Image courtesy of Threadless

When I saw this shirt on Threadless, I just had to buy it because it sums up fairly well how I feel about the whole weight loss thing. Women  who are overweight can be their own worst enemies at times and I suppose I’m no different. Permit me a few generalisations here. We see photos of other people, pass them in the street and we tend to compare ourselves to them in some way. We play that “do I look that fat” mental game quite a lot and it’s to our own detriment.

When I first decided that I needed to do something about my weight, it was because I felt incredibly unhealthy and it was stopping me from doing the things I liked to do. I’m now able to do a lot of those things again and even though I have a fair bit of fat left on me, I feel quite good within myself. To a point.

I don’t loathe clothes shopping nearly so much as I used to but I’m still frustrated  about the attitude that clothes designers seem to have about larger women. Again, permit me some generalistations. They seem to think that larger women all want to wear gaudy, flouncy clothes that accentuate their size rather than slim it. They also seem to think that if you have a plus size tee shirt, then it’s because you have a hideously big neck and thus need a massive hole in the top of the shirt to fit your head through. And they also seem to think that if you are a size 18, you still only have a B cup bra size and the only reason why you take an 18 is because you are so ridiculously fat. So consequently, it’s hard to get a fitted business shirt that neither gapes at the front  from going up a size to accommodate my bust nor looks like I’m about to explode out of it.

Like it or not, I’m always going to be a rhino. I’m always going to have an hourglass figure with wideset shoulders and hips. I’m never going to be the unicorn that has graceful slender long legs with the perfect proportions that allow for miniskirts and shorty shorts. I’ll just settle for being a slightly thinner, fitter and hopefully in the process, a healthier rhino.

]]> http://www.eucalyptuscountry.com.au/the-running-rhino/feed/ 1 http://www.eucalyptuscountry.com.au/quads-of-pain/ http://www.eucalyptuscountry.com.au/quads-of-pain/#comments Mon, 25 May 2009 10:29:58 +0000 admin http://moggie-madness.com/?p=481 Or as it should be called, Quads of Pain – Attack of the Killer Reverse Knee Lunge!

Forget Wii Fit. This is not a game. This is a method of self-inflicted torture targeted at your calves, hips, bum and thighs. Thankfully today is a rest day in the 30 day challenge or I may not have been able to tolerate sitting for as long as it takes to write a blog post about it.

The 30 Day Challenge is a preset program for the couch potato in the crowd. After you’ve programmed in your height, weight and chosen an appearance, you can select to do the 30 Day Challenge on Low, Medium or High intensity. I do love that the chunkiest figure you can choose for your avatar on screen is still a relatively svelte figure. I suppose it would be a little bit demoralising if you could program the avatar with every single lump and bump to watch it jiggle about on the screen as you go through the paces with the Virtual Personal Trainer (VPT).

I’ve only done the first two workouts and I’ve been told by the VPT that I have something like side step squats to look forward to in tomorrow’s workout. Oh joy of all joys! Is it not enough to have 10 odd other types of quad exercises programmed into the Challenge? I suppose not, given that when women bitch about their appearance, it’s usually the legs and bum that give them the most grief.

It is surprisingly fun though….and not only for spectators. Apparently the sight of me almost kicking myself in the butt doing high kick running is a sight to behold. Fortunately we don’t have a video camera or else I’d be just a little worried that I’d be on the next episode of Australia’s Funniest Home Video. What surprises me about EA Sports Active is that I could easily just quit out any time I liked or pause it for a break. But I don’t. I just keep going. Even when my thighs are burning, my calves are aching and I just feel like I want to drop, I keep running because that cow of a VPT tells me to pick up the pace and keep going. So to quote Nike, I “just do it”, I keep running, keep lunging and keep trying not to fall over doing high kicks and high knees.

I almost enjoy doing exercise using this thing. And it feels like real exercise with the amount of sweat that comes pouring off me. I don’t feel quite as sore as I do after a strenuous 14km bushland hike but still, sore enough to know that something is working.

By no means do I consider myself a lost cause, but sheesh, if he could transform a 180kg person into a svelte (by comparison) 80kg person, he’s got to be good right? At that time, I was still expecting the drill of “well you’re basically doing the right thing but I’d like to see you eat more vegetables” or something like that. But then, I hadn’t met Hitler at that stage.

After meeting with Hitler, I know why he gets good results. Even though he’s perfectly nice, he comes across as being a little bit intimidating. Almost like he’ll just instantly know if you’ve put something that’s not on the list into your mouth. So consequently, despite some strong feelings of resentment about having to get rid of cheese, honey and my beloved nightly Milo – I have kept to “the plan” so far. Well except for the lasagna I had for tea tonight….I’m pretty sure that bechamel sauce would be one of the naughty foods to be avoided but I reconciled that with having the smallest possible portion and having more vegies with it instead. Even so, I’m beginning to sweat a little….what if Hitler finds out? EEEEK!

No kidding, I actually feel really great today and it’s hard to think of a day in recent times when I have felt this good within myself. I feel like I have more energy, I want to do stuff that I usually loathe doing and I feel like I’m getting the old me back again. Those of you who have read “The Bloggest Loser” page will know that I’ve started on a prescription medication to assist with weight loss. I had never really discussed how I felt about my weight with my GP, even with all the Xenical ads floating around about “lose weight, gain life”. I just felt like there was too much of a stigma attached to it and if I resorted to taking medication, people would just assume I was this lazy person who just ate take-away every night and was looking for a quick fix.

I really wish I had talked to her sooner because so far it is really helping me. And you know, it really makes me wonder about this obesity epidemic we have in Australia. Although I’m a big girl, apart from my weight I am in good health and that is the reason why I wanted to try to lose weight now. While you are still healthy, that is the time to do it. When you get to the stage where you are triple the person you are supposed to be and getting the line from the doctor “you have to lose weight or you will die prematurely”….well it gets that much harder to do anything about it.

I’ve met a lot of people through the course of my work who are at that stage and some of them just can’t be bothered. They have just resigned themselves to the fact that they will die early and there is nothing they can do about it. I just wonder, if they’d talked to their doctor about their weight while they still had a BMI under 40 and able to do at least some exercise….would it have changed their life starting this kind of medication? Could it save a life? Maybe, maybe not. I just think that considering obesity is costing $21 billion a year to treat, then it might be worth GPs being a little more pro-active and discussing weight loss with their patients and offering support in the process. I know it can be a sensitive issue for a lot of obese people but had my doctor not broached the topic first, I’m not sure I would have brought it up myself.

So thank you to my GP, I feel good because of you.