Last week, I posted a notice about this story to twitter and facebook. V Magazine had had the audacity to use plus sized models (size 12, not very plus to the average size 14 American woman) in a sexy fashion story! Whoa! Stop the presses! What are they doing?
Well, most people responded favorably. Not surprisingly, women were thrilled.
Today, I was at the gym and, when I looked up from the treadmill, one of the entertainment shows featured a string of commentators who had negative reactions to the magazine layout.
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Though I don’t make resolutions, I do make goals for myself and for my business, Catalyst Coaching, every year. What’s the difference? Well, a goal is something you work towards, focus on, create. A resolution pretends that life changes on a dime – that, at 12:01 a.m. on January 1st, we’ll somehow change and our behavior will be different than before.
It rarely happens.
Goals, on the other hand, inspire plans and plans insure execution, and that’s when things start to happen.
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As we move from one year to the next, it’s fun to look ahead and make resolutions or set goals. But, before doing that, it’s important to take a look back and celebrate the wins of the year we’re leaving.
Here are my wins of 2009.
1. Maintaining my weight loss of 70+ lbs.
When I set out to lose weight, I was determined to keep my new weight. I was tired of “renting” weight loss and having to give it back at the end of the diet. So, I set about losing weight differently. In March, I will celebrate 10 years at my current weight!
2. Spreading the word about Permanent Weight Loss.
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Tomorrow is always a sad day for me. Even though it comes right after Christmas, it’s been a sad day for me for the past 15 years.
During the decades I spent overweight, fat had a big impact on my life. My appearance kept me from enjoying many activities, made me feel shy and awkward with people, and impacted my relationships.
I hid whenever possible. I dressed in black and stayed in the background. I hoped no one would notice me in crowds or at events. I grew very uncomfortable whenever attention came my way because of my size. You can imagine the horror I felt when my sister Paula asked me to be in her wedding party. It was 1991 and I was at a “medium” weight, having regained some 60 lbs after a 3-year hiatus from sugar and white flour. The weight had returned, as it always did, with a vengeance.
I was even more horrified when I saw the dresses she had picked out!
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Here in Madison, WI, we’re experiencing the winter’s first big snow. Imagine my surprise when I was driving through the near white-out conditions and noticed a woman standing outside an office building, without a coat, casually smoking a cigarette.
“Wow!” I thought. She must really need that cigarette!” It was so interesting to see her complete lack of embarrassment as she demonstrated her addiction in spite of the frozen conditions.
My addiction was always food. I thought, “Would I stand in the snow to eat a brownie if you couldn’t eat them indoors?”
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Diets may be intended to trim our bodies but they actually diminish us as people.
Harsh restrictions give the body the message that it is something to be “whipped” into shape, changed, altered, melted — instead of teaching us to listen to our bodies for the wealth of information inside them.
Diets instill the idea of control. The message is:
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I want to share a Thanksgiving story with you as we approach turkey day in the U.S.
I started losing weight in March of 1996. By the time November rolled around, I was feeling great about the changes I had made in my life. The prospect of Thanksgiving, however, loomed. My memories of that particular holiday weren’t fond. Even though I would tell you that I “loved” the food we traditionally had on the Thanksgiving table, the day always ended in pain.
Giving thanks = pain….
Mmmmm, no. Something was wrong with that equation!
So, I knew my next Thanksgiving had to be different.
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Over 13 years ago, when I decided to lose weight permanently, the word was out: Diets don’t work.
In 1996, there was a kind of confusion as to why that was true. I set out to understand permanent weight loss because I knew that gave me the ONLY opportunity to achieve it.
It’s not surprising, when I give a workshop or teach a class, that my clients don’t understand how the body loses weight. It’s no guarded secret. But we simply don’t teach it here in America. It’s not fast. It’s not sexy. But I say the hell with that, you can be fast and sexy later, once you’ve taken the time to make real change in your life.
So, here we go. Here’s the first reason diets almost never lead to permanent weight loss:
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