[Small Talk: About Big People]

On 3/26/2019 at 11:21 AM, Finny said:

😞 so sorry about losing your beloved pet. It's hard to come home and not being greeted by your best friend. I can't imagine not having pets. My furries are my babies... spoiled babies. They bring a lot of joy into our life. They love you no matter what. 

I'm in NC and our county and others have volunteer and foster programs with Animal Control and also non-profit rescues. They work together. Sadly our county does not have a TNR program. That would help a great deal getting a handle on feral cats. The new director is working on changing that but politicians like the easy way out and just euthanize instead doing a TNR. A lot of times strays can be re-homed. During the winter months when there are no kittens, adults have a great chance for adoption. Matter of fact all adult cats that were put in Petsmart for adoption were adopted and a good number at Animal Control. When kitten season starts that number drops considerable. The shelter often has no choice but to euthanize animals since there is only a certain number of spaces avail. 😞 It's not just strays... plenty owners just drop off their animals when they become an inconvenience (moving, vacation etc.) it is really sad.

I'm in Wake Co, NC and adopted a 4 month old kitten in October from the shelter. My first cat ever. I wasn't specifically looking for a kitten over an adult, her picture on the website and the name they gave her, "Halifax" caught my eye. She's now 9 months old and I'm still learning how to be a cat momma. She keeps me on my toes. 

[Small Talk: About Big People]

As a nurse in an OBGYN office, part of the rooming routine is the weight and blood pressure. Some places even do measure your height (I lost half an inch one year, and grew it back the next). It's for your BMI to be calculated and I agree 100% that it doesn't need to be done at every single visit. I LOVE when patients refuse it but that's pretty rare. I weigh myself often, and naked, so when I go for my physical I threaten to strip down if they don't use the number I saw on the scale that morning. I admire the people who hop on wearing boots and sweaters and don't give a $%&^, but my lifelong weight issues won't let me do that. Yet. I had a recent patient who started stripping off all her jewelry and said "you're laughing at me" and I said, "nope, I love it." We bonded. 

But everyone should know, that as a mentally competent adult, you have the right to refuse any and all medical treatments, etc and that includes weight. There are times when it's necessary to know, some medications are calculated based on weight, a lot of office equipment like exam tables have weight limits, and doing OB, we do track the pregnant women's weights to make sure they're gaining and not too much because it can lead to complications with the labor and delivery. 

[A Little Help From My Friends: How Do YOU Do (A Healthier) You?]

1 hour ago, Dot said:

There's a prescription pain med called tramadol that's not an opiod but can be as effective for some people. I used it for 8 months with reasonable relief until my sciatica pain became too much for the tramadol. It's worth your talking to your doc as to whether it could work for you.

I hope you are feeling better soon.

Actually Tramadol is in the opiod drug class.

I'd say to keep taking the ibuprofen on a schedule, not just when the pain increases. Besides pain control, it reduces inflammation. You can also alternate it with Tylenol, both drugs together work well also. Non medication wise, I'd check out tumeric. It's got antiiflammatory and pain relieving properties. 

[Small Talk: About Big People]

6 hours ago, auntjess said:

Fashion reporter Robin Givhan on plus-size fashion.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/what-kind-of-message-is-fashion-trying-to-send-plus-size-women/2018/11/27/1af35270-f266-11e8-bc79-68604ed88993_story.html?utm_term=.790b8f01cf8c

I'm seriously doubting the size 24. I was a 22/24 at 5'2" and 248 lbs and nowhere near that big. The article did make me smile in that some of the size ranges used by some designers would be too big for me at a current 4/6. That's mind boggling after being morbidly obese for my whole life. 

[A Little Help From My Friends: How Do YOU Do (A Healthier) You?]

I ran the Bull City 5 mile race in Durham NC on Sunday. I'd tried it two years ago, but ran with my trainer and another client who I couldn't keep up with, and ended up walking a lot, which made me mad at myself. One of my goals in any of the usual 5Ks I run is to run the whole thing. Last year a Plantar's Fasciitis kept me from trying, I did their one mile run instead and did really well. I was determined to run it this time. I went with my trainer and we met another person who works at the gym, but when it came time to start, I went towards the back and ran on my own. I was hoping for under an hour (was trying to do an 11 min mile)  - I tried to keep it slow and did have to slow myself down a few times, but managed to run the whole thing and ended up with a 10:29 min/mile pace and a time of 52:29. I was 26/74 in the Female 50-54 group too. Getting that other race behind me was so great, it's bugged me these past two years. Next year, I'm picking up the pace. 

[Social Media: What's Up With Her?]

43 minutes ago, Dot said:

Today's IG photo, giving her fans a new opportunity to tell her how beautiful & inspirational she is & how much wgt she has lost. And adding today how she "rocks" her jeans, boots & scarf.

For all her neediness & narcissism, it is impressive how effectively Twit plays her fanbase to keep TLC thinking she is popular enuf to be rewarded with another yr of MBFFL. Most shows with as little content as MBFFL would have died yrs ago.

Someone wrote that she looks like she lost 200 lbs or more and may have to remove the "Fat" from the show's title.  I snorted. 

[Social Media: What's Up With Her?]

43 minutes ago, Dot said:

This Saturday's workout on IG features a sampling of warmup exercises.

There were people commenting on her abs/six pack. WTH? That's called loose skin and fat hanging down during the fake push ups. You can't see abs that way. I have a lot less loose skin than that and I can't see my abs unless I tighten up like crazy while standing. 

[Social Media: What's Up With Her?]

33 minutes ago, Colleenna said:

Me too. I used to be morbidly obese, rapidly closing in on super morbidly obese (BMI 47.5, 50 is SMO).  Started out with slow paced water aerobics and treadmill walking. Worked my way up to water boot camp before I started "dry land" workouts in a format called Strive. I keep pushing, but don't think that I could keep up in a boot camp style class. 

My weight is my bugaboo. I've been dangerously thin, and morbidly obese. At this stage in my life, I no longer care what my weight is. I care about body fat %, and being as strong as I can for as long as I can. 

My goal is 25% which is healthy for a 70 year-old. Currently sitting on 33% dammit. 

Nice work!! You should be proud, I know it's not easy. My BMI to start was 45.4. It's 26 point something at the moment. Did a recent Dexa scan and my body fat is at 24.3% They also do a Fat Mass Index FMI which is more accurate than BMI and mine is actually in the normal range, while in BMI land I'm still overweight. 

Water boot camp sounds like fun. 

[Social Media: What's Up With Her?]

1 hour ago, 3girlsforus said:

They all looks sloppy but I think for different reasons. Glenn seems to be trying the hardest but it isn’t a good workout for someone his age who hadn’t been athletic before. I’m worried about him. Buddy looks pathetic and I know he’s in horrible shape but I think it’s even more that he looks apathetic. Every move he makes says WTF am I doing here and when do I get to leave. Whether that’s strictly because he doesn’t want to work out or because he can’t believe he’s caught back in Whitney’s web or both. I don’t know. Whitney looks terrible because she doesn’t care and just wants to fly through to make a video, claim she did something (seriously Whit - you didn’t do burpees or pushups), and get the Internet accolades.  

I agree with apathetic Buddy. There's a point in the video where trainer girl says to him "16 slams, then you can leave" not, "then you're done." As for Glen, as someone said above, if you're a regular exerciser, it's fine. It's obvious he's not. I take early morning gym classes with a woman who's 68 and she is always at the front when we're doing laps and can hold her own against a lot of the younger crowd. 

I myself, used to be morbidly obese and started off with walking, body weight exercises and TRX classes before attempting Boot Camp and HIIT. And that's after I asked my trainer (who also teaches them) if those classes would kill me. I wanted to make sure I could handle it and not look like an idiot out of my league, as well. 

[Social Media: What's Up With Her?]

Buddy's medicine ball slams made me laugh. He's just dropping the thing. Even Whit is doing better. I remember the first time my trainer handed me that one, I didn't know it doesn't bounce back up like the others. I slammed it, then just stared at it, while my trainer laughed. And he's not squatting down to pick it up, his form is going to hurt his back. And mine from watching. I also spent more time watching Glen, he was really not doing well in this video at all.  Also the kettle bell swings are wrong. You are not supposed to lift the bell past shoulder height. You're supposed to float it up. Swings involve your core and glute muscles, like one of my instructors says - you pretend someone is about to slap your butt and you tighten your glutes and push your hips forward. 

[Social Media: What's Up With Her?]

1 hour ago, SevenCostanza said:

The guy standing on the right is filming her, this must be for her show. That's the only reason she does any of this.  

 

My lower back hurts after watching that. Even 8 lb weights can hurt you when you throw your back into it like that. My trainer would have slapped them out of my hands ten seconds into this. 

[Social Media: What's Up With Her?]

6 minutes ago, MegD said:

Given that she's just standing around with that weight without a struggle and so was Glenn, it's not even close to what she should be using if she was actually working out. But then again, she's bouncing on her butt and using that momentum so that's not really working for her either.

 

Can someone explain the rings to me? It just looks stupid.

First, my back hurts from watching the bad form by both of them. 

I use TRX straps instead of the rings. I love TRX. It's body weight exercises and you can make it as easy or difficult as you like by how close to the anchor point you position yourself. The angle your body uses in relation to where the straps are anchored to the ceiling or wall will determine how hard/easy it is. You can get some incredible workouts with TRX, the rows they're doing will work arms and upper back when done correctly. It was one of the first classes I took regularly 104 lbs ago. Both of them are doing it at a slight angle, which is fine if you're a beginner. But Whit's claims of being this bad ass athlete don't look like it here. And both of them were coming up too far, you're not supposed to have slack on the straps. 

[Social Media: What's Up With Her?]

Another thing I noticed is the T in FAT is capitalized, but the one in BITCH is not, although the rest of the letters are.  If it was in caps like the rest of the letters, it would have crossed over into her face. 

[Social Media: What's Up With Her?]

Her form in this video made my back hurt. Leaning back like that is going to put too much strain on her lower back. She's not bracing her core and momentum is driving her arms up, not so much the muscles. She needs to slow it down too. More importantly, she needs a trainer who corrects this. 

[Small Talk: About Big People]

10 hours ago, cherenkov said:

Yesterday I ran my first ever full marathon. I was slow and it hurt a lot, rained on me for miles, but I did it:

Congrats to you! I've never gone past four miles, so I admire those who can. 

[A Little Help From My Friends: How Do YOU Do (A Healthier) You?]

5 hours ago, cherenkov said:

Thank you! I know that I will finish. The questions are:

How long will it take?

How much will it hurt?

As long as it needs to. 

Not as much as you think since your head/heart will be so proud.

[S06.E13: Schenee's Story]

I didn’t notice the pants down during the phone call when I watched last week, and read all about it here. Just rewatched. I can never unsee that, can I? Good thing I was almost completely done with dinner or I’d be going to bed hungry. 

[A Little Help From My Friends: How Do YOU Do (A Healthier) You?]

1 hour ago, 3girlsforus said:

Talk to me about walking shoes. I bought a new pair at the end of February and I’m already wearing them out. They aren’t dead yet but I think I’m going to have to replace them in a couple of months. I like the pair I bought (Ryka) but if there are others I should look at instead I’d like your input. I am walking about 25 miles a week. Outdoors sidewalks. I am 5’11” and current 220 so weight is contributing to quicker wear of the shoes. I have some issues with my left knee. I stepped funny on a crack in the sidewalk and twisted it. Advil before I walk works but I want to be sure I have decent shoes so I don’t make it worse. I’m willing to buy a good pair but cost is a consideration. I saw some $150+ and that’s more than I’d like to pay. Thoughts? Thanks!

I would recommend going to a running store and getting fitted for shoes. They'll measure you and watch you both walk/run in what they think works, some people have feet that turn out, some turn in, mine are neutral and different shoes are made for these(I've had the same shoes recommended to me in two different running stores). You don't necessarily have to buy the shoes. I've done it but then bought the same shoes on Amazon for as much as $60 cheaper (I look every so often even when I don't need them). Or you can get the previous model for cheaper - the ones I use just updated and I got two pairs of the previous version for the price of one, so i"m good for at least another year. It's worth it because as you can see from this train wreck of a show, you need your feet to be healthy. I'm lighter now, but used to weigh over your 220. I wear my shoes only for the gym or running/walking (inside and out). The rule of thumb is to replace them every 500 miles or so. 

[A Little Help From My Friends: How Do YOU Do (A Healthier) You?]

5 minutes ago, Pachengala said:

I would totally barf. OTOH, I think I'd totally rock a beer mile. They’re hard to find around here though—the last time I saw one was when I was pregnant; boy was I disappointed I couldn’t sign up.

I did a hot chocolate one last year. It was miserable waiting around for it to start and it was more of trail run kind of thing. The hot cocoa was good, loaded up with marshmallows and a candy cane. 

[A Little Help From My Friends: How Do YOU Do (A Healthier) You?]

6 hours ago, cherenkov said:

I would totally do the double down. Because I'm a medal whore. At work they said "Do you want to sign up for the 401(k)?" and I said "Is there a t-shirt and finisher medal?"

The Krispy Kreme one, no way. I am not sure how far I could run without throwing up after eating a dozen doughnuts, but I'm going to take a wild guess that it is far less than "a few miles". The calories in a dozen original glazed is somewhere around the equivalent of a 20 mile run for me.

I had to look it up. It's 2.5 miles from one of the university's, to the Krispy Kreme store, eat, then run back. It started out as a challenge among a group of friends, now has over 6000 people running and the money goes to a local Children's hospital. 

And LOL at your 401K story. The medals in this one are nice and huge. It used to be with a big 10 on it and a microscopic 4, but last year they went with different ones for each distance, so I got my big 4 and it was blinged out since it was the tenth year of the race. They're doing a separate one again this year. 

[Social Media: What's Up With Her?]

12 hours ago, SevenCostanza said:

Her form is terrible. There's nothing wrong with pushups from your knees, but the idea is to keep your body in a plank, not push your butt up first, then your back. A good trainer would also be commenting so you can adjust as you go along. And slow down! You get more out of it if you do less in better form. 

My back hurt watching this. I'm about to stop dawdling and get my butt to the gym. 

[A Little Help From My Friends: How Do YOU Do (A Healthier) You?]

19 hours ago, cherenkov said:

Ran a double header this morning. 5K followed by 10K. Put up two new personal records on the wall.

Congrats. I'm in NC and signed up for the Tarheel 4 miler in about two weeks, they run a 4 and 10 mile race starting a half hour apart. There's a new "double down" version, where if you run the 4 miles in less than 40 mins, and can make it back in line for the 10, you can do both and get three medals. 

 

16 hours ago, Pachengala said:

I walked a 5k today, bitterly and with much whining. I tweaked my back mid-deadlift earlier this week (I knew from the moment I lifted that it was going to go badly because of my form, but I couldn’t bail out quickly enough) and I didn’t want to make it worse by running, but I also didn’t want to withdraw because husbo and I run have run this particular race together every year since its inception. So I decided to walk it and if there’s anything more boring than walking a 5k I don’t know what it is. @ClareWalks, didn’t you give up 5ks for the same reason? At least they gave me a beer at the end, because I love beer at 8:45am. 

Screw you, back injuries!

There's a Krispy Kreme donut challenge here involving running a few miles, stopping to eat a dozen Krispy Kremes, then running back. That might cure my sugar cravings, the stories that come out of it are funny. 

[S05.E12: My Big Fat Baby]

6 hours ago, Sasha888 said:

What a cool idea! If I were into tattoos, I would definitely do it, but alas, I am not. :-)

What I'm seeing here is that those of us who are pet people are posting that our pets ashes, or other keepsakes we have from our pets, are very important to us. Pets become a member of the family, for a real pet lover.

And from what I've seen of Babs on the show, she is also a real pet lover. She seems very emotionally attached to her pets. That's why Twit did was so offensive to me. Those are not YOUR pets ashes, and your mother - your own mother - is begging you to stop it. Have a little respect, for both the pet AND your mother. I thought it was cruel. Deliberately cruel - she had a "Ha ha, look what I'm about to do" look on her face right before she did it. I mean seriously, grow up.

That scene floored me. I lost my 25 3/4 year old cockatiel about a year and a half ago. I have his ashes and that box is priceless. I want to be buried with it. It’s sealed and I have no desire to ever open it although I love the tattoo ink idea. ( I already have a tattoo of him, done from a picture, on my leg). Her lack of respect for her mom was horrible. Babs should have grabbed her by the throat. 

[Social Media: What's Up With Her?]

4 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

Are you actually fucking kidding me with those alleged burpees? Holy shit, you guys. She is literally just laying down and getting back up. A burpee requires a controlled lowering with a pushup at the bottom, springing back up onto the feet and jumping into the air in a fluid motion. There is nothing "fluid" about Whitney except those fuckin' frappuccinos she pounds. I love that they sped the video up so we wouldn't notice how long it probably takes her to lay face-down and get back up (if each of those "reps" took less than 15 seconds, I would be SHOCKED). Really, calling those burpees is like saying she "ran the 8K." They're not even modified burpees (aka squat thrusts). They are not burpees in any way, shape, or form.

Missed opportunity: she could have put "Yakety Sax" as the background music. What a joke.

 

Wow, if not for the  text, I'd never guess that was supposed to be a burpee. I'd love to see it slower. For the record when I was starting this weight loss journey at 248 lbs (same height as Whit), there was too much of me in the way to do a proper burpee, hence my hatred of them. It bothered me so much that I couldn't do them simply because my fat belly was in the way. Now, with most of that extra me gone, I can do them, even with the pushup. Also do them one-legged in the TRX straps. Still hate them, but I can do them. 

And the box squats one from the other day annoyed me because the box is there for you to lightly touch so you know where you're aiming, she sat on it, rocked back with feet off the floor and rocked back up. 

Edited because I missed this whole page, thanks for the slow down tdanaher - not sure what in the heck bringing the bottom part of the legs is for. 

And even more thanks to Cherenkov for the eye candy burpee lesson. 

[S05.E11: Buddy's Next Move]

14 minutes ago, ThinkerBell said:

I'm cutting Whitney a lot of lack during this episode. I respect the fact that she loves her pets so dearly, and the show is more than hinting that one of them dies. It's devastating and rips you to pieces. The scene at the vet brought back awful memories for me -  a few years ago, my sweet cat died instantly from a heart murmur. I feel awful for anyone who loses a pet, Whitney included -- poor girl.

As much as it pains me to say it, I’m with you on this. I lost my 25 3/4 year old cockatiel a year and a half ago. Had him for 25 1/2 years. It’s so very hard.