A question was posed at the running bulliten board I am completly addicted to. We tend to get off track very quickly and usually threads derail into silly rubbish by page 4 or 5. The question in this thread (which began asking about first time marathoner stats) was this:
can you be both overweight and happy?
Well most of the folks on this board have been active their entire lives, and pretty much all are very lean (by my standards) and athletic. So I chimed in. I am still classified as overwieght- a BMI of above 25 is overweight, this morning I was 25.6, that is down from 33.9, which is officially obese. Want to check your BMI? Click me
As the fattest person on the board I decided I had a place to answer. Here is what I said:
Absolutly- Im pretty happy these days, the happiest Ive been in years. I am overweight right now, formerly obese.
I went on to say, Perhapse I can lend a little insight on why people who are overweight get there and how they stay that way. Alot of it for me wasnt a consious decision at all. Im an emotional eater, when Im stressed I eat, when Im upset I eat, when Im angry I eat, when Im depressed I eat. I lost a baby in 2002 and that began my downward spiral of depression for me that lasted about 3 years. It takes a lot to do more than just exsist when you are depressed, just getting through the day seems monumental. After my second pregnancy (that would be my oldest son ‘A’) I developed post partum depression. 5 months later, oops, here I am pregnant (this would be my second son ‘C’) with a 5 month old and seriously depressed. Did I care about my weight at that point? I absolutly did, I knew I looked and felt like crap, but doing anything about it was just completly beyond my capabilities at that point, just making it through the day was all I could think about, there were many many days that I didnt get out of my pajamas. Here comes baby #2 and the post partum depression is still raging. For a year I gained more weight topping out at about 210lbs and a BMI of 33.9-clinically obese. Finally I couldnt deal with it anymore. It was either die or stop treading water and swim to shore. Thankfully all the stars lined up right for me one day and Im still here, 52 pounds lighter, happier than Ive ever been and a much better mom than I used to be. It was a series of very tiny events that planted a seed of hope in my mind. Could I really get through this?I thought maybe, there was that little ray of hope. That is when I began my journey of losing wieght, finding myself and becoming a happy healthy woman, wife and mom.
So before we go judging people on how lazy they are {this has come up a few times, about how overweight people are just lazy}, maybe stop and think there may be some serious things going on in their lives that we/you as thin/active people may never have delt with. Everyone deals with their problems differently, most people probably deal withthem better than I did.
My mom used to make cabbage rolls, ground beef, onions, rice and spices molded into an odd cylender shape and wrapped in a lightly cooked cabbage leaf, then cooked in tomatoe soup and more spices. It was pretty labour intensive and eating a wad of ground beef never really was super appitizing. Every once in a while she would make ‘lazy man’s cabbage rolls’ ground beef browned with chopped cabbage in the tomatoe soup sauce cooked in a casserole dish. This I really enjoyed and have made many times since moving away from home. This time I made it with ground turkey! It turned out great! This is what youll need for this very easy meal!
1lb ground turkey
1 family sized can of tomatoe soup
1 head of cabbage, chopped (you dont need to chop the very insides, its a bit of a pain, just chuck it)
salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder- to taste.
Brown the turkey in a non-stick skillet. The next steps can be done two different ways- either chuck the chopped cabbage into the pan and add the spices and soup or put everything in a casserole dish and cover and cook until bubbley at 350F. I like to dirty as few dishes as possible so I just put it all in the skillet this time. Covered and left on low until it was bubbley. I stirred a few times and left to simmer until the cabbage was tender. This is such a yummy comfort food! Ive been craving this since mid march!
I hate getting sick!! Im sure everyone does! I have a son in preschool and a husband who works with the public so they are both petri dishes just brimming with every germ known to man it seems! I started feeling a sore throat coming on several days ago and went through the aches and sore throat, cough and then a wonderful sinus infection. Thats generally how it goes for me. So with three days till my race I cant breathe through my nose! The pressure in my sinuses is insane and I think Ive killed off a few thousand brain cels with all the sneezing Ive done. Ive been told by more experienced runners that as long as the sickness is above the shoulders its fine to train, below its best to stay in bed. Id really prefer to not be a fountain of snot during the race but its looking like thats what Ill be dealing with. I much prefer that to running with a sore throat though. Im excited about the upcoming race! I am still weighing in at around 160lbs, which is frustrating, Im still eating low fat, but I am not running or cross training enough I think. After my race Ill be able to be more flexible and not have to stick to a schedual so Im hoping to actually do more activity. Id really love to drop another 10-15lbs before a friends wedding in May, its only 6 weeks away!
Lastnight I was schedualled for 5 miles. From here till my race its all shorter and shorter runs. I got about a mile in and my foot started aching, it was just a dull ache so I kept going after a while the ache subsided instead of turning into a sharp pain. My knee on the same side was aching as well but after a mile- mile and a half it subsided as well! I finished my run and felt great. Today all feels good! I was aware of my foot this morning but it wasnt painful. So Im really hoping this was just a really minor bump in my training and wont be something that plagues me in the future.
I went for a short run on my treadmill lastnight, only about a mile and a half. Thats as far as I could make it before my foot started hurting too much. Im going to give 5 miles a try today, its my last long run before my race in a week! Im guessing I do not have Plantar Fasciitis since I was able to run a bit. I think I must have just pulled or irritated that tendon. Its a little sore today but Im going to give my 5 miles a shot.
Later today Im heading down to the sports store to stock up on my favorite gel for my race I have after much trial and error I have found that PowerBar Gel works best for me for my long run fuel, I thought I would hate double latte but oh its so yummy!!