June 2008

The scene: Ten women seated around a conference table. Cameras and microphones recorded our every word and gesture. Diet paraphernalia was scattered around like so much detritus. Six obese women faced four thin ones. We eyed each other warily across water bottles, coke cans and a plate of mostly untouched cookies. Two older, very overweight women pointed at Allison and I and whispered behind their hands. I couldn’t tell what they were saying but the message came across clear enough. I was embarrassed and felt suddenly defensive. A few of the other women stared. One buried her face in a [...]

To any of you who are or ever have been offended by my “funny” pics that I post on this blog. Sometimes I let my sense of humor impede my good sense. Crabby wrote an excellent post today on being easily embarrassed and whether or not she meant to call me out, I really saw myself in what she wrote. I forget that not everyone is as much of an exhibitionist as I am. I am not proud of my insensitivity and will try much harder in the future to rein it it. I do hope that you guys will [...]

Beauty is pain. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something. I realize that die-hard Princess Bride fans are firing up their e-mails at this very second to correct my misquote but I still think it applies here. Beauty is a highly prized commodity in our society and therefore we will go to great lengths to own It or be It or even just be in the general vicinity of It. I’m not talking about plastic surgery or leg-extending or even Botox here, just the ordinary things we do so often they become de rigeur. You know, like poking yourself [...]

All I can say is that I hope the participants of this study got paid a lot of money. The latest piece of darned-if-you-do-darned-if-you-don’t research comes from the University of Michigan. Researchers there decided to look at the workings of the hormone leptin, the substance that supposedly tells you when you are full and to stop eating, on women before, during and after exercise. The Study20 post-menopausal women, 10 lean and 10 obese, were tested over three days. They ate three meals a day balanced to maintain their current weight and then created a 1,000 calorie deficit through running/walking on [...]