At The Juice: Sex, Love, Romance and Free Movies!

It's time again for a quick sponsored round-up of what's been going at the Juice.

And yes, the topic of the week was Sex and Love and Romance. But mostly: Why the Hell isn't There Time for Any? There was a video interview with an efficiency expert named Samantha Ettus who had lots of tips for finding more time. Plus she's kinda take-no-prisoners about the need to make Love a priority. Like my new bff Jillian Michaels, she doesn't accept much in the way of excuses!

(But don't worry, there's still plenty of support for any love-slackers out there. I posted some reasons NOT to find more time for love and Laura from Org Junkie confessed to sometimes being Too Lazy for Love.)

But enough about Sex and Love, what about Free Stuff? Is there a new giveaway over there yet?

Yes, indeed there is! Just go to this giveaway post and leave your tips for finding more time for romance and you could win a Free Year of Netflix movies!

And in honor of the movie giveaway and the "time for romance" theme, I think I might post this weekend about Romantic Movies--what are your favorite ones ever? Hope to see you there.

Anatomy of a Food Craving

Cupcakes or Carrots?

Twinkies or Tomatoes?

Ever wonder what leads you to choose bad food instead of good? We at Cranky Fitness, in our ceaseless quest for a good twinkie defense world enlightenment, offer this diagram as a possible explanation of how the decision is made. (If the text is too small, click on the diagram to enlarge it.)




To present the information in a more pseudoscientific formal manner, here's a chart:

For a more philosophical take on this same subject, check out Patty's blog, Fit by my 50th. Me, I love using diagrams and charts to explain things, because I want the blog to look Importantly Scientific I tend to dither when I put things into words. But I think Patty did a good job. Also, Mizfit wrote a great post about how listening to her body helped her become thin and fit. Since she's in kick-ass shape, I think she just possibly might be on the right track with this approach.

What do you think?

Do you let your food decisions get made by your taste buds? Or do you listen to the rest of your body?

Weight Loss Blogs: Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names

"Inspiration" Back Before There Were Blogs
(Vintage ad photo: lobstar28)

Cranky Fitness is not actually a Weight Loss blog, though we write about lots of similar things. Our editorial stance: healthy living, eating reasonable portions of nutritious whole foods, getting lots of vigorous exercise, avoiding too much junk food and slothfulness--these are all really important things to do! And yet they are also total pain in the ass.

As it happens, the same tempting but unwise behaviors that cause health problems (hello, comfy couch and yummy pint of Ben and Jerry's!) also tend to cause weight gain. So we cover a lot of the same ground as a weight loss blog without technically being one. (And this is not to say that we have never counted a calorie, climbed on a scale, or noted the snugness or looseness of our jeans. We just try to keep the focus here on health.)

However, I thought it was time for a post in praise of weight loss blogs, because I think they are so inspiring and awesome!

And I'm also hoping you folks will help me collect a big ol' list of Cranky Fitness Reader favorites so we can do a follow-up post. You always find the greatest stuff out there on the web and I'd love to hear what you think some of the best ones are. I'm only mentioning a few random ones myself to get the ball rolling--if I tried to be all-inclusive I could be at it for weeks and still forget some of the best ones!


So what are my top reasons for loving weight loss blogs?

1. Before and After Pictures!

(Photo: practicalowl)

I love to see the evidence of physical transformations, especially when these transformations are accomplished by hard work and wise choices--and not via scammy "one rule for a flat stomach" shenanigans.

A personal favorite is Pasta Queen's 3-D page, but there are lots of other great "before" and "after" and "during" photos out there. (For example Shelley has a nice 1 year comparison shot featuring a flashy pink bike over at at A Forty Something Weight Loss Journey, and Bella at Feed Me I'm Cranky has some labelled "before and forever," because what does "after" really mean, anyway?)

Got some before/after pictures yourself? If you do, please feel free to email them in (with a link to your blog, if you have one) and if we get more than one or two I'll add them to the follow-up post.

2. Honest Ups and Downs

Some days, I just don't think I can take one more stupid women's magazine at the grocery check-stand screaming silly promises like "Lose 20 Pounds in 3 Weeks Without Dieting, It's Easy!" Well, it's not easy to lose weight and keep it off. And I hate it when the perky people in the magazines try to imply that it's just a matter of finding the right "solution" and then, presto! Steamed chicken and vegetables is all of a sudden more appealing than chocolate cake? Setting the alarm for 4:3o am to get to the gym before work is going to become a fun new part of the daily routine? Reeeeally?

Well, fortunately, weight-loss bloggers aren't media-created alien beings, they're real people. They sometimes sleep through shrieking alarm clocks dreaming of Krispy Kremes instead of boot camp, and hit all kinds of other road blocks.

Whether it's Lyn from Escape from Obesity trying to regain her focus; Vraz60 of Just for the Hell-th of it suffering through a golf game in suffocating heat; Moonlight Dancer battling hormone induced weight gain; or Larkspur at Am I Really That Fat trying to hang in there despite confronting an unflattering photo, they keep it real! There's a refreshing lack of fake magazine cheerfulness in weight loss blogs. Some days just suck! Honest weight loss bloggers don't pretend otherwise.

3. They're often Really Funny!

I don't know why people who are blogging to lose weight seem better at the whole humor thing that people blogging about, say, Search Engine Optimization or Quilting or Composting. But dang it, they are! And it's not just the famous ones we all love like Shauna at Diet Girl. There are plenty of other funny blogs like Jack Sh*t, Getting Fit, or Chunky Monkey Mama. And so many of you who contribute comments to Cranky Fitness are totally hilarious!

4. Advice and Inspiration

Weight loss bloggers are a great source for advice, inspiration, and, of course, products and recipes! (I am sorely tempted, for example, by Camevil's lentil, brown rice, and onion dish over at 21 Days Later, and I'm going to try it as soon as I can get a hold of some garam masala. And Roni of Roni's Weigh has a whole recipe blog called Green Lite Bites with all kinds of great stuff.) Bloggers like Attrice at Exceptionally Fat, and Lynn at Hungry Little Caterpillar have a great way of putting things in perspective, and sharing those "ah ha" moments that can inspire even the slackers among us into believing that change is possible!


Tell Us Some of Your Favorites!

This post is about Weight Loss bloggers (this time), rather than health and fitness generally, and I'd LOVE to hear who you like to read. And I'll either update this post or do a follow up to make sure everyone gets to hear about the Cranky Fitness Reader favorites.


Geeky Aside: Wanna Leave a Link in the comments to your favorite blog?

Blogger is a really annoying blog platform for trying to leave links in the comment section, and you certainly don't have to. But if you ever want to try it, it CAN be done if you manually put in html coding.

Do the words "html coding" give you a severe case of nausea? Fear not! The reason so few of us bloggers ever tell readers how to do it is (a) it's a pain to do and (b) if we try to type in the code to explain it--the sample html magically turns into a link when it gets published and totally hides the part we're trying to explain.

So, in a weird experiment, I'm putting in the html coding for creating links in here as a picture. So here are the instructions for linking to a hypothetical blog named "Blog Name" that lives at www.blogurl.com. If anyone is feeling brave, give it a try! Or bookmark this page and come back later and try it on another blog you like better than Cranky Fitness. I'll never know. Note: href is not supposed to be underlined; that was my word processing program scolding me for typing in weird-ass nonsense words.

And I won't say "it's easy" because that would be a lie!

Any thoughts about weight loss blogs or any you'd like to put in a plug for? I'd love to hear about more of them!

Exercise? Why Bother? (a rant)

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I acknowledge that journalists need to make a living as much as anyone else. I just wish they could do it without messing with people's heads.

Case in point, an article, by Jacqueline Stenson, on MSNBC.¹



The article can be summed up thusly:

- Exercising doesn’t increase your metabolic rate after you stop exercising

- Exercising doesn’t help you lose weight or keep it off

- Just give up and order an extra large pizza tonight²


Seriously, this is one depressing article.

I acknowledge that the author needed to make what she wrote seem interesting and “different.” Knocking exercise certainly qualifies as different. I realize that she wanted to be controversial, and that for most journalists, and a lot of other people, it’s better to be provocative than intelligent. (It doesn’t matter what you say, so long as it gets people to listen to you.) Even so, this article pisses me off.

It's not balanced. The general impression is bad.

The article states flatly that:

- Scientists can't prove exercise increases the metabolism (the inference being that therefore there's not much point to it)

- The calorie-burning difference between fat and muscle is negligible, so don't expect much from lifting weights.

Oh, as a grudging end note, she mentions one woman who says exercising makes her feel better -- as if that wasn't about the best damn form of motivation that there is.

It's as bad as the column that Gina Kolata wrote in the New York Times.³ [You might need to register to read this.]

Kolata agrees that exercise isn't going to do a thing to help you lose weight. You're doomed because the more you exercise, the more you eat.

Then, if you're still reading by this point, presuming you haven't decided to give up on even reading about exercise since after all there's no point to it, she adds that the scientists have not been able to prove that exercise isn't helpful either. (Because people who exercise tend to do other healthy things like not smoking cigarettes or running with scissors.)

Argh!

Never mind all the studies that show and show and show that exercise whups diabetes' flabby ass, kicks fatty liver out the door, and oh yeah, can put you in a better mood. Stenson wants to focus on the thought that exercise doesn't burn as much fat as scientists had thought, and Kolata wants you to focus on the fact it probably won't help you lose weight. If these articles had been written by a doctor or other health care professional, they would've conscientiously added "but do it anyway; it helps in other ways." Not these women.

I grant you that exercise won't burn fat, unless it's strenuous exercise. To quote the illustrious Dr. Merkin, "A study from Oslo, Norway shows that you have to exercise at almost 50 percent of your maximum capacity to increase your metabolism." But who the Frapp⁴ cares? Even if you're giving less than 50% of your maximum capacity, even if you're not losing weight, you're still getting fit, keeping healthy and whupping the ass of nasty diseases. Beats the hell out of sitting on the couch chowing down on a 'za and waiting for the end of the world.

Okay. I'm done now. It's safe to come out.

Seems only fair to ask if there are any studies (or, ahem, blogs) that really make you want to rant.

Note: The illustrious Charlotte of The Great Fitness Experiment has a more favorable opinion of Gina Kolata's viewpoint, which is shown in her review of Gina Kolata's book Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss -- and the Myths and Realities of Dieting.

¹From May -- yes, I do read slowly sometimes.
²Okay, that was the inference that I drew from reading this article. Your mileage may vary.
³Way back in January '08. Sometimes I read realllllly slowly.
⁴Personally, I think the word frappuccino makes an excellent swear word.

Crabby Goes to Boot Camp?

Long-time Cranky Fitness readers (all 3 of you; hi there!) may wonder if they've somehow been sucked through a wormhole and transported to an alternate, upside-down universe. Because for the second time in less than a week, the stubborn Crab is trying something new! First it was Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred and now...

Boot Camp??!!!

I'm shocked myself about this latest development. Here is how I always pictured Boot Camp:

Photo: muscl_mc

And I did not envision myself ever having to endure this experience! Unless maybe I was forced to at gunpoint. But since there are very few gun-toting thugs roaming around my neighborhood forcing people to go to exercise classes, I felt pretty safe assuming Boot Camp was something I never had to worry about.

But I was wrong! (Not about the roaming gun-toting exercise thugs. Still haven't seen 'em around).

So, what curious set of circumstances conspired to drag my cranky ass down to a local Boot Camp class this last Saturday morning? And what did I think of it? And does this story have a moral, or a happy ending, or a humiliating conclusion, or is it just going to be one long continuous bout of whining and silly digressions?

(And the answers are: yes, yes, no, yes!)

5 Good Reasons I Thought I Would Never Go to Boot Camp:

1. The name "Boot Camp" itself freaks me out. It invokes a military training experience specially designed to break down recruits, both physically and mentally, rendering them exhausted, humiliated, obedient and pliable. Boot camp is supposed to be awful--that's the point! And how do I know this? Um, well, I go to the movies!

(Apparently they don't let women wear bras there either).

2. I've already paid for a gym membership this summer. To pay for an exercise class in addition to a gym membership when they offer classes at the gym? Unthinkable! So what if the classes are the wrong kind and are offered at inconvenient times and I have yet to go to one--it's the principle of the thing. I ALREADY PAID!

3. There is no Music in Bootcamp. (At least not this one).

4. Unlike Jillian Michaels who is imprisoned inside the tv and doesn't even know I'm watching her, a Bootcamp instructor is an actual live person who can see me. This means I can not totally blow off the instructions and do something completely different unless I want to look like a total assh@le.

5. Exercise that is grueling or unpleasant violates my religion, Crankyism, and Boot Camp sounded like a surefire recipe for Sin.


Why I Went Anyway:

1. It's offered a block from my house.

2. The Lobster wanted to do it and we have friends in the class.

3. I have been having trouble motivating to go to the gym lately.

4. Like, really, a LOT of trouble. I'd rather go for a colonoscopy.

5. I mean, seriously, it's like I HATE HATE HATE the gym all of a sudden. WTF is up with that, anyway?


And so here's a list I never thought in a million years I'd be making:


What I Loved About My First Bootcamp Class!

1. The Instructor was motivating and fun without being excessively perky.

2. The class drew a range of ages and ability levels but no one was really hard-core superfit. And we were encouraged to customize the intensity of the exercises, so everyone got a good workout but no one got their butts totally kicked.

3. Everyone was really nice, plus they all whined and complained companionably about anything that was the least bit difficult, just like I do. Paradoxically, this made me weirdly motivated to work out harder!

4. It was a nice mix of functional exercises which, when done intensely enough, I think counted for HIIT. Or at least they counted for SHIIT.

5. And I didn't have to think! It's been a long time since I've taken a class, and I'd forgotten how freeing it is to have someone else order your ass around for a while.

In summary: boot camp unexpectedly ROCKED! I believe I will be back!

And the moral of the story is: sometimes the Gun Toting Thugs take way too long to show up at your door! (Or something like that).


Any one else out there have a good boot camp experience? Tempted to try it? Or No Way In Hell?