Should Strong be the New Skinny?

I shared the article this quote is from last week on my Facebook page but I relate to it so much I had to make it a post.

It’s called “This Trendy ‘Strong is the New Skinny’ Thing and what is could mean for the next generation of girls,” and this paragraph could not describe me and mentality at the moment, any better:

“Now when I look in the mirror (this is embarrassing by the way, I can’t believe I’m admitting this online) I flex instead of sucking in. Now when I pinch my stomach, it’s to feel my abs, not to feel shitty about how much “flab” (real or imaginary) is sitting there. I no longer stare at the “calories burned” display on the elliptical, but how many plates I have on each end of the barbell.” — Sophieologie.com

I mostly agree with the article but like some of the commenters, I fear “strong” could become the new “skinny” in a bad way.

It’s true. I’ve become a bit of a workout junkie. I took this photo last month as a joke but never got a chance to share it.

I’m really starting to see the changes in my body. I feel the difference in my strength. I have more energy. I’m happier. I even feel calmer in a weird way, more in control of my emotions.

So my gut reaction to this article was positive. Of course “strong” is a better goal than “skinny.” I’ve even wrote a post about why I feel “skinny” is about the worst goal you can set. 

However, it does feel a bit like we are swapping out one cultural obsession (thinness) with another (super fit), and although I fall in the category of a workout junkie (now) I’ve made that choice after a lifetime of hating myself and my body. For me it IS a more positive shift in my goals, but I can only imagine how young girls may feel today.

What if you happen to be thin and have no interest in lifting weights — do you now feel just as inadequate as I did not sporting the “heroin chic,” waifish frame body of the ’90s? What about other folks who do workout, enjoy it, yet still don’t have the “expected” body shape of a “strong” woman?

Why does it feel like we are we constantly doing things in pursuit of someone else’s ideals weather it be skinny, strong or curvy?

It’s taken me a long time to get to where I am emotionally and it’s true I got here by pursuing weight loss. I’m not going to lie and say the changes in my body aren’t awesome, but I stripped myself of the pressure of looking a specific way long ago. If I didn’t I’d still be pursuing Twiggy’s arms and Elle MacPherson legs, both of which are a complete impossibility for my body type regardless of how much weight I lose or iron I pump.

Now I do what I do because I WANT to do it. I pursue fitness goals because it makes me feel amazing. Alive. Accomplished.

Confidence should be the new skinny.

I hope that’s the message I’m spreading.

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Skinny is beautiful.

(I’d pick big, heart-shaped muscles over skinny any day.)

For those of you who lovelovelove find posts about my life-minutiae interesting this mightcould be your dream post.

For those of you who kinda dont give a shit prefer more informative, motivating missives* you may want to click away in a hurry before the navel-gazing commences.

Are both of you ready? Settled in with a high-protein snack & some water? Let’s go!

I wanna preface this all with the fact we had an amazing fabulous holiday vacation (vaycay for the Tornado from Kindergarten at least. why do we adults always have work to do?!).

The plan had been to travel, said plan was derailed by ear infections, and the result was lots and lots of much needed family time.

(here’s where I skip to the end of the story & then back to the start. here’s where we realize I may never be a fiction writer of a traditional genre)

One facet of vacation/no school I adored was our morning-time together: Ren Man typically slept in** and the Tornado & I holed up in my office, cuddled & chitchatted.

(Here’s a photo of my office wall mural. It’s definitely less an officeoffice and more cuddle/connect-central:)

One morning she wriggled up close behind me, commenced rubbing my back and said:

 Mama your body feels beautiful. It feels skinny not like mine.

(Ill give you a moment for that to sink in. Im choosing to believe it throws everyone for a sadloop as it did me.)

I’m pretty confident long-term blog readers (and those who read the blog before this one) can imagine precisely how the conversation unfolded from here.

We talked about strength, power,  and the amazing things our bodies can do.

We chatted about how beautifulbeautifulBEAUTIFUL she is from her kindlovingsillyspirit to her chocolately brown eyes.

(disclosure: when we hit that second part she quickly agreed and said: yeah that’s what I thought about me.)

And I wont lie to you: I blamed her peers.  I assumed they’d already begun planting the insidious seed of SKINNY = BETTER and THIN = PRETTY.

And I wont lie to you: I blamed the Husband who’d recently brought a scale/bodyfat analyzer into the house.***

And I wont lie to you: I in no way, shape or form placed any of the blame upon my own shoulders— where it turned out all said blame belonged.

You see, we’ve been struggling with some, uh, digestive issues lately with the Tornado.

Without venturing too deep into TMI-territory Ive been even more vigilant than usual with her foodstuffs.  Ive focused on fiber. Ive obsessed noticed she’s been offered more junk than usual & tried to *always* counteroffer with healthy options.

And yet, while I pridefully thought of myself as Digestive Tract Fixing Mother of the Year, Id completely and utterly dropped the ball on another form of junk: MIND CANDY.

It would never enter my mind to say:

It’s vacation! let’s fill your belly with fast food & various & sundry nutritional wastelands!! it’s treat time! forget what we normally do!!! 

Yet Id done exactly that for her brain all in the name of you’re not feeling well—here’s a TREAT!

It was only after ranting at the Husband he needed to put!that!shower!stepthing!away! (oops.) I finally realized what sparked the comment.

The sentiment came from a “treat” I’d given to her and then tuned out while she devoured:****

Whether it was a result of VACATIONitis or merely my slacking off as a parent I fed her junk Id normally not and the repercussions were tremendous.

Not irreparable, thank goodness, but definitely left a mark.

On me if not on her.

I pride myself on watching her consumption not only of junkfood but of JUNK for her brain. 

Im grateful this was just a small reminder & was humbled by the fact I dropped the ball and immediately looked to place the ‘blame’ elsewhere.

Which all brings me to the end of my unplanned PSA & to my question for you & your wisdom:

If you have children do you monitor their mind junk as well as their junk food intake?

As an adult, do you find you’re happier & healthier the less brain candy YOU consume?

*missive isnt the correct word, I know. I just love me some alliteration.

**can you call 6a sleeping in? let’s call it that for blogpost purposes…

***said procurement was via a blog pitch. I turned it down & Ren Man said he was curious/would review.

****Monte Carlo is not necessarily a bad movie, but it is IMO too adult for a 6 year old.

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The Skinny Gun© Fer Realz

A while back we fake invented this….

You count on your fingers, you scribble on your datebook, you write it on your hand! Fiber, Fat, Calories, Points, Carbs! So many numbers you have to add to stay on your diet. But just think about it. Every single food item you purchase has a bar code. The price is loaded into that barcode and now thanks to technologies developed by DTBMULF Industries there’s The Amazing Skinny Gun© !

Just choose your diet. Counting points? Set it to Weight Watchers Wand Mode! Counting carbs? Set it to Atkins Attack Mode. Then aim The Skinny Gun© at anything you want to eat. The Skinny Gun© will calculate your numbers, keep a running total, AND shock the crap out of your hand when you aim it at items that put it over your daily total! Order today. Operators are standing by.

*And for a limited time you get the patented Hormone Zone Attachment©. At certain times of the month/life/menopause/or post-partum the Hormone Zone Attachment© will release the Mood Shooter. Instead of counting points The Skinny Gun© will release snarky comments aimed at any one or thing you choose. Just smile and point – let the Mood Shooter do the dirty work!

No more counting, calculating, or remembering. Now with The Skinny Gun© it’s Ready, Aim, Diet!

Legal notice – if someone actually comes up with this you heard it here first and we’ll be the like Winklevoss Twins. We’ll dog you for our $65 Million until you give us $80 Million just to go away. You’ve been warned. We’re pretty sure we’re legally covered now. ORDER TODAY! Oh and we MAY just change the name to SkinnyGun© because we just saw The Social Network and it seems that the Napster guy thinks using the word “the” is sort of cluttered. SO we’re also claiming SkinnyGun© – order today!

Well guess the heck what? The Lose It App on our phone just upgraded it sort of DOES have a Skinny Gun©. Oh sure it’s not called that BUT you point your phone at a barcode and KAPOW you get the nutritional info logged right into  your food journal. It’s weird. Wonderful. Effective and DANG why didn’t we actually invent it. Alas… reach for the sky The Skinny Gun© is here!

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Open Letter To All The Skinny Bitches

Dear Skinny Bitches,

Hey, gurrrls! How you doooin’? Now please don’t get bent outta shape. You should know damn well I’m not a hater. I use that term bitch in a comradery-friendly kinda way, as in “Where are all my bitches at!?” Okay? Now for the sake of this here letter, I consider all you skinny bitches to be lumped in one of two categories:

Skinny Bitch #1) the bitch who cares about her health, works on her fitness and chews on good meals while keeping the sweets and other junk food shenanigans (and alcoholic beverages) to a decent minimum. She is not just slim; she’s also toned, has physical strength, and is healthy on the inside.

Skinny Bitch #2) this bitch takes her slim physique for granted like she’s aesthetically invincible for all time. It’s not that she doesn’t care about her health – she just doesn’t think much about it. And why should she? She eats like sh!t but can still throw on a bikini or skinny jeans with absolutely zero fatty interference. But little does this bitch know, her habits are gonna catch up to her. She could be pimp slapped with a muffin top at any point in time.

I used to be Skinny Bitch #2, so I’m in no way judging you. This is more of a go-tell-it-on-the-mountain and scream it loud throughout all of Slimville that your skinny-bitching may not last if you don’t do something about it right now. I’m writing to encourage you to savor what you have while creating good habits to help maintain your Bitchdom even after you (maybe) get knocked up or just get older and have to fight a slowing metabolism. If that happens, first comes the stomach, then the thighs and ass might start to spread. That’s exactly what happened to me. Why? Because I ignored anything and everything that had to do with living a healthy lifestyle. Dammit!

Oh, my dear Skinny Bitches. It is easier to maintain what you have right now rather than have to work really hard to reclaim it. And let me tell ya, if you have to work to get it back, it NEVER ends up looking quite the same as when you had it the first time around – especially when you’re older. So just appreciate what you have and care for your body from the inside out. Don’t ignore a healthy lifestyle just because your ass is skinny right now. If you do not heed my warnings, you’re gonna be saying, Woe is me! Gone are the slim days that I took for granted when I was eating bacon cheeseburgers and curly fries in my size 4 jeans.

Now get back out there and keep enjoying what you’ve got, bitches. Just be smarter about it from now on.

Love,

Josie

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Skinny Cow Ice Cream Cups (Dulce du Leche) Review

(Photo Credit: Timothy Valentine)

Skinny Cow Ice Cream Cups are one of my favorite desert treats. I've already tried (and raved about) a few of the flavors, including the Strawberry Cheesecake and Cookies 'n Cream so I decided to try something different, and opted for the Skinny Cow Dulce du Leche Ice Cream Cup ... I'm a sucker for caramel (it's the sweet and salty together).

NUTRITION FACTS
Serving Size: 1 cup (99 grams)
Calories: 150
Total Fat: 1 gram, 2%
Saturated Fat: < 1 gram, 3%
Sodium: 85 mg, 3%
Carbohydrates: 32 grams
Fiber: 4 grams, 16%
Sugars: 22 gram
Protein: 4 grams

I opened my cup and took a spoonful. Well, I tried, but I found that it was still too frozen. Before you misinterpret what I'm saying, let me say this - that's a GOOD thing. So many "light" ice creams are just pumped with air and therefore melt right away. Not the case with this one! As for the flavor, it was just delightful. It was the perfect blend of sweet and salty, and these ice cream cups do NOT taste light at all.

Each container (99 grams) of Skinny Cow Dulce du Leche Ice Cream Cups provides 150 calories, 1 gram of total fat, 4 grams of fiber (16% of the daily value), 22 grams of sugars and 4 grams of protein.

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The ingredients list includes skim milk, sugar, and caramel swirl (corn syrup, sugar, water, sweetened condensed skim milk [condensed skim milk, sugar], modified corn starch, salt, soy lecithin, xanthan gum, caramel color).

A container of Skinny Cow Dulce du Leche Ice Cream Cup costs $2.00 at my local convenience store, and I like buying this as opposed to a gallon container of ice cream - I need portion control with ice cream. I really liked this flavor and will definitely be getting more in the future.

{Website: Skinny Cow}

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Skinny Cow Ice Cream Cups (Caramel Cone) Review

Skinny Cow Sundae Ice Cream Cups come in a single portion container and thank goodness for that, because the Strawberry Cheesecake and Cookies 'n Cream varieties taste so good that I know I wouldn't be able to control myself if there was more around! Recently, I spotted the Caramel Cone flavor and decided to give it a try for Dessert Friday!

NUTRITION FACTS
Serving Size: 1 cup (99 grams)
Calories: 150
Total Fat: 3 grams, 5%
Saturated Fat: 2.5 grams, 13%
Sodium: 85 mg, 3%
Carbohydrates: 33 grams
Fiber: 4 grams, 16%
Sugars: 24 gram
Protein: 4 grams
Inside the container, I found a vanilla ice cream base swirled with crunchy bits and caramel. I dug my spoon in and took a bite. Mmm ! I loved the sweet + salty combination - the caramel was simply a divine addition. This was another home-run Skinny Cow Ice Cream Cup flavor - and although I mentioned before that these are so good you would eat more if you had it, let me assure you though that the amount in each cup (99 grams) is really adequate, and not too skimpy.

Each container provides 170 calories, 3 grams of total fat, 2.5 grams of which is saturated (13% of the daily value), 4 grams of fiber (16% of the DV), 24 grams of sugars, 4 grams of protein, and 20% of the DV for calcium.

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The ingredients list (see it at Wegmans), is a little lengthy, and you can definitely see why there is 24 grams of sugars.

I picked one up at the convenience store for $2.00 (pretty sure I could have gotten it for $1.50 elsewhere though), and while this caramel cone flavor is yummy, I would probably buy the Cookies 'n Cream one instead - it's just as tasty but has 6 grams less sugars.

{Website: Skinny Cow}

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<b>Weight Loss</b> Myths: Get the Skinny from the Experts

Jan 27, 2011 Cathy Herold

There are quite a few weight loss myths that may hinder dieters from losing weight and keeping it off. Here is some research that exposes some of the truth about some popular diet strategies that may not be all they're hyped up about.

Many get-thin-fast programs suggest that the idea of restricting the intake of one specific nutrient like carbohydrates or fat is the best way to lose weight; however the results of a 2009 New England Journal of Medicine study reported in the Runner's World's article "Incredible Weight Loss Myths Exposed" by Matthew Kadey revealed that the number of calories dieters consume each day is the most important factor for weight loss.

To lose weight, the bottom line is dieters need to burn fewer calories than what they eat regardless of what percentage of carbohydrates, protein or fat they're eating each day. The 2009 New England Journal of Medicine study studied participants for two years who followed one of four calorie-restricted diets with varying amounts of carbs, protein and fat.

"After 24 months, all participants lost about the same amount of weight." The study proved that calories are the most important factor for losing weight. Neither a low-fat diet nor a low-carb diet will bring faster results. The bottom line for successful weight loss is dieters need to eat fewer calories than what they burn each day while finding a type of healthy diet that fits their lifestyle and food preferences.

Many diet gurus boast that eating fewer and smaller meals throughout the day is guaranteed to help dieters squash hunger and lose weight faster; however, scientists have not showed any substantial evidence that eating frequency really matters, according to a review of research by scientists at Newcastle University and Griffith University in Australia as reported by Kadey.

"In fact, a 2009 study with more than 10,000 subjects," according to Kadey, "reported that between-meal nibblers were 69 percent more likely to pack on pounds over five years." People who want to eat more frequently during the day still need to still count calories and control portion sizes. The number of calories consumed each day is still the overall factor in weight loss, not the number of meals, says Tara Gidus, R.D. in Kadey's article.

Eating at Night Myth

Calories are calories no matter when people eat them, says Gidus. It's more important that people don't eat more calories than they burn each day. "Overeating at 9 p.m. is essentially no worse than overeating at 9 a.m.," states Gidus. People may have a slightly higher metabolism earlier in the day, but eating less food at night is likely trivial for weight loss.

People who train or exercise heavily in the evening states Gidus, need to eat a light meal at night no matter how late to encourage recovery. Recovery after exercise is essential to muscle and tissue repair and strength building. Recovery includes not only eating properly, but also replacing fluids, resting and cooling down. And as long as people don't eat too much at night, it's not likely to affect their weight, according to Gidus.

Many dieters believe that maintaining weight loss is easier than losing weight. But, according to Kadey, a 2008 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine revealed that people have to be diligent about diet and exercise. "The researchers discovered that overweight subjects who had slimmed down over two years required an average of 40 minutes of exercise per day just to sustain a loss of 10 percent or more of their initial body weight."

People who have lost weight and who don't exercise every day are more likely to gain back the pounds they had previously lost. It's also important to avoid eating too many calories after losing weight. People need to understand they are not done with weight loss after they lose all the unwanted weight; it's important to stay motivated about diet and exercise to maintain weight loss.

Dieters should keep in mind that it's important to consume fewer calories than they burn each day to lose weight, and people who want to maintain their weight should still watch their calories and continue to exercise every day.

Sources:

Kadey, Matthew. "Incredible Weight Loss Myths Exposed." Runner's World. April 2010, Vol. 45 Issue 4, p56-66.

Patz, Aviva and Centofanti, Marjorie. "Weight Loss Myths, Blasted." Psychology Today. March/April, Vol. 33 Issue 2, p20.

Copyright Cathy Herold. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.
Weight Loss Myths - Hsing

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