it’s another Friday which means another weigh-in. I wasn’t feeling great this week and got 5 workouts in but they weren’t workouts where I was feeling 100%. My meals also weren’t as ideal as I’d like them to be, so I’m not expecting much.
So on with the show:
Previous Weight — 283.2 lbs (on 01.13.2012)
Current Weight — 282.0 lbs
Change In Weight — -1.2 lbs
Not too shabby considering the circumstances. I’ll take it and move on to start this next week anew.
Next week I’m going to try pushing it a bit more throwing in some longer circuit training workouts. I’ve tried doing some longer ones recently but my base fitness has deteriorated since last summer so they were too hard and I didn’t want to hurt myself. I felt stronger this morning and my Sufferfest intervals I did last night felt pretty solid as well. I’ll be posting a review of The Sufferfest cycling training movies soon after I’ve used them a few more times, so far so good.
Another change I’m planning this week is to improve my food choices more. I’ve been working the past few weeks to lower my processed carbs and this week I’ll continue to eliminate even more. I’ve successfully dropped all half & half from my coffee since the new year so I think I can knock down these processed carbs as well.
How were your workouts this week?
That’s right, I’m headed to Fitbloggin 2012 in September this year. I had a great time last year and learned a ton. It was pretty amazing meeting all of the bloggers I’d been reading for years, to put faces to names and voices to words.
Photo Courtesy of Brittany
I hope to see you there!
I woke up yesterday morning extremely dizzy. That kind of feeling where you can’t really stand very well, the room is spinning, and vertigo really wants you to lie down or sit completely still. I’m not one to really get dizzy and can’t say I ever feel it except after working out hard or running long distances and then making sudden movements.
I had a great workout on Sunday night and rode ~22 miles in an hour on my trainer in the basement. I made sure to drink during my workout but I went to bed without continuing to hydrate and my snack didn’t exactly contain any protein (aka a sweet was consumed) and was way too processed. Combine that with the tail end of a cold and you have the makings of a dizzy start to the day, make that the dizzy half of a day.
I reluctantly decided to take the day off from working out and made sure to drink a lot of fluids and not push myself. I’m feeling much better as I write this in the evening.
I’m picking up tomorrow (today when this posts) where I left off and I’m not planning to take another day off until after my weigh-in on Friday.
Have you ever experiences really bad vertigo for extended periods of time?
