So at the gym tonight. I am back to where I was in early August, strength wise. I guess thats good considering how badly I let myself go last semester.
I've gained 35 pounds since college ended. Its been atrocious. I've never been thin but there was a time when I had cheek bones. I like having cheek bones and it is my mission to make them visible once again.
I came across a piece in the NYTimes today about the "fatosphere" and how overweight bloggers are blogging about how it is ok to be overweight. First of all, I went to some of these blogs. The bloggers are not "fat" they are just "healthy" and any reasonable person knows the difference. There is also a difference between a healthy, normal person being happy with their bodies and a fat, obese person pretending to be. These blogs, by well meaning health conscious individuals, give dangerously overweight people an outlet through which they can avoid resenting what they have let happen to their bodies. Fat, overweight, obese, big mofo, whatever you want to call it. It is UNHEALTHY and it should not be promoted.
Society would not approve a website by a cigar enthusiast that chain smokers visit and feel okay about what they are doing. The bloggers are healthy individuals on the high end of the BMI scale. The people who visit their sites are usually obese people on the wrong side of the bell curve. We should not have websites to allow "Fat" people to feel good about themselves we should instead promote websites that promote healthiness and feeling good about one's body. But feeling good about a grossly unhealthy body is the oppositte of what anyone wants. We dont want to let overweight people (and i am an overweight person) feel righteous in accepting their weight. Because heart disease, diabetes, bad knees, all these things are negative consequences of unhealthy living. The NYTimes article was dangerous because it gives people with vulnerable self images the wrong idea of what to work for. We don't want unhealthy people happy with their unhealthy bodies, we want people working to become healthy and living longer, better lives in the process.
Fatosphere NYTimes Article
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Friday, January 4, 2008
Gymrats
Tom Cruise got some heavy criticism a few years ago for saying some pretty stupid stuff about psychiatry. The link: here
While I personally think that psychological/psychiatric assistance is over-subscribed, I certainly do not agree with criticizing people who are seeing a specialist in the hopes of bettering themselves. I do agree with Cruise, however, regarding his statement that exercise (ex. jogging) do more for mental health than most drugs.
Senior year of college I would run 6-8 miles at least four times a week. I was lifting regularly, eating healthy, doing well in school, and feeling good about my body. Over the past year and a half I have barely run, certainly not eaten healthy, am mediocre at best academically, and I am definitely not feeling good about my physical condition. I am pretty sure I hit rock bottom on Christmas when I was appalled at the humongousness of some shirts.
Since then I have been going to the gym every day and eating fairly healthy. I really do feel a lot better. Its so amazing how putting a couple of hours in at the gym can change you disposition for the other 22 hours in a day.
My favorite part of the gym, is the mirrors. No, I do not say that because I enjoy looking at my body, I do it because I like looking at my eyes when I am lifting. Over the past week I have gotten that aggression back, that passion that I used to apply to the gym during my last two years of college. They force inside of you that makes you push your body to its limit that evening. When I leave the gym I know that I pushed my body to the limit and that gives me a lot of confidence.
That's what all of this is about, the gym, feeling good, professional success, trumping your insecurities, all of these hurdles are conquered through confidence. That is why I partly agree with Tom Cruise. Also, A Few Good Men was AWESOME.
While I personally think that psychological/psychiatric assistance is over-subscribed, I certainly do not agree with criticizing people who are seeing a specialist in the hopes of bettering themselves. I do agree with Cruise, however, regarding his statement that exercise (ex. jogging) do more for mental health than most drugs.
Senior year of college I would run 6-8 miles at least four times a week. I was lifting regularly, eating healthy, doing well in school, and feeling good about my body. Over the past year and a half I have barely run, certainly not eaten healthy, am mediocre at best academically, and I am definitely not feeling good about my physical condition. I am pretty sure I hit rock bottom on Christmas when I was appalled at the humongousness of some shirts.
Since then I have been going to the gym every day and eating fairly healthy. I really do feel a lot better. Its so amazing how putting a couple of hours in at the gym can change you disposition for the other 22 hours in a day.
My favorite part of the gym, is the mirrors. No, I do not say that because I enjoy looking at my body, I do it because I like looking at my eyes when I am lifting. Over the past week I have gotten that aggression back, that passion that I used to apply to the gym during my last two years of college. They force inside of you that makes you push your body to its limit that evening. When I leave the gym I know that I pushed my body to the limit and that gives me a lot of confidence.
That's what all of this is about, the gym, feeling good, professional success, trumping your insecurities, all of these hurdles are conquered through confidence. That is why I partly agree with Tom Cruise. Also, A Few Good Men was AWESOME.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy New Year?
I enjoyed this article and I think it applies to a lot of minorities, and other pejorative terms like "foreigner". I think also, that it reflects the unaddressed and unconsidered bias that is now and--at least in the new future--will stay prevalent in the US: http://www.jewcy.com/cabal/muslim_now_available_insult_form
I took some time off after finals ended. Here is a Synopsis of the time between my last post and today.
Friday: Dick around
Saturday-Sunday: dick around, shopping, watched Indiana Jones and the last Crusade for the heck of it
Monday: Dick around the night before Christmas
Tuesday: Christmas
Wednesday: went to work for half a day, worked on my paper
Thursday: went to work, and got mad good deals on after Christmas items at the mall
Friday: went to work, worked on my paper all night
Saturday: went to CVS, went to the gym, finished my paper END OF THE FALL 2007 SEMESTER WOOOOOOOO
Sunday: went to the gym, went out to eat with old friends (spent way too much on dinner), partied like a rock star (minus the mad biddies...sigh), and got home at 7am.
Monday: went to work after only 1 hour of sleep (ouch), stayed home for New Years
Tuesday: went to the gym, hung out with my old roommate in the city (I hadn't seen the man in a year and a half)
As you all can see, you didn't miss much.
I got forwarded an email a while back. The purpose of the message was to remind Indian-Americans that we should not observe 1/1 as "New Years" because Indians have their own calendar and our new years is on Diwali. Western society has become more aware of the unfairness of creating a system where the world measures time based on the death of one religion's messiah. The "common era" designation is much more PC and a positive step in the west becoming more considerate of its religious minorities.
Western society and standards have permeated through the world. I agree that it is unfair that the way I measure time is determined by the death of Christ. I have nothing against Christ as a person or god as a thing or time as a constant, but I prefer to measure time as the Indian calendar does. Unfortunately, the Indian calendar is complicated. The fact is that I, like my Indian brethren, am acclimated to the western conventions of measuring time. I have a western calendar where someone who knows what they are doing wrote down which western day Hindu holidays fall on. This is totally fine as long as Hindus keep observing their holidays in accordance with the Hindu Calendar.
I think that you can separate Hinduism from its calendar. For example, the Hindu Calendar is used in Pakistan, a Muslim country comprised of Hindus that converted to Islam several hundred years ago. I use the Hindu way of measuring time as my religious calendar and the western method as my practical calendar. I think this is illustrative of the balance an observer of a foreign religion must strike in a country comprised of practitioners and descendants of a different faith.
The main problem I had with the gentleman's email: India has already acquiesced to western conventions, otherwise it would not be as successful as it is today. One does need not go father the Ethiopia to see how a recalcitrant state refusing to accept the global conventions can be left behind economically. India had to adopt the western calendar, just as she had to adopt the western notion of a "nation state".
We send our taxes in according to when Uncle Sam says that they are due. We have a western birthday on our driver's licenses. Hinduism is about a lot more than the calendar, and Hindu philosophy and ideals are what we need to pass on to the next generation. We can have pujaris who know how to read a calendar and still observe our holidays at the proper time. Us lay Hindus, however, are charged with the task of raising a generation of Hindus that appreciates the significance of the calendar and the holidays.
When we make comments imploring followers of our faith to do something like reject New Years, we are asking them to commit to the impractical and by doing that, you make your religion impractical. Hinduism needs to find its own niche in this country, and we won't do that by rejecting something as innocuous as the western new year.
I took some time off after finals ended. Here is a Synopsis of the time between my last post and today.
Friday: Dick around
Saturday-Sunday: dick around, shopping, watched Indiana Jones and the last Crusade for the heck of it
Monday: Dick around the night before Christmas
Tuesday: Christmas
Wednesday: went to work for half a day, worked on my paper
Thursday: went to work, and got mad good deals on after Christmas items at the mall
Friday: went to work, worked on my paper all night
Saturday: went to CVS, went to the gym, finished my paper END OF THE FALL 2007 SEMESTER WOOOOOOOO
Sunday: went to the gym, went out to eat with old friends (spent way too much on dinner), partied like a rock star (minus the mad biddies...sigh), and got home at 7am.
Monday: went to work after only 1 hour of sleep (ouch), stayed home for New Years
Tuesday: went to the gym, hung out with my old roommate in the city (I hadn't seen the man in a year and a half)
As you all can see, you didn't miss much.
I got forwarded an email a while back. The purpose of the message was to remind Indian-Americans that we should not observe 1/1 as "New Years" because Indians have their own calendar and our new years is on Diwali. Western society has become more aware of the unfairness of creating a system where the world measures time based on the death of one religion's messiah. The "common era" designation is much more PC and a positive step in the west becoming more considerate of its religious minorities.
Western society and standards have permeated through the world. I agree that it is unfair that the way I measure time is determined by the death of Christ. I have nothing against Christ as a person or god as a thing or time as a constant, but I prefer to measure time as the Indian calendar does. Unfortunately, the Indian calendar is complicated. The fact is that I, like my Indian brethren, am acclimated to the western conventions of measuring time. I have a western calendar where someone who knows what they are doing wrote down which western day Hindu holidays fall on. This is totally fine as long as Hindus keep observing their holidays in accordance with the Hindu Calendar.
I think that you can separate Hinduism from its calendar. For example, the Hindu Calendar is used in Pakistan, a Muslim country comprised of Hindus that converted to Islam several hundred years ago. I use the Hindu way of measuring time as my religious calendar and the western method as my practical calendar. I think this is illustrative of the balance an observer of a foreign religion must strike in a country comprised of practitioners and descendants of a different faith.
The main problem I had with the gentleman's email: India has already acquiesced to western conventions, otherwise it would not be as successful as it is today. One does need not go father the Ethiopia to see how a recalcitrant state refusing to accept the global conventions can be left behind economically. India had to adopt the western calendar, just as she had to adopt the western notion of a "nation state".
We send our taxes in according to when Uncle Sam says that they are due. We have a western birthday on our driver's licenses. Hinduism is about a lot more than the calendar, and Hindu philosophy and ideals are what we need to pass on to the next generation. We can have pujaris who know how to read a calendar and still observe our holidays at the proper time. Us lay Hindus, however, are charged with the task of raising a generation of Hindus that appreciates the significance of the calendar and the holidays.
When we make comments imploring followers of our faith to do something like reject New Years, we are asking them to commit to the impractical and by doing that, you make your religion impractical. Hinduism needs to find its own niche in this country, and we won't do that by rejecting something as innocuous as the western new year.
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