Can You Be Fit and Fat? (Great Plus-Sized Fitness Giveaway)

By Crabby McSlacker

Can you be both fit and fat?  An email arrived in my inbox posing that question, and I'm not a total idiot, so I knew the answer.

Of course you can!

And Cranky Fitness readers know this too. Not just hypothetically--many of you have first hand experience. You guys come in all shapes and sizes and are doing all sorts of challenging workouts and activities, and most of you could totally kick my ass were I ever foolish enough to engage in any sort of competitive activity with you.

However, going by the fitness magazines, workout dvds, and other media representations of fitness? You'd think "fit" and "fat" can't inhabit the same universe.

Well, I think that's insanely stupid and untrue.  Which is why Cranky Fitness is hosting a workout DVD giveaway from Louise Green's Body Exchange, a Plus Sized fitness and adventure company. This giveaway does NOT require you to live in the U.S., and there are multiple copies available, so given that most people this time of year are off shopping and not blog surfing, your chances of winning are excellent!

More details below!

Losing Weight Without Losing Your Mind

 Recycling Blog Photos--Good for the Earth,

 and Cheaper than Getting Sued for Copyright Infringement!

There is a lot of advice out there about how to lose weight, some of which is helpful and some of which is just plain creepy. Anyone else catch that recent tip about infesting yourself with roundworms?

So this isn't a post about how to lose weight. Instead, this is just a few of the 9,700 thoughts I have about the psychological aspects of weight loss.  It's my impression that a determined, focused, lifelong quest to shed excess pounds and keep them off can make most normal people at least slightly bonkers.

Including me! I have certainly not figured out the perfect formula for craving only healthy food in reasonable portions and enjoying complete happiness and joy with every aspect of my physical form. Yet, as usual, not being a perfect role model won't stop me from offering up a few words of advice, 'cause I'm hypocritical like that.

Return of the Friday Giveaway!

Yes, it's time to haul out the rusty-dusty random number generator out of the Cranky Fitness basement, and put it to good use. This week, we have a subscription to Fitness Magazine and an accompanying Prize Pack to give away!

If something about that sounds vaguely familiar, it's because our pal MizFit just did the exact same giveaway. So if you didn't win over there, perhaps it was because you were really meant to win over here!

And speaking of the awesome MizFit, she is part of a panel today at the Blogher conference in Chicago. If you are lucky enough to be at the conference, and silly enough to be reading Cranky Fitness when you could be off stalking your favorite bloggers and scoring free swag, networking and learning, then close up your laptop right now and scoot on over to hear her! It's called “Blogs and Body Image: What Are We Teaching Our Kids?” and it happens Friday (today) from 1:15-2:30.

But if you, like me, are at home feeling insanely jealous instead of hanging out with the cool kids in Chicago, then check this out: you can still benefit from the panel's awesomeness, because they are forming a new blog about body image issues. It's called "We Are The Real Deal." Besides Carla (MizFit), they've got Kate Harding, Heather from MamaVision, Roni from Roni's Weigh, and Claire Mysko! Talk about an all-star lineup.

Oh and speaking of giveaways, the Juice has a $200 Patagonia gift card up for grabs. And while you're over there, Kyra Sedgwick talks about Going Green, Org Junkie tells you how to greenify your makeup, as well as how to bring order into the chaos of recycling. And what did I whine about this week? Camping trips!

Anyway, so another reason Fitness Magazine might sound familiar is that the one of our favorite fitness role models, Jody over at Truth 2 Being Fit, posted what I thought was one the cleverest quick-but-tough workouts ever. She combines just two exercises into an intense routine that works pretty much every muscle in your body in just a few minutes. And that's where I discovered that the Fitness magazine website has exercise demonstration videos!

For more on the magazine and how you can win a subscription and other goodies, please join us for the giveaway over at the Cranky Fitness Product Page!

How to Survive Swimsuit Season

see more Fail Blog

Oh, you're sooooo not here right now.

Well, your body's here, but the mind is still on Weekend Time. It's nice outside. It's after Memorial Day. Heck, it's summer. That means it's time to get out of the stuffy office and... oh crap, that means it's swimsuit time and you're not prepared!!!

Image: oddsocks

Damn! What good was it to promise to be good and "get around to" exercise? Now it's too late!

Self magazine has a list of tips to get flat abs fast, but their definition of 'fast' is 30 days. Who has that time? You've got to take the kids to the pool! Everybody will be watching! Even if you've got instant tan for the paler-than-white skin, where's the instant lipo-suction-in-a-can when you need it?

Swimsuit season is a time for serious angst. I mean, come on. Even if you are in really good shape, a bikini isn't always flattering:

Photo: Mike Baird

The worst pain centers around two areas: trying on the suit and having someone insist on taking your photo while you're wearing the suit. We've* put together some tips on how to cope with Swimsuit Season.

*Okay, that should be I've put together some tips. Don't blame Crabby.

Top ten things not to say to someone who's trying on a swimsuit

10. Oh. It's very... interesting.
9. It's not just you. Polka dots make everyone's hips look wide.
8. Gosh, I didn't know they came in that size.
7. Y'know, one piece suits are much more... slimming.
6. Hey, splashing about in the water isn't all that fun anyway.
5. Gee, you look just like Kirstie Allie.
4. Wow, I didn't know you were expecting.
3. Does a girdle come with that suit?
2. It's the lighting. Fluorescent lights add weight.
1. Can I take your picture?

Top ten ways to ease the pain of getting your picture taken while wearing a swimsuit

10. Get some children to stand in front of you.
9. No, infants don't count.
8. Yes, check with the parents first, or at least make sure you know the parents.
7. Because that's the kind of lawsuit you never want to have to deal with.
6. Preferably children who are rather tall and fidget a lot.
5. Besides, blurry photos can look quite artistic.
4. Especially if you're wearing a floppy hat and sunglasses.
3. Hey, all the celebrities wear that stuff.
2. Well, who cares what the photographer thinks?
1. Look, if they're going to get all huffy, take their picture instead. So there.

If you decide to go the no-suit route (no, not nekkid, clothed)...

If you decide to just wear regular clothes to the beach, remember these tips:

1. Don't wear parachute pants. Baggy pants only make you look thinner if the waist is really loose.
2. You can look thinner if you suck in your gut:

Excellent! Just keep that up until Labor Day, and no worries.

(Jeans photos courtesy of Melting Mama)

For a more serious treatment of this subject, check out the Back in Skinny Jeans post about Bikini Torment. I'm not in a serious frame of mind. Probably because I haven't tried on any swimsuits yet.

Well, how are you going to cope with swimsuit season? Total denial? A what-the-hell attitude? Something in between?

Stuff I Meant to Mention

Sometimes I accumulate various items or links I want to pass on to you guys, but I can't quite squeeze them into regular posts and have them make any sense.

I used to do something called "Random Friday," which was a great place for miscellaneous links. But then, somehow, "Random Friday" turned into a monster, one that constantly needed to be fed.

But if Random Friday were this cute a monster,
I'd probably go ahead and feed it.

(Drawing by Dylan)

Unfortunately, if I had two things I needed to say, I couldn't just have a whole "Random Friday" post with 2 paragraphs in it! That would look weird. So instead I'd spend hours and hours surfing the net, goofing off, all justified in my mind with the idea that I was "just looking for "Random Friday" ideas.

Best not to bring back that tradition, methinks. Instead, how about I just pass on the actual things I wanted to tell you about this week?

Blog You Must Check Out

First off, here's a hilarious blog that you folks probably already know about, but I was late finding. (Or quite possibly I found it, liked it, and failed to bookmark it, which happens quite frequently and I really should get all set up in a feed reader but I'm too stubborn and there are too many blogs that would need to go on there so better to have nothing that something imperfect, right?) Anyway, the blog is called Chunky Monkey Mama. It's all good, but be sure to check out Gigi's awesome review of Jillian Michael's 30 day shred DVD.


Moms and Daughters and Body Image:

I had to double-check my calendar that I hadn't inadvertently missed Mother's day, because there are 3 items with this theme!

1. Remember the Dark Dirty Secrets of a Dietician post from last week? Well, Marsha and the other bloggers over at Green Mountain at Fox Run are running a blogging contest about mothers, daughters, and body image. And you know what you could win? A week at Green Mountain! If you are a blogger, you might want to check it out.

2. For those of you who are Blogher members (or want to join), there is voting going on right now about whether to have a panel at their conference this summer called "Blogs & Body Image: What are we teaching our kids?".

So why would a childless crab care enough one way or the other to mention this? Well, not only is a great subject, but the awesome MizFit and others you may be familiar with (like Steph from Back in Skinny Jeans and Roni from Roni's Weigh and some other great bloggers) will be on the panel, if they can get enough votes to have it. See more details over at Mizfit's place.

(And speaking of Blogher... yes, I heard your anguished cries and finally figured out how to disable the Floating Layers ads. I think. Let me know if they reappear.)

3. Dara Chadwick, whom many of you may remember from her blog and her great comments on many other blogs, has a new book coming out that also deals with mothers and daughters and body image. It looks great! It's called: You'd Be So Pretty If...

Charlotte at The Great Fitness Experiment has a review and giveaway, and you can read all about the book at Dara's website.

Silly Animal Video

OK, some old Random Friday habits die hard...


Fed Up from shots Mag on Vimeo.

Children and Body Image: Uh Oh.

Image courtesy of: chicks57

Since I don't have kids myself, I am sometimes naive about how things have changed since I was a little tyke.

I was gobsmacked to find out, via Sagan of Living Healthy in the Real World, that doctors are discovering that not just adolescents, but children as young as five, are binging and purging.

I hope this is just one of those "get people all riled up" articles, like the reports about little girls taking pole dancing classes. You know, where rare cases are made to seem like a shocking new trend we need to worry about, so that experts can get their names in the paper and we bloggers can all climb up on our soapboxes and scream: "How Terrible!"

Sadly though, it sounds like it's more than a few isolated kids. The researchers are only just starting to look into how prevalent the problem is. But it blew me away that this was even happening in Canada, where I always imagined things were more sane and reasonable than in the United States.

Little Canadian kids are gorging themselves on french fries and doughnuts poutine and timbits and then barfing it back up so they won't be seen as fat?

Holy hell, things are worse than I thought.

Not freaked out yet? Well, another recent study of kids and eating disorders followed kids 9-15 years old and found that more than ten percent of the girls were binging or purging at least weekly. And purging was more common than binging.


Is it just me, or is anyone else shocked by this?

Part of my naivete has to do with my own upbringing. I don't think I even had a "body image" as a kid. Okay, I knew I was short. But it didn't bother me.

I got lots of exercise, because when I was little it was called "playing" and it was fun and there was plenty of time for it. (I went on an extended rant about this, in full turbo-charged Grumpy Old Fart mode, when writing about Elliptical Trainers for kids.)

There was no obesity epidemic yet, and getting fat was a fate that befell an unlucky few. It wasn't on the radar for "normal" kids. As far as I remember, it wasn't until high school that some girls started dieting.

So for me, it seems shocking that children in elementary school are already worried about what their bodies look like enough to have actual eating disorders. But I'm sure some of you who struggled early with your own weight--who grew up in a different climate, or with a genetic propensity to put on pounds easily--are not nearly as shocked.

And I suspect that many of you parents, particularly parents of girls, are saddened but not that surprised. You're in the trenches with your kids and are hip to what they see and hear and read. Accck! I don't know how you grapple with this, and am hoping some of you will share what you've learned in the comments.

So I could go off on another rant about the media images we see constantly of impossibly skinny women, right next to ads for triple-bacon-cheeseburgers and Blizzards and Double-stuffed Oreos. But you guys already know that we live in a profoundly screwed-up culture when it comes to food and fat and fitness and body image. And it's not a surprise that kids soak up all that poison just like we do.

Instead, I want to ask: how do we fight this?

There's a Web MD article on children and body image that has some basic advice for parents (of girls), for what it's worth:


Look for signs of an unhealthy body image:

• Does your child view herself only in terms of her physical appearance?
• What language does she use to describe herself and her physical development and attractiveness?
• Is there excessive dieting?
• Are there frequent comments about the weight of other girls?
• Does she worry about sexual attractiveness?
• Does she suffer depression or low self-esteem?

Help boost a poor body image by:

• Helping children understand that their bodies will change and grow and that there is not one "ideal" body shape;
• Watching what they say about their own bodies or other people's bodies;
• Avoiding stereotypes, prejudices, and words like "ugly" or "fat";
• Helping children focus on their abilities and personalities rather than physical appearance;
• Promoting physical activity and exercise;
• Discouraging children from weighing themselves.

Watch for symptoms of anorexia which may include:

• Losing lots of weight;
• Denying feeling hungry;
• Exercising excessively;
• Saying that she "feels fat";
• Withdrawing from social activities;

Or symptoms of bulimia which may include:

• Making excuses to go to the bathroom immediately after meals;
• Eating huge amounts of food without weight gain;
• Using laxatives or diuretics;
• Withdrawing from social activities.

But How Do You Encourage Healthy Behavior?

So how do you remain sensitive to a kid's body image while still encouraging healthy eating and exercise?

I can't imagine how modern parents manage to balance this. In my day, these weren't such loaded concepts. A parent could say "Go outside and play!" or, "No cookies for dessert until you finish your cauliflower!" There wasn't quite the same danger it would be construed as: "whatever you do, don't get fat or no one will ever love you!"

Some Hope for Eating Disorders: A recent study of eating disorders and psychotherapy showed that a specific, more enhanced version of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be extremely helpful in working with eating disorders. (Though the study was of adults, not kids). In any event, if your child is showing signs of an eating disorder, seeking help seems a much better strategy than pretending it isn't happening.



So what do you parents do to try to keep your kids from hating their bodies while at the same time encouraging healthy habits? What can the rest of us do to help? And was anyone else as shocked as I was to see how early these problems start?

Whither Random Friday?

[By Crabby]
Long-time readers may have noticed that I've kinda stopped doing "Random Fridays."

If you're new: "Random Friday" was a Friday post with a bunch of short news items, cartoons, and other truly random links. Often these would have nothing to do with health or fitness, unless one can define "cute cat videos" as health and fitness.

Now we seem to be doing giveaways instead. Because, well, people like free stuff, right? But to be honest, part of the reason I'm doing giveaways instead of Random Friday was that Random Friday was becoming a Random Pain in the Ass.

It started off as just nifty place to put links I had handy and wanted to mention, even if they didn't happen to fit in with a "regular" post. But then it became a Thing, and so I turned it into this big production (in my own mind). I felt like I had to find links for it every week, and some of them had to be very silly, and some had to be scientific, and some should mention great blog posts from Cranky-Friendly blogs, and the whole thing needed the right picture and maybe a theme if possible, and there couldn't be too many of this and there had to be enough of that...

Have I mentioned I'm neurotic?

Also, I was starting to use it as an excuse to surf the web for hours and hours, just, um, "looking for 'Random Friday' links!"

Note: Inventing reasons to sit on your ass for hour after hour surfing the web for random amusing stuff is not necessarily compatible with health and fitness.

So I stopped.

But now I seem to have no place to put the random links that I find without even looking for them, the links I want to tell you all about. I'm back to where I started!

So it's possible that a new, low-key version of Random Friday may pop up now and then. But it's going to behave itself this time and not get all greedy and out of control. It may just contain a link or two I want to mention and no smart ass commentary or cartoons or anything.

Links like this blog post by Tokaiangel that just blew me away with its eloquence and humor and honesty. Check out "I Know What the Boys Like;" it's fascinating.

Or links like this crazy-ass but intriguing mass transport idea that Mary Anne from Kentucky alerted me too. It's a human-powered monorail, and it's adorable. It has these little capsules you climb in and pedal. They can go pretty fast, and they swing out when you go around curves. It sounds like a blast.

Photo credit: Gizmag

But the best thing? It's called "The Shweeb."

How can you not love something called a Shweeb!!!

But skimming the article, I had one question: if everyone starts using it to commute someday, and the pods are rigged up on little tracks, how the hell do you pass people? I found myself already getting pissed off at the imaginary Shweeber ahead of me too busy texting his girlfriend to remember to pedal. C'mon already! Move it!

But I read more closely, and here's the deal: "When a fit rider comes up behind a slower rider, the impact is cushioned and they act as a single unit. The rider at the rear...is able to put all their power into pushing the lead vehicle. Two Shweebs acting together will always travel faster than either rider separately."

Just add a drink holder for my morning coffee, and I'm there. I want me some Shweeb!

And if you're an urban or suburban person who wonders how those rural types can stay in shape without fancy gyms and personal trainers and elaborate equipment and such? Check out the Bag Lady's amusing fitness Product Review round-up.


(OK, so the real truth behind why I had to kill off Random Friday? The Cupcakes didn't approve. And everyone knows that it's dangerous to piss off a cupcake...)

Cartoon by Natalie Dee

Fat is Not Fair

[by Crabby]


It is not a scientific secret that genetics play a role in weight gain and obesity.

People have different metabolisms. There are people who eat tons of food and never exercise, yet they are skinny. There are other people who eat healthy foods in reasonable portions, exercise for hours, and will still probably always be "overweight."

Yet because so much hard work and sacrifice is involved in weight loss, there is a tendency among people who are successful to act as though everyone gets the exact same deal. "I gave up my hot fudge sundaes and started running, and look at me! If you're still overweight, it's because you must be eating crap and sitting on your ass all day."

Well, some of you know from experience that it's just not true.

And sure, plenty of people are overweight because they eat way too much and exercise too little. But there are also plenty of others who get a raw deal in the genetic lottery--maybe growing up, you did the same stuff everyone around you was doing, but instead of getting heavy, you got obese. Or maybe you've struggled your whole life to keep from being obese, going to great lengths to be merely overweight. Or perhaps you've swung back and forth, losing and gaining, messing with your already unfriendly metabolism and through the best of intentions making things worse.

It's not fair.

What's It Like To Have the Deck Stacked Against You?

Are you one of those unlucky people? I'm not myself, but I believe that among readers of health and weight loss blogs, there are quite a few. People who are motivated enough to visit blogs and even start their own, and research all the right things to do and try and try and try... but still find the pounds fall off very, very slowly. And sometimes not at all.

I read what some of you folks are eating and what you're doing for exercise, and Holey Moley! It's a lot more demanding than what I have to do to maintain my weight. I would get so exhausted by the daily battle of "bad cookie/good carrot/how many steps on the pedometer today" that I think I'd want to pull my hair out.

I have a pretty "normal" metabolism. If I start eating like an average American and exercising like an average American, even for a few months, I gain weight. I would be overweight now if I hadn't woken up (twice) and reformed my ways when I started to get too self-indulgent. But, unlike some of you, if I eat 90% healthy, count calories for a while, and get a bunch of exercise, I can lose the weight again fairly easily and keep it off.

It makes me wonder what my attitudes would be like if I weren't so lucky. What if I were suddenly "blessed" with a hundred or so extra pounds and a stubborn metabolism? How would I handle it?

The Optimistic Scenario



Here's what I hope I would do:

1. Learn how to reject all the appearance-related garbage we're exposed to daily. I hope I'd learn to love my large thighs and unshedable belly fat even while being constantly told my every magazine, billboard, tv show and casual conversation that I should hate everything about myself.

2. Concentrate more on health goals--getting stronger, fueling my body with nutritious healthy food, building endurance, doing enough cardio to reduce my risk for heart disease and cancer and diabetes, etc. Define progress according to these goals, not a number on the scale.

3. Try to be grateful for all the other ways in which I was still lucky, by looking beyond my immediate situation. I hope I'd remind myself that I could be living in a poverty-stricken nation; I could be in the midst of a war; I could be maimed or disfigured or dying of a painful disease or the victim of any number of unjust fates.

4. Surround myself with supportive, non-judgmental, healthy friends who would understand me and encourage my efforts to be strong and healthy and happy.

5. Seek balance in life and see myself as a whole person with many talents and goals, and not just as number on a scale or a clothing size.

But honestly? I am not a particularly evolved, mature, self-confident person.

The Darker Scenario:




Here is how I fear I might deal with the situation instead:

1. Learn to hate my body, and by extension, myself.

2. Get so focused on calories and portion sizes and "good" and "bad" foods that I'd no longer be able to enjoy eating as a simple pleasurable activity. And with food and exercise so emotionally charged, I fear I'd veer between frantic determination to lose weight versus giving up entirely and bingeing.

3. Become more self-absorbed (if possible) and depressed.

4. Withdraw from social situations out of fear of rejection.

5. Start judging my sense of self worth by how my clothes fit rather than who I was as a person.

Yikes, what a downer, I should have gone in the other order!

So does anyone with a "good" metabolism wonder how they'd fare if they weren't so lucky? Or does anyone who's unlucky have any stories from the trenches or advice for those struggling against unfair odds?

Random...Thursday?

[By Crabby]


Random Friday on a Thursday??? What's the Deal?

Sure, it's traditional at Cranky Fitness that Randomness take place on a Friday. But we have Special Plans for tomorrow's post--so what the heck, let's mix things up a bit! What's the worst that could happen?

Outbreaks of silliness, boredom, pointlessness, spontaneous napping...

But no harm done, that stuff happens all the time here anyway! So lets be brave and forge ahead anyway, shall we?


WTF Department: Three Quarters of Women Report Disordered Eating?

You've probably all seen this by now, but a recent survey of more than 4,000 women by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Self Magazine revealed some interesting attitudes towards eating and weight:

• Almost a third of women reported that they'd induced vomiting, or taken laxatives, diuretics, or diet pills at some point in their lives to lose weight;
• Two thirds of the women surveyed (not including those with actual eating disorders) are trying to lose weight;
• Over half of those dieting were already at a healthy weight;
• About 40 percent said concerns about what they eat or weigh interfered with their happiness;
• Almost 40 percent regularly skipped meals to try to lose weight;
  
• Sixteen percent had dieted on 1,000 or fewer calories a day;
• And thirteen percent had smoked to lose weight.

Note: this survey is, of course, depressing. And it's true that women are far too obsessed about their weight. However, can you really take an online survey of Self magazine readers and conclude that their answers represent the views of all women?

Nothing against the magazine, which runs many fine articles, but it's called Self for cryin' out loud. Could it possibly attract, on average, women who are a little more concerned with, well, themselves?

Wait, this just in...

Ninety Eight percent of Men Spend All Day Long Thinking About Women with Humongous Breasts! ... According to a recent online survey by readers of Juggs Magazine...

(And yes, Juggs is a real magazine, though we doubt they bothered to do a reader survey).


A Little Perspective:

Even Cranky Crabs have to stop whining every now and then long enough to appreciate how incredibly fortunate they are. So sometimes it helps to get a glimpse of how horribly complicated and challenging life could be if you weren't born so lucky.

Via Healthbolt is this rather incredible slide show of a baby born with two faces. Apparently this little girl, born in India, can drink from both mouths and blink all four eyes. Local villagers believe she may be the reincarnation of the Hindu goddess Durga.

I will stop complaining about my sore muscles and crunchy knees now, at least for the next few minutes.

Now This Won't Hurt a Bit:

Here's an odd little news item from Marijke's fine blog: According to the Center for Disease Control, more kids and teens than ever are fainting after receiving vaccinations.

(Later, when the insurance bills come due, it's their parent's turn).

Apparently more adolescents are getting shots now (to prevent meningitis and cervical cancer), and teenage girls are particularly prone to fainting.



So We're Done With Health Now, Let's Bring on the Rest of the Randomness!

We be Zoomin':

Check this out if you like cool weird collaborative art. Zoom in or out and the picture seems to just keep on going and going. (Dial-up warning: the program is slow to load even on broadband.)

This Blog Needs More Smut!

Photo by JaHoVil

Yes, even after yesterday's special episode of Skanky Fitness, we're still pushing porn. We know some of you just can't get enough! This time, be sure not to miss these hot, sexy, luscious photos of...

Libraries!

(They really are pretty cool).

And Just When You Thought You Were Safe...

Remember those cute Lolcats? And how it was possible to spend hours checking out "just one more" funny kitteh? Well...

Via MJ ... if you finally wrested control of your computer back and started to get some work done, we must alert you to a possible new threat to productivity coming your way:

Yep, plenty more where that came from at I Has a Hot Dog. You've been warned.

Have a great Thursday, and be sure to come back tomorrow for a Special Post!

Why Care if Women Hate Their Bodies?

This is a guest post by Karly Randolph Pitman--she's a writer, speaker, and mother of four. Be sure to visit her at her website First Ourselves for more information and tips on positive body image and other important topics.

Who cares if you love your body? Why is it important?

These are good questions. After all, loving your body isn't on par with feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, or fostering orphans. It's not like we're ending violence against women.

Or are we?

When we beat ourselves up for not being physically "perfect," however we define it, we are committing violence: violence against ourselves. And because we're all connected, we are also committing violence against other women: our peers, our daughters, and our granddaughters.

For years, I avoided my body hatred, justifying my behavior with, "It only affects me." But it doesn't just affect me; it affects everyone. In her book Like Mother, Like Daughter, Debra Waterhouse writes about how a mother's negative relationship with her body can be passed down to her daughter. But this pattern doesn't just occur between mothers and daughters: society as a whole is bequeathing a negative body culture to the next generation.

I look at my daughters, one a beautiful little girl; the other, a beautiful young woman on the cusp of adolescence. They are fortunate, and blessed to live in modern times. Their foremothers have paved the way for them, clearing the obstacles that hindered earlier generations: They can vote, they have a voice, they can own property. They will witness the first woman in the Oval Office.

So what will prevent my girls from pursuing their dreams? If they buy the lie that they have to be superthin and youthful to be beautiful, that they have to loathe and control and try to shape their female form into something unnaturally unattainable, that will hold them back. The other freedoms won't matter, if they aren't free in their mind: free to love and accept themselves.

I have the power to change that. You do, too. That is why, as a woman, loving your body is some of the most important work that you can do.

It's important because if it remains unaddressed, it will sabotage anything else you try to do. It's scary to put yourself out on a limb, to offer your pearls to the world, and hope that it appreciates their value. It's even scarier if your confidence is undermined, if you're thinking of all the ways your body doesn't measure up.

It's important because you can't separate your body from the other parts of yourself. You can't love yourself while you hate your body.

It's important because you can't be free and clear to love and accept others unconditionally, if you're not loving and accepting towards yourself.

It's important because you can't be the woman, daughter, mother, wife, friend, or woman you wish to be, if you're consumed about thoughts about your body.

It's important because hating your body keeps you stuck. It keeps you in bondage, just as surely as violence, sexism, and injustice does.

It's important because the world needs our sacred femininity.

It's important because we can't fix the "big" problems - war, hatred, genocide, or violence - until we first heal these issues internally, in our battle with ourselves. They come from the same soil. And those problems can't, and won't, get our full attention if we're not healed of our own, personal hatred, first.

In loving your body, you release love into the world. You release courage. You release forgiveness. You release compassion. You release acceptance.

That sounds like important work to me. Love your body; love yourself. Love your body; change the world. Love your body: it matters.

Interview Time!

[by Crabby]

That's a Microphone People, So No Smart-Ass Remarks

We rarely (ok never) have interviews here at Cranky Fitness 'cause honestly we don't tend to get out much. However, thanks to the Amazing Invention of E-mail, we are actually going to bring you a conversation with someone not of this blog, Leslie Goldman.

Who is Leslie Goldman?

Well, she's the author of “The Locker Room Diaries,” (based on years of locker-room interviews with women about their bodies and body image), as well as a co-host of the Chicago TV show Fit Today. And she hosts the awesome blog The Weighting Game over at iVillage. She’s also an accomplished speaker who tours the country talking about women’s body image and eating disorders. Plus she contributes to the hugely popular The Huffington Post, and has written stuff for most of the major magazines you’ve ever heard of.

Yet it’s hard to hold any of that against her! That’s because Leslie is so darn nice and down-to-earth and funny. If you’re not already a regular reader of The Weighting Game, consider bookmarking or subscribing, and you may want to check out her book too.

Cranky Fitness recently caught up with Leslie recently despite our busy schedules (Leslie was just back from speaking at the Menninger Clinic; Crabby was in her bathrobe sipping coffee trying to work up some motivation to go to the gym), but despite the daunting obstacles we made it work! So here to class up the blog a bit is Leslie Goldman.

Crabby: With all the conversations you've had with women about their bodies, what surprised you the most?

Leslie: Well, I spoke with little three-year-old girls who talked about being on diets because they were "fat" (WTF?), pregnant women and new moms battling their shifting weight, women of all different ethnic backgrounds, women who had undergone gastric bypass, women who had overcome eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia and compulsive over-exercising, and women in their 60s, 70s and 80s for the chapter on “the older generation.”

Bottom line: The grass is always greener. Everyone wants what they can’t have (tall vs petite; slim vs athletic; 34A vs 40DD) and very, very few women were happy as they are. Of those who are, the majority of them fell in the “older women” category, which is why I especially enjoyed interviewing Harriet, June, Kookie, etc. These women had so much wisdom to impart – many of them spoke of how the years have allowed them to view their body as more than just eye candy, but a tool for building a family, fighting off disease, caring for grandchildren. It became less about vanity and more about keeping themselves healthy and strong.

It sounds like you've had your own struggles with body image. Is that hard to share that publicly? What kind of reaction do you get?

Yes...and I'm completely and totally open to talking about it. I let it all hang out because I find that women not only appreciate it and learn from it, but feel more open to spilling their "secrets" to me.

After I tell a room of hundreds of girls about how I used to go running at midnight...alone...on a Big 10 college campus, they probably thinks, "Wow - she was even crazier than I was!" Because I was in a total cloud. During my first semester of college, I shed 30 pounds from an already-slender 5’11” frame through a diet of salsa-topped salad and those seemingly endless nighttime runs. My face grew gaunt; I lost my boobs and period. My family freaked out but I just didn’t get it. I mean 5’11” and 120 pounds – that’s what models weigh, right? Now, I can see how deluded I was. There are dogs that weigh more than 120 pounds. I did not look good. In a sad bit of irony, I was majoring in – and acing -- nutritional sciences.

Admittedly, I'm an insanely open and extroverted person to begin with, which helps. For example, in my book, I write, in detail, about my first Brazilian bikini wax. Graphic detail. My father and grandfather have read my book. It made for some interesting dinnertime discussions.

What helped you overcome some of your own body image issues?

First, I have to say being ready personally was an important step. You can’t really help someone if they don’t want to be helped. So once I was mentally and physically prepared to make a change, I made damn sure I had a good therapist. You can and should couch-hop a couple times if you don’t click with the guy or lady right away. I found a male social worker who is challenging and doesn’t coddle me. Some people like a softer approach. I wanted confrontation.

Also, I have to give a shout-out to medication. Honestly, Luvox saved me. I’m know some people out there are anti-antidepressants and so was I for the first few years of college. I thought there was a stigma. Little did I know that 10 years later, 95% of my friends would be on Zoloft, Paxil or Lexapro. That’s an exaggeration, obvs, but I do maintain that being on an SSRI helped to clear away the clouded vision I had of my body. It didn’t make me feel instantly pretty or skinny or sexy, but I feel it put me on a level playing field to fight the disease.

What's it like appearing on TV--is it easy and comfortable or a bit scary?

The first time I starred opposite Brad, I was nervous but pleasantly excited. He was my first kiss.

Oh, you mean after my childhood star blossomed? I actually really enjoy TV appearances. You get so pumped up before and your adrenaline (hopefully) carries you through. I remember walking across Rockefeller Plaza before the Today Show in June of 2006 and all those people who cheer for Al Roker and Meredith Viera fell silent as I came out because they were like, “Who is THAT?” But then, once the interview started – Natalie Morales was the interviewer – it was exhilarating. I remember afterwards, lots of people complimented me on my shoes (I was wearing $14.99 satin peep toe pumps which I never thought would be seen on camera, but because Natalie and I were seated on a faux locker room bench, my legs were crossed and my ankles were up by my ears. Good things I’d done a quick self-pedi beforehand.)

One would guess that there might be some pressure to look as attractive and slim as possible on TV. Is there? And if so, how do you keep it from messing with your head?

This is a good question – I feel like we live by the adage “The camera adds 10 pounds” in our society. Which is why products like THIS exist. Just kidding. I think that camera is sad and gross. But seriously, during a photo shoot for the Fit Today show, I was wearing a tiny sportsbra/tank and too-tight Nike pants and the photographer was having me pose in this crazy ballerina pose where I was standing on my right leg and holding my left foot in my left hand, extending it out like some kind of flying ostrich. And I’m holding the pose and the photographer is saying, “Suck it in! Suck in your stomach! Suck, suck, suck!” And I was already sucking so hard, I might as well have been Jessica Simpson’s latest movie. My stomach is a part of my body I’ve never had any qualms about and still, that episode bummed me out a bit because it made me think, “Um, how flat can a stomach possibly be?”

And advice to women who struggle a lot with feeling dissatisfied with their bodies?

One thing I recently learned about is called "body checking" - this is something I think many women (even myself, admittedly) likely have taken part in without even realizing it. It's essentially the over-evaluation of one's shape and weight via any number of methods...examples include looking at yourself in the mirror (to obsess over a body part - not simple grooming); hopping on the scale numerous times a day to track your weight; trying on a pair of jeans or other item of clothing to see if you "still fit" into it; pinching fat on your body; worrying that your thighs are jiggling when you run; comparing yourself with other women, whether celebrities or the woman standing in front on you at the GAP.

I compare these kinds of activities to jealousy - a pointless emotion that only serves to drive you mad. I would tell women to try their best to give up these behaviors. Also, be aware of the rampant airbrushing which exists in magazines and movies and billboards and lingerie catalogs and everywhere else. No one looks like that. Maybe Gisele, but that's it.

Are you planning any more books?

I want to write another one so badly I could scream! Trust me, it’s on my mind every day. But it’s so hard to chase down an idea. The locker room concept evolved very naturally – I’d overhear women talking in the locker room (eavesdropping…research…same diff) and write it down. For the next one, I know it will be a) non-fiction, b) about women in some way and c) well…that’s all I know, actually. Two out of three ain’t bad!

A lot of Cranky Fitness readers are health, fitness or weight-loss bloggers themselves. Any advice on building a successful blog or book audience? How did you manage to get gigs at iVillage and HuffPo and otherwise become so successful? (Oh hell, Crabby will drop the pretense--forget the readers, this question is for her).

I think...and you can back me up on this, Crabby...that in order to be a successful writer, you've gotta be determined, almost to the point of stalkerish. Editors get 1000 letter a month from other potential writers. You need to stand out. Whether that means specializing in a certain niche like health or movies or sports, or having an awesome, sarcastic sense of humor (ahem...you!), or whatever. You need to be responsible, creative, deadline-oriented, self-motivated. This last point is important - it's just too easy to say "I'm going to write in my PJs today" and then pass out in bed with a box of cereal spilling across your chest. Not that that's happened to me or anything. At least not in the past three weeks. Oh, and work any connection you can. Your roommate's brother's best friend is in advertising at Men's Health? Call him.

There is a rumor you were responsible for putting videos of (1) fornicating gorillas and (2) women with bouncing breasts on the front page of one of the most popular websites on earth. Any truth to this rumor? Anything to say in your defense?

Um…in my defense? Don’t you mean in my glory? The fact that I was able to drop this kind of knowledge on the world at large is one of my proudest achievements. When I saw the first-ever National Geographic photos of wild gorillas having sex face-to-face (which, according to scientists, never happens), I freaked out. I mean that in the best way possible. For some reason, I just found this so romantic, so awe-inspiring, so human. And afterwards, the male ape held the female ape’s hand. I mean…*melting*.
For more on bouncing boobs, you can check this out.

Thanks so much, Leslie!

So, Awesome readers, do go check out Leslie's blog The Weighting Game--(though beware, a certain Crab may be rambling on about nothing in an interview of her own there later this morning).

And if you have any observations or opinions on body image or anything else Leslie mentioned, please share! We always appreciate your thoughtful comments.

Thoughts While at the Spa

[Posted by Crabby]

Recently, as part of an anniversary celebration, Crabby and the Lobster treated themselves to a massage. Rather than go the to the cheap place down the street as they usually do, the Crustacean Couple decided to splurge and went to the Fancy Schmancy Spa instead.


The exorbitantly priced massage included the use of the spa facilities, plus unlimited cups of weak tea and cucumber water. Even aside from the massage, it was quite a treat. There were hot tubs, and cold tubs, and saunas, and strange showers with water jets at all different heights and angles that pounded the Crab in places she'd never been pounded before!

Relaxing? Well, strangely enough--yes!

Anyway, the spa facilities were segregated by gender. (Supposedly, guys go to the spa too, though Crabby is skeptical about this. Perhaps there are no tubs or saunas behind their doorway, and instead their space is filled with big screen tv's and beer and snack bars and racks of girly magazines and video game kiosks. Just a theory).

But the women's side of the spa does indeed exist, and since it's women-only, it's assumed you won't be wearing a bathing suit. You could--but almost no one does, and if you did you'd still have to put it on in the communal locker room where everyone else is getting dressed too.

So, as is true in many spas and gym locker rooms, you end up sharing space and lounging around with strangers while wearing no clothes at all.

Crabby has to ask: does anyone else find this weird?

Not necessarily bad-weird. Just weird-weird.

Maybe what feels weird about it is that our culture is generally so screwed-up when it comes to nudity. We treat the naked human body as if it is (a) incredibly powerful and dangerous; but simultaneously (b) ridiculous and comic and humiliating. Truly, what's a common Worst Nightmare scenario? To somehow be caught naked out in public. It can't get anymore embarrassing than that!

Yet somehow, if you declare an area "men only" or "women only," all this psychological baggage is supposed to magically disappear. Strangers are only supposed to feel 'strange' if they are of the opposite sex.

Crabby actually doesn't mind being naked in these situations anymore, but as a younger person she hate-hate-hated public locker rooms. At some point in college she got over it, who knows why, and now, in a certain mood, she can even enjoy it. There can be something curiously liberating about not wearing clothes in a semi-public place--like you're getting away with something extremely naughty that would ordinarily land you in jail! (Hmm... actually, come to think of it, you are getting away with something that would normally land you in jail).

However, it seems likely that at least a few people might not feel all that comfortable being naked in front of others. It seems odd that even in the most upscale locker rooms and spas, there often aren't many concessions to privacy. Would it hurt to have a few more curtains, changing rooms, and shower doors that close for people who are shy? Just wondering.

But aside from the weirdness of it, there is also something quite affirming about being around a bunch of women in an entirely natural state. For one, it totally exposes what a Big Fat Lie prime-time television is. Because guess what? Real women may sometimes look desperate, but we don't look at all like Desperate Housewives.

Real women not only have curves, we have wrinkles and scars and cellulite! We have ample bellies and sagging boobs and droopy asses. We have wide hips and knobby knees and hair where we shouldn't. We have pairs of body parts that are not symmetrical; we have birthmarks and warts and stretch marks and all kinds of stuff you never see on TV. (Unless of course it's "reality" TV and then the whole point of the show is to have an expert or a surgeon step in and "fix" it).

It's funny, though, the way so many of us women evaluate our appearance not by looking around at the real women nearby. Instead, we look at the air-brushed pictures of actresses in magazines, with teams of trainers, surgeons, and stylists at their disposal. We look and we sigh--why can't we be like them?

Why can't we? Because those pictures--and those women--they aren't real!

The versions we see are just as fictional as the movies and tv shows that make these people famous.

So here's to real, healthy, three-dimensional women. Naked or not!