Do I have five hours a week?

Based on new research, I could cut my post menopausal breast cancer risk by exercising five hours each week. Hmmm.... Well I do 3 hours of cardio and then probably another 2 hours of weights and stretching each week. Does that count?

Oh, wait, I already had breast cancer. Does that mean I can stop exercising? Probably not. I am sure there is another bit of research out there that tells me I need to keep exercising.

There is that long term deflabbification project I keep babbling about. Damn.

And why am I so fat if I keep exercising????

Breast cancer and flabbiness

I am not sure this article tells me that much but it did try to figure out if breast cancer and its treatment cause weight gain. It discusses the results of a recent study that was recently published.

So breast cancer increases in incidence right about the same age as menopause. Therefore there has been some confusion if its menopause or cancer and its treatment that cause weight gain. But this article did nothing to help me.

First of all it looked at an average weight gain of 4 lbs for women with breast cancer who did not have chemo and of 11 lbs for women who received  chemotherapy. 4 lbs or 11 lbs? That's nothing. I am more concerned about the 20 or 30 lbs weight gains. I know women who said they gained 5-10 lbs during treatment and then lost them. Those of us who gained more, even if active during treatment, have many more problems losing weight.

The real concern is that weight gain can have longer term health risks.

But the study promises to follow up with the women over a longer period of time. I would like to see a study about the women who gain 20 lbs or more during cancer treatment and ensuing health issues. No one ever seems to care what I think. Or to include me in research because I have too many other issues and would skew their data.

Being an elephant....

Or more on perceptions vs. reality. I talk about losing weight and my deflabbification project but it never seems to work. I have decided my job is very fattening. I sit next to the kitchen and then people bring in nasty things like donuts and cookies... or even make special trips to the bakery next door to get more when the homemade stuff is run out or they just want a sweet thing. And of course they get enough to share. Then there is the snack rack where for 90 paltry pennies you can get a bag of premade, chemical and fat filled, empty calories of your choice. All within 8' of my desk and in my sightlines. As well as the parade of coworkers going by for their share. So I decided I look and feel like this:

Or this:

Last week at the reunion, I was talking to a social worker friend about this (who is less than 5' tall and weighs less than 90 lbs) about how I feel fat and I hate the way I look in pictures. Her calm reply was that we all feel that way. It did help but I still feel fat. I know my downfalls - emotional eating, late night snacking after dinner, on the job snacking and I have promised myself I need to do something about this before I have to buy larger clothes yet again. But I do feel very sorry for this elephant that is on a strict diet to lose 500 lbs during pregnancy no less.

Thoughts on obesity and cancer

Studies show (because we need another study) says that being obese influences caner patients outcomes. Basically, the fatter you are the more likely you are to die from your cancer. The rates were 16.9% vs. 21.5% in a recent study on breast cancer patients.

Well here is my problem: cancer treatments often cause weight gain (unless you are too nauseous to care about food - but then you can still gain weight). First there is the stress eating and depression eating caused by the trauma of a cancer diagnosis and its looming treatment. Then they pump you full of steroids at each infusion to reduce reactions to your chemo drugs which cause you to feel starving and give you that round moon face. Then the hormonal treatments for breast cancer more weight gain.

My fibromyalgia medication, Lyrica, is known to cause weight gain.

Do you see a pattern here?8

If obesity is going to be considered as much of an issue as to tobacco as a health risk, shouldn't more focus be placed on the side effects  of the treatments themselves? Shouldn't care be taken to prevent causing additional health risks while treating another ailment?

Is the benefit I get for taking Femara, hormonal breast cancer treatment, negated by the weight gain it causes?

Sometimes I wonder why I still take it. If I could lose some weight by going off it, would I be better off without it?

But then we realize that it is easy in most situations to put weight on but much harder to take it off. And with each new medication you gain another 10 pounds that just won't go away...

More research please.

The Weighty Question

Here I am feeling old and fat. I am fat. I know it. I wore a dress when we went out to dinner the other night and it made me look pregnant. I am too fat. I know I have to lose weight and believe me I am trying.

Here are the problems I have with losing weight:

1. My newest medication, Lyrica, added 10 more pounds
2. My hormonal breast cancer medication was good for another 10 pounds
3. I can only exercise three days a week or am in pain and uncomfortable for a couple days
4. I like food, I like to cook, and I like to eat
5. I am an emotional eater and eat when stressed 
6. And, last but not least, I work in an office which has a candy basket that is usually full, a snack tray full of tasty and fattening foods, and people bring in goodies a couple times a week. The last two are in full view of my desk and so going back to # 5 on a bad day at work, I am doomed.

I have been working on losing weight. But it is much harder to lose these days.  Having the stomach flu where I didn't have any appetite (or go to work) for 9 days, helped me start. I am down a few pounds that seem to be staying off but want to keep them off and take off more.

I can't live on lettuce. I do like salads and healthy food like Greek yogurt, home made granola, bananas, and other healthy foods. My husband is intent on losing weight as well. Tonight's dinner will be fish with vegetables and maybe some quinoa. Tomorrow night we will probably have fish again. That will be a good start.

I know losing weight will help with fibromyalgia, back pain, RA, and reduce cancer recurrence risk so there is lots of incentive, never mind the emotional side of not wanting to go up another clothes size, again.

The weighty question is it possible for me to lose weight by changing eating habits and food choices for the two of us long term? I certainly hope so. I have blogged about this several times over the years and the scale seems to keep going in the wrong direction. Maybe its time to throw out the scale.

On not being normal

If you find a truly 'normal' person, please let me know. No one is normal - its just a fact of life. But some people are more abnormal than others in different ways. Take me for example, I am very abnormal in the medical world. I have more medical ailments than my 80 something parents. 

All those health articles with tips for healthy living usually do not apply to me. I mean I can hydrate more but I can also floss more too.

Anything that relates to jump starting your metabolism to lose weight - um, I don't have a thyroid so its not going to do anything. Or more or different exercise - sorry, between RA, Fibromyalgia, lymphedema arm, and other injuries that never seem to go away - not happening.

I watch the ads on TV about the newest gym and fitness equipment - not going to do much for me. I go to my gym for dilapidated people and a trainer helps me through bumps in the health road. The  gym is running a contest this month for those who go the most often will be entered in a drawing for some big prize. I can't participate because I can't go more often. I couldn't participate in their last team challenge that was about increasing fitness. The team who increased their fitness the most won t-shirts or something - bragging rights? My goal is to maintain my fitness not increase it.

My three days a week at the gym are about my maximum. I do try to go for a walk once a week as well but that doesn't always work out.I can't just hop on my bike, sign up for a yoga or pilates class. The newest fitness apps? Doubtful.

The so called 'normal' people can lose weight by eating less and moving more. I can eat less but I can't move more.

I am not making excuses just expressing my frustration. I add medications that have that lovely weight gain feature and then I can't move more to counter act that. I try to eat less and it doesn't seem to help.

It could be compounded by that evil menopause (or in my case - chemopause) side effect of weight gain. It could be compounded by the fact that the office I work in has the tendency to bring in evil doughnuts and things like that.

I just need to accept I'm abnormal and my inner size eight is screaming to get out of the current size 12 body.

I am in a cranky mood

I don't know if cranky is the right word. I feel guilt ridden and stressed for not getting into work when I said I would. I hate not keeping my promises on when I would get things done. There was a blizzard which is a good reason but I have a huge pile of work to do and am behind. It didn't help that I was sick before Christmas as well and missed time. I need to get into work and get a lot done before I will feel better. Its frustrating.

I feel stuck inside because of the little tiny blizzard. I went to go shovel out the front walk just to get outside yesterday. I told my husband I was going to brush the snow off the cars with a broom but I also grabbed a shovel to clear the front walk. Ten minutes and my back hurt and I was back inside for the day with an ice pack.

A friend was talking about snow shoeing on Sunday. I can't really snow shoe. I tried last winter. I walked up and down our street (which has five houses total) to take pictures of the snow and that was enough. I used to be able to snow shoe.

She thought I should be able to snow shoe because I can walk. But the weight of the snow shoes on my back are very different. (She means well but is also someone who keeps asking when my back will be better.) See I am cranky. I'm complaining about my friends. I don't usually do that but I am aggravated, cranky, guilt ridden, stress filled, etc.

I feel fat because I have eaten all sorts of bad things through the holidays. Everything from big family meals with dessert to candies and chocolates and meals out. The scale is saying bad things to me. I was trying to be very good about eating before the holidays but I blew all that. I am back on Lyrica which is helping my fibromyalgia but has that lovely weight gain side effect.

Further proof of my crankiness is that I read this blog post on one week of junk food could damage your memory and left a cranky comment. (I went back and deleted the comment because I decided it was rude.) At this point in my current mood, I couldn't care less about eating healthy.

But today I am doing things differently. I am going to the gym this morning. My husband and I are going Christmas shopping this afternoon - looking for decorations on sale. We are having a healthy stir fry dinner tonight with rice noodles and chicken. Without dessert. Tomorrow we will go see The Hobbit part 2 in 3D. Quality time  with my husband always makes me feel better.

Dieting and such

Here's a theory: skip focusing on which diet is best and start focusing on changing eating habits.

This translates to stop focusing on what we eat and getting the balanced diet and change to focus on how we can get people to make healthier food decisions. Are we eating because we are stressed? Do we have bad habits related to the drive through where we make a quick stop on the way home and eat the food in the car?

Researchers look at all sorts of diets - Paleo, Atkins, Weight Watchers - and compare them all. The FDA issues the nutrition pyramid which is now a plate. But does anyone stop and look at the eating habits we have developed and why we have them?

We live in a world full of light this and fat free that and a widening population. Why?

I used to work with a woman who was a fairly healthy eater at work. She did not snack, she didn't go out for donuts. But she was quite large. I never really figured out why.

Then I went on a business trip with her and  she insisted we stop at the grocery store on the way to the hotel so she could get some stuff for her room. I was happy to go and get some seltzer (my secret addiction). She bought a couple boxes of crackers and cookies - for a three day business conference. I think she went out and made another grocery run later on. I think she was an evening snacker - hence her hefty weight.

So why does a normal, bright, well educated person, sit and eat for hours at night by themselves? That is the question to answer.

If you watch the greater loser shows, people talk about their bad eating habits and are taught how to eat healthy -  no soda, no drive through, healthy snacking. They also get exercise and lose weight. But they change their eating habits. Maybe they eat more salads and fewer french fries but often these shows are accompanied by tears and emotional breakthroughs as well.

I know my weight stems from three issues I have.

1. At my job, there are more snacks than any place I have ever worked and the kitchen is right next to my office.
2. I snack after dinner which I shouldn't do. (Why did I eat that granola bar after dinner last night? I didn't have dessert is my justification and I wanted something crunchy. But I didn't need it.)
3. Sometimes I eat when I am not hungry because I am bored, stressed or in pain.

So if I can get rid of those habits, I can lose weight. I have been working on them, my weight is going in the right direction. The funny thing is I am still eating desserts sometimes and normal food. I didn't switch what I eat. I switched when I eat. My goal is to modify my eating habits so I can get to and maintain a healthy weight but still enjoy eating. I will no live on lite versions of crappy prepared food.

Maybe that's what researchers need to figure out so other people can more easily lose weight.

Health discrimination

Discrimination can be in many forms. Sometimes its overt and sometimes insidious (I can use big words today but needed spell checker's help) and sometimes hidden away. But now health discrimination based on weight? That's taking it a bit too far.

A chef from South Africa was told by New Zealand authorities that he was too fat to live there. He has been there for six years and has lost 66 pounds since arriving. He now weighs 286 lbs which is not healthy unless he was really, really tall. Upon renewing his annual work visa, he was told his weight would cause health problems and they didn't want him. A little ironic since obesity is a big problem with 30% of New Zealanders being obese....

This is clear health discrimination. So what if I decided to move to New Zealand with my health background? Would I be welcomed? I have many more health problems than being fat. I would be a burden to any health care system....

So seriously New Zealand. Really? If 30% of your population is obese maybe its time to work on your national health guidelines instead of singling out a chef who has actually lost a fair amount of weight.
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Now on to happier news. I always wonder if anyone reads my blog and anyone cares about what I write. But apparently people do read it and do care. I am honored to say my blog was just named as one of the top 24 breast cancer blogs of 2013 by Healthline. I have a perky new label on the right and you can read about all the other blogs which also named here. I recommend following them to keep up on some great stories with coping with breast cancer.

Being decisive

I woke up this morning and think (so far) I am in a decisive mood. This doesn't always happen. I can waffle with the best of them. I have been doing a lot of that recently - waffling (but not eating waffles). I have been juggling some decisions recently and think I have finally decided its time to make up my mind.

Some decisions are not that big - changing our home owners insurance policy for example. Our old insurance company is just a pain in the neck to deal with so a change is needed.

Other ones will require some work - I really am going to lose weight - and won't happen overnight. I caught a glimpse of my flabby stomach this weekend and decided it really needs to go away. My problem is that there is limit to how much activity I can do before I have to take it easy for a few days to recover.

Still more decisions will require some confrontation - which I really detest - but in this case its needed. I am not ready to talk about that one yet, maybe I will later.

Unappreciation is taking its toll on me and I have to put an end to it. Its one thing to work as a team but another thing when the communication evaporates with no explanation. It makes one feel unwanted. When its chronic, it needs to end. I don't want anyone to think I'm leaving my husband or something because I'm not. He's stuck with me. Its a different issue completely.

I'm also going to clean the car and pick up the living room. Our downstairs bathroom is a construction zone again. The mess generated by construction gives me urges to clean other things up so there is one area I can be proactive. I can accomplish a lot in 30 minutes of dedicated cleaning. Besides cleaning will make me stop thinking about confrontation, and ailments, and flabbiness. But I can still be decisive.

After rereading this post, I decided I am being vague inmy decisiveness but that is what you get today.

Flab, honesty, and health care costs

First they tell us we can bet fat and fit at the same time. Then they (this is the evil them who secretly rule the world) tell us that as our bodies widen, our health care costs will spiral out of control. Make up your mind will you! I know its an evil conspiracy if they can't kill us, they can confuse us.

I am fat, I admit that. Well I am fatter than I wish I was but my BMI has not hit that evil O level. But I also go to the gym three times a week for 40 minutes of cardio followed by working with weights and other tortures.

I don't think my flabbiness has contributed to additional health ailments - I mean I have enough already. I know being overweight can contribute to all sorts of problems. And as obesity rises in the US, they project  health care costs will bulge to cover them. I can understand that but I question the math behind it.

How did they get the weights of people? They called them and asked them. If someone called you and asked you on the phone your height and weight. Would you tell them the truth? Oh, please.

"The CDC data indicate that the South is the most obese region of the U.S., but that may not be entirely true either, said George Howard, professor of biostatistics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. No one was weighed or measured in the collecting of the information; people were merely asked about their heights and weights via telephone -- so they could have lied.

Howard speculates that there may be bias in the data because "there's not a social stigma attached to being fat in the South," he said. "If you ask people how fat they are, they tell you."

Correlations between obesity and the South may be tied to other factors, Allison said. Certain ethnic groups, people from rural areas, and people of low socioeconomic status are more likely to be obese than others."

So maybe our obesity rates are tied to our honesty rates as well as our waistlines. Not that we are a nation of liars but have you ever deducted a few pounds or a few years if asked? Why don't we have a real survey where people are weighed and measured.

I chickened out

I didn't go bathing suit shopping. It quickly lost its appeal. I may go this week but I lost my motivation. I did productive things at home instead. I worked and got caught up on the DVR.

Maybe its time to return to plan A which is lose 20 lbs and then buy lots of new clothes. In order for that to work, I need to curtain my intake of flab producing calories. That would be a diet. I hate dieting. Dieting means you don't get to eat yummy things and the weight comes back when you stop dieting and return to normal eating patterns.

The way I see it is to change eating habits on a semi permanent basis. This would require examination of my current eating habits and decoding what is wrong with them. I do eat lots of healthy things but evidently I eat some less than healthy things as well. The things to get rid of will include chocolate and things from the snack box at work, the corn chips my husband insists on buying, red wine, and ice cream. Damn.

I can't exercise more because my body is ready to protest if I do anything more than 3 or 4 days a week. I have limitations there. Damn. I will have to decode my eating habits. I hate that. But then I can go clothes shopping.

Do I dare?

We all have our fears and our nemeses in life. Some of them we avoid - no ladders, black cats, spiders, crawly things, etc. Or hold our breath through - Friday the 13th for example. But some are unavoidable and must finally be faced. I can deal with the scale but bathing suit shopping? Egad!

I have a couple of bathing suits I (still) fit into but they are getting old to the point that I am concerned about the durability of the elastic which could potentially result in severe public embarrassment.

I can see in my near future several bathing suit opportunities which means it is time to bite the bullet and take my flabdomen bathing suit shopping. My husband even bought a new bathing suit this week. He has only owned one in the 11 years that I have know him. My bathing suits might be older than that. I am the slacker here. I need to motivate.

I have been avoiding this. The scale was supposed to go in the right direction for longer before I had to face this day. It has been amazingly uncooperative recently. Since treatment, it has become harder and harder to lose weight. Grr... I will take that dare and head out later.

Fat or fit

What's the worst thing about any doctor appointment? They weigh you. What's the nastiest machine at the gym? The scale - especially when it goes in the wrong direction. Has any doctor never said 'stop exercising and eating right'? No, never. They always say eat right, get plenty of exercise, and maintain a healthy weight - which to most of us means 'lose weight'. There is a problem between the 'get plenty of exercise' vs the 'maintain a healthy weight'. Muscle is denser than flab.

My husband used to be in the Army Reserves where he had a regular battle with the weight requirements which are based on a version of BMI. Being a heavy boned guy, he was always on the upper end and stressed. But the military requires physically fit soldiers so he would continually fight his own battle of the bulge. Someone at one point had pointed out that entire NFL teams, while being very fit, would not make the military requirements either.

Now at the Olympics some are calling the women athletes fat. Look at Misty May Treanor of beach volleyball fame. I looked up  her BMI. She's at 23.4 which is topping out the normal range. Does she look fat? No! She looks amazingly fit and on the edge of skinny. Some of the teams are calling the one's who beat them fat. Hello! You need many muscles to be that athletic and they are doing what they need to do to break Olympic and World records.

And why is it the media's business about what people weigh anyway? And why is it such a societal issue that women are supposed to be a size 4? Name calling never got anyone anywhere.

I do know I have a spare 20+ lbs to give to anyone who wants it.

Reasons to enjoy flabbiness

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It turns out that being thin is only one factor that contributes to healthiness. And just because you are thin, doesn't mean you are healthy. No matter what you weigh, the important thing is that if you exercise regularly - 30 minutes/day - and eat lots of fruits and vegetables.

Today I am on the healthy bandwagon. I have a breakfast meeting and then I will go to the gym, go to two more meetings, and stop at the farmer's market on my way home. I did not exercise yesterday nor did I eat right. I had nachos and a glass of wine for dinner while I caught up with an old friend. But I had a salad for lunch so some how those should cancel the other out.

Yes I am trying to lose weight but aging, post chemo, post hysterectomy it gets harder and harder. But the scale is going in the right direction (but seems to have gotten stuck at one number for a while now which is why I had a salad for lunch yesterday). I do go to the gym three times a week and one day a week I try to go for a long walk with a friend.

Dieting and losing weight

I really am trying to lose weight. Cancer is fattening - that is mhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gify official verdict. Its none of your business on how much I weigh or what I want to lose, we'll just say I feel fat and that's all that matters.

As a result I was interested in the list of best rated diets that just came out. I found it intriguing that they ones that are better are based on changing your eating habits and paying attention to what you eat and how much and not eating their fake food. I mean fake food regarding the diets where you need to eat processed things they send you or you buy in the store. I also noticed that the more extreme diets are also on the bottom. The diets were evaluated on weight loss, weight maintenance and heart health. So the list, from best to worst, is:

1. Dash Diet - this is the heart healthy diet that Dr. Evil a/k/a Dr Ego told me about so I am prejudiced against it. And its a government diet developed by the NIH to fight high blood pressure.
2. Mediterranean TLC - good for your heart but not necessarily good for your waist line. You need to watch your scale too.
3. TLC Diet - Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes diet developed by the NIH. Another government diet.
4. Weight Watchers - I like theirs. If you haven't tried Weight Watchers and want to lose weight, I recommend it. Everything has a point value. You get to eat whatever you want up to your point level each day. So if you want a frozen pina colada and three salads each day you can. Top rated for losing weight. And rated the best weight loss diet.
5. Mayo Clinic - Healthy eating buy only moderately effective for weight loss.
6. Volumetrics - Lots of meal prep and you eat lots of veggies, fruit and soup.
7. Jenny Craig - the expensive prepackaged meals sent to you so no restaurants and no home made food. I would go crazy if I couldn't cook.
8. Ornish Diet - from a book, heart healthy but hard to follow fat restrictions.
9. Vegetarian - Not for rapid weight loss but good for eating healthy and that is why it is so far down the list
10. Slim Fast - A meal in a can or a power bar doesn't have the appeal to me.
11. Nutrisystems - More packaged food. The "return of the TV dinner"? Yuck.
12. Vegan - This surprised me. I would have thought it would be higher because its all about eating healthy but it can be hard to follow and get enough nutrition.
13. South Beach - So you can lose weight but not be good for your heart at the same time.
14. Eco-Atkins - The improved 'heart attack' diet that is hard to follow
15. Zone Diet - Hard to follow and lots of food prep.
16. Gycemic Index - Not good for weight loss, heart and is hard to follow.
17. Medifast - Good for short term weight loss only.
18. Raw Food - Not well rated for nutrition, safety, and is difficult to follow. I would have thought it was higher.
19. Atkins - The original 'heart attack' diet.
20. Paleo Diet - This is the one where you eat like a caveman and are supposedly healthy but apparently not because its on the bottom of the list.

I try to follow the basic Weight Watchers model by skipping fatty food and watching portion control. I have several WW cook books and can make lots of yummy things from them. My problem is snacking. At least I know what my problem is. I am trying to be better. I have lost some weight since I joined the gym but not much. However I have gained muscles. I'll keep trying.

A typical example of how not to present a medical study

Here is an example of how not to present a medical study. What is wrong? Because it has a scary title "Study: Weight Gain May Boost Survivors' Risk of Breast Cancer Recurrence, Death" and ends with:

"The findings don't necessarily mean that everyone with middle-age creep is at higher risk of dying from cancer — the authors say that more work needs to be done to clarify whether there are thresholds of weight gain that trigger increases in risk, and more studies need to explain how weight and cancer are related."

I am not targeting this medical study - I am sure it was done with the best of intentions and had some significant results somewhere, I am merely using it as an example of how not to present study results.

This happens all the time - they come up with a scary title that basically says "You are doomed and are going to die". Examples are:

• "A new study has proven that use of plastic increases carcinogens in your blood."


• "A new study has proven that eating red meat is bad for you but they aren't sure how to get enough protein without red meat if you are allergic to legumes and soy".


• "A new study says breathing normal air causes lung cancer".


• "A new study says eating will make you fat".


• "A new study finds exercise can be dangerous".

Then they ramble on about the study 'we aren't really sure why this happens' and end with 'more studies are needed to decipher what we just figured out and see if it is significant in anyway'.

So my thought is that I will ignore this study because I have gained more than 5% of my diagnosis weight (which is a number you will never know) and stick with the fact that they don't know what this correlation means at all.

PS Please stop with that stupid survivor label. We aren't survivors. We are people living with a cancer diagnosis. I didn't survive anything more than a bunch of doctor appointments.

Obesogens

What are obesogens? They are nasty chemicals like BPA found in lots of things that cause muscle and other cells to change into cells that store fat. They mess up our hormonal systems and do all kinds of bad things to us. Traceable amounts of them are found in 93% of Americans. Yucky.

The first round of advice is to buy organic and avoid pesticides and chemicals. Well that's what they have been telling us for years - eat organic. But the chemicals are found in everything from non stick pans, children's toys, plastic shower curtains, to plastic bottles, canned goods and cosmetics.

The second round of advice, also contained in the article, is that Congress should change laws getting these chemicals out of the system.

My advice is vote with our feet and avoid chemicals. If I could afford it I would buy all organic food but its just too expensive to be perfectly honest. I would also throw out my non stick pans and buy stainless ones. I would skip canned food and buy all fresh. I don't use a lot of canned food these days other than canned beans (because the dried ones take forever) and canned tomatoes to put in food I'm cooking. (A question: if I buy canned organic tomatoes and beans does the organic part get canceled out by being put in a can?)

Could I eliminate plastic in my life? I carry a refillable plastic BPA-free bottle of water every day. This is filtered tap water which goes through a Brita filter (plastic) and put in a plastic pitcher in my fridge. I don't use plastic toys because I am a little old for that but I do use plastic knitting needles and plastic crochet hooks. I could throw those all out and buy bamboo ones. The cat has plastic food dishes. He's 16 year old (or 82 in cat years) and at this point his food dishes will probably outlast him (sadly). Does he need new dishes? These are the first dishes he has had that he can't push across the floor and are the right size for him.

And everything that gets thrown out will, at least partially, end up in a landfill or get recycled and reused in a third world country - and when that happens we are just sending our problems to someone else. That's sort of like sending the garbage in New York to a landfill in New Jersey.

But back to obesogens as I have completely gotten off the topic and how to avoid them. I guess I'll try the organic route so more. I will also reevaluate all my plastic stuff and replace what I can when it wears out. Maybe I'll write my congressman too.

How to lose weight

Now there's a headline which I am sure garnered either a second look or a sigh of 'not another pile of crap'. Well I actually like this list so I am going to write about how to lose weight. But first the news this morning tells us that the best way to lose weight is to get a good night's sleep. Not sure what one has to do with another but I'll keep listening to the news until I find out - maybe it will be before I finish this post in which case I'll tell you why.

The real reason I'm writing is about this new list of how to lose weight.

1. Ditch your scale. It is merely a tool to drive you crazy. Your weight goes up by one pound and you get depressed. Your weight goes down one pound and you eat a pizza. Then you repeat the cycle. I will stop weighing myself.

2. To get in shape you need to do cardio, strength training, AND flexibility training. Well this is not me. I will continue to go for a walk every day but the strength and flexibility issues are a problem due to my back.

3. What you eat is important. Just because you are dieting doesn't mean you need to go hungry. Eat real food and good fats to keep you feeling full.

4. Skip the quick diets and fads. (The same goes true for the get rich schemes and the promise of a cure for cancer.) Anything that takes pounds off fast will put them back on right away.

5. Apparently you will miss the old you. You got fat because you ate chocolate cake every night. You might miss that. Pay attention.

I think there are more articles on weight control than on cancer on the internet. Also this morning I have learned that fat grows differently on different parts of the body - this is important because it is some kind of breakthrough. (I need coffee to compute all this.) And if you are fat, you can't remember anything - so can I claim being fat and having chemo brain for being a spaceshot? Finally, if you are tired, you feel hungrier so get more sleep. This is another reason why we need a good night's sleep regularly.

I need to get moving and take a shower - I promise not to weigh myself this morning like I often do. Then I will make us healthy lunches to take with us.

Fat vs. Lean

Jack Sprat could eat no fat
His wife could eat no lean
And so betwixt the two of them
They licked the platter clean

Jack ate all the lean,
Joan ate all the fat.
The bone they picked it clean,
Then gave it to the cat

Jack Sprat was wheeling,
His wife by the ditch.
The barrow turned over,
And in she did pitch.

Says Jack, "She'll be drowned!"
But Joan did reply,
"I don't think I shall,
For the ditch is quite dry.".

To figure out if we were fat or not, we used to stand on a scale and slide the bars over. Sometimes we even paid a nickel to have our fortune told with our weight. Then we would let someone guess at a county fair... Doctors made it more complicated and would measure rolls of fat with calipers and give you a stern lecture on eating salads.

Then the Atkins Diet, Grapefruit Diet, and any number of diet fads. After that along came the Body Mass Index and home scales that would tell you how much fat you have. It got complicated. We got confused. Eat vegetables, no fruit, no whole grains, skip red meat, no eat some red meat, follow the food pyramid, they changed the food pyramid, again. We have a country full of confused people and they wonder why we are obese.

But wait there's more. Now they say skip the BMI and pay attention to your percent of body fat. But the best thing is to figure out your waist to hip ratio:

'Or, since abdominal fat is more hazardous, simply take a tape measure around the widest part of the abdomen and another at the hips and calculate the waist-to-hip ratio. For men it should be no higher than 0.90, and for women no higher than 0.83.'

So do I skip weighing myself and find a tape measure or do I ignore them all and have ice cream for dessert as I contemplate just how confused I am?