Fw: [RC] Rider Weight and losing it - Karen Sullivan
Tom,
Personally, I find it equally rude....I spend my
adolescense trying to gain weight; was skinny as a
beanpole and accused several times of being
anorexic. My thiness was not attractive and my self-esteem
was shot to heck. It's just as hurtful as
calling someone fat, and from what I have seen and heard, nobody
would dare tell someone to their face they are fat,
but they sure feel free to comment on people who are
skinny....
As my parents said, my metabolism would eventually
catch up to me, and it did; now trying to lose 10 lbs!
It's hard. I do know I feel stronger and
healthier when I am at ideal weight....but fitness is more important
than
actual weight; I can be at an ideal weight and be
totally unfit, or carry a few extra lbs. and still be able to jog,
hike
or hill climb....
But here are my words of wisdom for losing weight
in middle age: you can't just cut calories; find some magic diet or pill or
expensive program. It's a matter of cutting back on overall calories,
greatly reducing fat and sugar in the diet AND increasing exercise. It's
relatively simple....burn more calories than you take in each day and you will
lose weight....I also found some years ago once I seriously cut out sugar, I
lost the craving for it. Even cookies no longer looked appealing. I also
don't believe there is anything at all wrong with counting calories; it truly
does give you an idea of portions on some foods, and it motivates you to find
very nutritious and tasty foods you can eat a fair amount of
(steamed green beans, baby carrots, asparagus,
etc). Also....have run into a couple of people who have lost massive
amounts of weight; they did it by WALKING every day, over a half hour, every
darn day....so I try to remember that and start off walking my horse during
warmups and warmdowns....everything like that helps. Also....I also
believe that while barn chores (mucking, pushing loaded wheelbarrows, etc) is a
great activity, you also need some sustained high aerobic activity every day
(brisk walking, jogging, rowing....). As someone that gets quickly bored with
gym equpment, I prefer to do outside exercise....
Anyway, my advice is don't really look at what you
weight, but how fit are you?
