January 21, 2014

Three Annoying Questions...For Charlotte of The Great Fitness Experiment

Number 3 Photo: Leo Reynolds

By Crabby McSlacker

This is the first in a series of "3 Annoying Questions" posts, designed to torture the bloggers and health experts who most inspire us!

The questions may vary, but I will probably always ask, in some form, what people hate about healthy living. This is Cranky Fitness after all.

But otherwise, it's pretty darn self-explanatory.  So shall we get to it?

Anyone who's a regular around here knows how much I admire Charlotte--she is hilarious, honest, warm, generous, a brilliant writer, and should be world famous by now. (Though actually she could be already; I don't get out much).  Besides her awesome blog The Great Fitness Experiment, she also has a funny and informative book, The Great Fitness Experiment: One Year of Trying Everything, and she writes for numerous impressive magazines and websites.  And also manages to raise a big adorable family as well as accomplish all kinds of other things.

The gal is admirably flexible.


Image from The Great Fitness Experiment

And so, on with the questions!

What aspect of fitness and healthy living do you hate the most?

I love fitness and healthy living but the thing I hate the most about the industry is how many "experts" there are, and each one is convinced that there is only one right way to do things - their way! I believe each person should b a scientist of their own body and find what works for them. I think we forget too often that our main goal in life should -to be happy, kind people and that skinny thighs have nothing to do with that.

Okay and I also hate chia seed pudding. I know it's "A Thing" but it has the consistency of chunky snot and it reminds me of the time my third son got a Lego stuck up his nose and the nurse told me to plug the other nostril, cover his mouth with mine and then blow as hard as I could. The Lego came flying out! As did a ton of snot...which went right up my nose, in my mouth and my eyes. Neither of us have ever been the same since. But it did save me a trip to the doctor so I guess it was worth it?

What is the most alarming search term that has led people to your blog?

You know I'm not sure! I stopped looking at all that stat stuff years ago (made me nuts) but since my website URL literally has "sex" in it, I'm guessing it has something to do with that! I do get a lot of comments from people looking for fitness porn- and I imagine they are horribly disappointed when they get to my site!

You've mentioned that you are a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Has this caused complications for any fitness activities or led to any clueless reactions from readers? Or if this question is too sensitive, can I ask one of your husband's other wives?

This question made me snort giggle! I kinda wish there was another wife, if only to help with the monotony of childcare. Right now though the only other "woman" is my cat and she's terrible at laundry.

As for being LDS, I usually only get two types of comments: People asking me if I know Mitt Romney or Napoleon Dynamite (no and I wish) or if my underwear is really magic (it's not but it often gets mistaken for Spanx in the locker room).  As for the complications, since I choose to follow our dietary code and not drink alcohol, tea or coffee that means I'm out for all those wine-tasting trips health bloggers get offered! Why does no one ever offer me a tour of a hot chocolate orchard?!




Thanks to Charlotte for being a good sport! Any questions you've always wanted to ask your favorite fitness bloggers?

18 comments:

  1. What I hate the most about healthy living is the threat of monotony. When planning my life, my day, my food, my exercise, I can begin to get very rigid and narrow in my thinking. I fight this with reading what others are doing, always searching for new foods and trying new forms of exercise. But as a creative person, that threat of being too planned and calculated and getting bored is always like a monster waiting to pounce. Swords to the ready... That's me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ooh, love the "Swords to the Ready..." sounds so much more inspiring that "sheesh, I gotta go to the friggin' gym today". I'm gonna borrow that, thanks!

      Delete
    2. You are welcome! It is a battle isn't it???!!???

      Delete
  2. OMG. This was worth reading for the Lego story alone. Thanks for the guffaw this morning! As a mom to 2 Lego obsessed kids, here's hoping I never need to test that particular operation.

    And yeah: the monotony. The "deprivation"...when you are surrounded by food (working in the hospitality industry) as well as folks who don't practice moderation, you start to feel so damn deprived. Why am I eating salad and soup for the umpteenth day in a row when everyone else at the table has chicken fried steak. Or bison burgers and fries. (I put deprivation in quotes because come on. It's not like I eat soup and salad at every meal every day. It's just lunch. You are so not being deprived. And let's not even mention that drawer of chocolate you have stashed in your desk...)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so with you on the "relative" deprivation bdaiss! Hard not to look around at whatever other people eat, and in this country, it's disasterously decadent junk which looks so damn tempting. And chocolate doesn't count... um, there are antioxidants in there!

      Delete
  3. Yeah, all the stuff about food is tough. But I hate the supplement business more. The things they can claim! The number of people who fall for it! It makes me crazy that I can't go far without someone raising eyebrows at me when I admit I: don't use ANY protein supplements (I'd rather eat some fish, thank you very much); don't think something with a "natural" or "herbal" label is automatically a good thing (arsenic is natural, rattle snake venom is natural, deadly nightshade is an herb); do think it's actually possible to OD on vitamins (I actually have known several people who've ended up in the ER all jaundiced from too much vitamin A).

    On the other hand, I love Charlotte's attitude!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wait, you'd rather eat whole foods than pop pills and powders DRG?? What kind of foolish notion is that?!? :)

      Delete
  4. Why, indeed, are there no hot-chocolate tasting tours? Wine-tasting is not only unsuitable for people who abstain for philosophical reasons, but for people like me who abstain for allergic reasons.
    Legos: when I was growing up I never heard of any child putting anything up its nose, but apparently it's a Thing.
    And I'm completely with DRG on "natural."

    Mary Anne in Kentucky

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Really Mary Anne, you never stuffed anything up your nose? I wasn't masochistic enough to try a lego, but more sensibly took some stuffing from a ripped chair and needed an ER visit to remove it. God I'm glad I don't have kids of my own.

      Delete
  5. I can't take my eyes off that back bendy move! Who would invent such a thing! I just know the next frame in the film includes a loud snapping sound and screams of horror.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree Cindy, makes me dizzy just looking at the picture!

      Delete
  6. Love this - I love Charlotte's blog, too!!!
    The lego/snot story about did me in - I guess I should be thankful that I never had to do that with one of my boys!!! Charlotte and I should team up - she can chat it up at the bloggy things and I can drink all the wine!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Aw thanks you guys! I'm so glad I got a chance to visit Cranky's blog - I've been a fan of her and her writing for a looooong time:) Okay and I'm also glad I got a chance to tell that Lego story in public. Every time I bring it up at dinner parties it gets all awkward....

    ReplyDelete
  8. This post has it all. Snot, sex, Legos, yoga, and magic underpants. What more could you ask for? Great stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  9. The bendy position in the top pic is both magnificent and utterly terrifying.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Haha fitness porn ... now that might be worth getting into. Nice post and thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Many people get bored with their fitness exercises. Doing the same tired exercises over and over again is not fun. You have to add some thrills to make it more exciting to lose some weight.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting, Cranky Fitness readers are the BEST!

Subscribe to comments via RSS

(Note: Older Comment Threads Are Moderated)