Queensize!

[go_team]

Next time, on Sick, Sad World, body issues! Maybe you already read the fabulous Chiara (amperlj if you like reminders, or you can subscribe to her handy email notification list) or maybe you saw triath plugging this entry about body issues, but if you don't or you haven't, you totally should. It will make you better appreciate the following lines from a Marie Claire article entitled "Anatomy of a Pigout":

Be aware that friendship is a dieter's enemy. A study by Pennsylvania State University found when people ate among friends or family, they consumed about 50 percent more than if they were alone or among strangers...

Oh my friends and random LiveJournal readers, let it be known that I will gladly be your diet's very worst enemy except or until the word "diet" means nothing more than the wonderful food you eat every day to sustain your fabulous body, which is a miracle plain and simple (both the simple existence of your body and the magic that is the way you literally are what you eat and when I say "you" I mean "all of us".)

And but so once upon a time pants_of_doom and I talked about creating something we wanted to call Queensize, or maybe Queenzsized, with the premise or slogan or subtitle "Take up some space". And Chiara's body post has me wanting to resurrect that project and that's where all you readers and friends come in again. If you've ever written or drawn or collaged or otherwise created anything about your body, or wanted to, I want to see it and/or read it and love it and share it with the world and maybe make a sexy print version of it because bookbinding is way fun. All you have to do is make something and share it with me and I will do the other stuff because that's what obsessive-compulsive tendencies are good for, yes? Yes.

Let's rock. queensized at gmail dot com.

And now the chamomile tea has kicked in and I MUST SLEEP. But write me if you want to play this fun creative game pretty please!

Comments

Re: lines and tangents

[amperlj.livejournal.com]

Fage Total 0% yogurt is the best yogurt the world has ever seen. I will hear no argument on this issue. I eat it with this kickass fancy honey I get at the farmer's market. Speaking of which, I wish you people would send me all this McCann's Quick and Easy Steel Cut Oats because my housemate won't stop teasing me about getting my breakfast from the internet.

Something I didn't mention in that essay was the fact that my job is to encourage other people to exercise to ameliorate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis. I am well aware of the rationale behind the positive self-talk you mention; i.e. exercising and eating to actively promote health; I counsel people in it every day. In fact I began to exercise more seriously several years ago because I found working with diabetic amputees very internally motivating--I have Type II diabetes on both sides of the family as well as a nice little case of hypothyroidism. One of the big curses of my life is to be able to advise people very competently about difficulties identical to those I face myself.

I guess my point is that it doesn't matter. I know what I need to do and how I need to think...but that changes very little about how bad I feel about this sort of thing sometimes. I maintain that we can control our thoughts and behavior but not our feelings (well, two out of three ain't bad) and I have found consistently that I have very little control over *feeling* bad about my body, on the occasions that I do. Logic doesn't seem to have much to do with it for me; it doesn't matter how many people tell me I'm hot or beautiful or how low my cholesterol is (and that shit is LOW, baby) or how strong I am on the elliptical. I am healthier and stronger and more physically functional than many people I know and often it just doesn't matter. I don't know if I am the only person with this experience; I do know that of my fantastic friends (goteam and triath, I am looking in your direction) I seem to be one of the ones who struggle with body image issues the most.

If anyone is still following this conversation, you will be happy to know that I was feeling pretty hot this weekend and that I think I look extra super cute with my new super-short hair. I got up this morning and slathered on my crazy expensive body butter and noticed that above my pudge are some very nicely visible abdominal muscles. So there are good times as well as bad, body image-wise.

Re: lines and tangents

[goteam.livejournal.com]

Ooh! I picked up some Greek yogurt at Trader Joe's yesterday (when I saw the oats, which I can mail to you if/when needed)! Honey and fig flavors, the first for comparison because the yogurt I usually eat (Nancy's) and fig because it sounded more Greek. Anyway, now I am more excited than ever to try it.

P.S. Dammit, woman, you better not go disproving my theory/belief that abdominal muscles are a hallucination or a myth or whatever. Next thing I know you'll be telling me I should really remember to floss or something. Damn.