The Biggest Loser (or "A Night in the Urgent Care")

Motivation:

"Begin to live as you wish to live."

*An apology: Friday night while visiting with my friends, one of them was speaking with the waitress, who asked "why is he (meaning me) only drinking water tonight?" It was party night, virgo night - and everyone was whooping it up. He told her about my weight loss and my progress. The waitresses eyes changed - she looked at me differently, and now I was put on the spot to have to - a) speak to her and answer her many questions, and - b) to accept her nice comments and be cordial to her. This was so infuriating, and embarrassing. It wasn't the only time this happened, and I wish it wouldn't. When I am out at a party, I just want to be one of the guys, not pointed out as special. Now, I am introduced as the "here is Chazz, the former 500lb guy", instead of "here is Chazz, who is just a great guy". You wouldn't introduce a friend with an acne problem as "here is Jill, who suffered from Acne for years," you would just say, "this is Jill, who is a real super great person."

Also, this sets me up to have to answer questions about "what did you do?" "how did you do it?", etc. The LAST thing I want to do is answer personal questions on the fly about a struggle in my life. "Thank you, but I want to party tonight, and not have the spanish inquisition about my past life failures, now please bring me my water and lime."

After scolding my friend for doing this, I got a response I didn't expect. "Let me tell you something. She asked why you were drinking water, and I told her THE TRUTH! I am not ashamed of you, in fact am proud of you and of your story, and I will tell other people about you and my pride in you! It makes me happy, so you are going to have to live with it - and stick it."

I felt about 1-inch tall. mmm.


Diary:

This week I have had several conversations about the importance of "Competition" in our lives. A friend of a friend and I were discussing running, and both agreeing with each other that running by itself is about the most boring, useless activity. Some of this is because we are not fit or in shape, and every article I have read states that "you should never run to get in shape, instead get in shape to run" Putting the running first can wind thousands of people a year into the doctor for injuries due to the fact that they are not yet in shape, but treating their bodies to extreme road-pounding.

He mentioned that "you were in athletic activities in school, right? I think this makes the difference for me. Competition makes exercising fun."

WOW! That is right for me. Maybe "competition" is the wrong word - perhaps "games" is a better word. I have discussed this before, but if I can make something a game, I enjoy it more, at work, in my diet, exercise, with housework, etc.

Don't get me wrong - there is good competition, and bad competition. For example, let me pose one example of bad competition (Flame Shields Up) NBC's "The Biggest Loser" is one of them. I have a few problems with this show that I will record here:

1. The focus on 'time' is not reasonable. They weigh in weekly to try and beat each other on the number of pounds lost in 7 days. I think this creates bad habits, as your body and weight doesn't look at a calendar for it's cycle. Your fat cells don't check to see if it is Saturday and then say "hey, let's shrink!" Weight loss is not a time based activity, it is a lifestyle change, and treating this marathon like a sprint is not healthy, in my opinion. A recent Time magazine article (discussed here before) proves this by interviewing former winners who now have gained back most of the weight they lost. Since they didn't have a long-term view of their weight loss, they finished the show, and eventually got back in the same routine as they did before.
2. The focus on lbs lost isn't the right measurement. Just because you lose 5lbs in a week, isn't the only measurement to look at to decide if you are getting healthy. Are you losing fat, muscle, or water? Are you eating right, rebuilding muscle, rehydrating? Why not show a fat % change as one of the measurements?
3. The focus on "beating the other team" is good for TV, and is a competitive measure, but I am not sold that it is a good message to send to the overweight population of America. Voting someone out is the WORST thing you can do to someone who desperately needs/wants to lose weight for their health! If I got "voted off" a competition that would potentially save my life, or if I had to vote someone else off, I would feel worse and perhaps never try again. It is a bad message to send - that if you can't succeed in weight loss, or "beat" the other guy - you can just go home, because you will never win. Does NBC understand that they are condemning that person to an early grave? Instead of the vote-off, they should have an intervention and say "you haven't been working hard enough, but we love and want you to do it, so we are going to rally around you and see you through this, and we will be so better for it!"
4. The focus on "emotions" is what bring in the advertising dollars, but really isn't helpful to the obese public. If The Biggest Loser spent more time interviewing Doctors, Nutritionists, Health Experts, and former overweight people, as they do on all the other crap, maybe the viewers would get some information that would help them change their situation. What I mean by "all that other crap"? Anytime they have emotional flashbacks of someone crying or whining or being over emotional about how much they "want to lose weight but cant". I DONT CARE! I am so over your pain, if you want to do it, just do it! Why would you sign up for a TV show that is meant to get you to lose weight, then you get there and spend your whole time complaining that "you want to lose weight, but it is hard" NO DUH! THAT IS WHY YOU ARE THERE!!!! So at the end of the show, I sat there thinking "I really know a lot about Cindy's life battle with weight and her emotional struggle with food and the fact that she loves her family, but they sometimes become stressful for her", BUT I didn't learn anything about weight loss itself. Then I think this was a huge opportunity lost - NBC could educate a public that desperately needs to be healthier, and instead showed a soap opera. It made me sad.
5. There is a 5-second blip at the end of the show that states that the contestants are being monitored by doctor supervision the whole time. Why doesn't NBC show these interactions. I would be very interested to see if the doctors are truthful and honest about the conditions of these patients. Put those tests on TV - the real deal. Then have the doctors tell the contestants about the disease and affects on obesity on organs and other body parts. It is disgusting, but may shock some TV couch potatoes. If you want to see a GREAT demonstration of this, please watch Supersize Me. This is one of the things that really got me revved up on my diet routine.
   

Well, there was my rant - in the middle of my thoughts on "Bad Competition". This being said, I would say that even with it's major flaws, I do enjoy watching this show. I know, it is weird, but I really like the trainers, and find their personalities to be interesting. Bob is so warm and caring and just "everything is going to be great and loving", Kim is very proper and planned and has charts and graphs and wants perfect posture, but she doesn't handle stress very well and becomes whiny and she is like sandpaper. I really like Jillian and the "black team" - she is the "I will kick your ass and I don't care, just because I know what I want and nobody is going to tell me I can't do it." I think that all three of these personalities are necessary at times during a weight loss/exercise regiment. They have their benefits and are a good mix of personality types for the show.


So, what is good competition? Since we are 1 week away from the 5K run, it is good to think about competition and sportsmanship/gamesmanship. How do we compete while seeking for everyone to be winners? Let's see, according to Randy Kilgore from Marketplace Network Inc:

• Competition is useful in protecting humans against the vices which beset us, and in making use of our human traits to spur us into achievement and accomplishment.
• Competition energizes us, and motivates us to press ourselves more than we might if rewards weren't available.
• Competition builds on itself: Each new victory, discovery, achievement becomes a platform for the next level of growth.
• Competition promotes excellence, as the thrill of being our (not the) best lures us to press harder.

Competition, then, would appear to be a necessary component of society and can be good if we remember these principals.

• Our attitude during any competition should be one of humility and self-reflection.
• The way we compete matters more than the outcome of the competition.
• Winner-take-all is not acceptable, nor is crushing the competition, nor is survival of the fittest.
  
• Winning by violating moral or ethical principles is not acceptable.
• The object of competition should not be to glorify ourselves.
• When competition serves only those competing, competition is unhealthy.
• When winning is the primary objective, competition is unhealthy.
• When competition denigrates the loser, competition is unhealthy.

If you are having problems with these rules, consider this: Every person begins the competition hoping that they will win, yet, everyone knows that only one will win. If winning is the only reason for the competition, does this mean that everyone but the winner should look back at the race as having been a failure? By making "winning" the ultimate goal, we create a society which preaches that if you are not the best, then you are not worth much.

That is the culture I feel "The Biggest Loser" is cultivating. I don't want to live in that world.
(Shields Down)

With that rant over, it is time to celebrate, and push forward. Next Saturday - EVERYONE IS INVITED TO THE COMPETITION!

St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN
Saturday, Sept. 29

7:15 a.m. Homecoming 5K Run/Walk Check-In
On-site registration at north side of Skoglund Fieldhouse
Rain or shine. Participants should pick up
T-shirts before the race registration (T-shirts will not be available after the race).

8 a.m. 5K Homecoming Run/Walk
Starts at Skoglund Fieldhouse



5K Training for Week 9 out of 9
This week do the following.

For those planning on running the 5K:

• Sunday = Rest
  
• Monday = Brisk five-minute warmup walk
  Jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).
  Five-minute walking cooldown
• Tuesday = Five-minute walking warmup
  Elliptical workout - 25 min
  Five-minute walking cooldown
• Wednesday = Brisk five-minute warmup walk
  Jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).
  Five-minute walking cooldown
• Thursday = Five-minute walking warmup
  Elliptical workout - 25 min
  Five-minute walking cooldown
• Friday = REST! - Prepare mentally for the race.
• Saturday = 5K run
• Sunday = Rest - go to church or spend time with your family and friends. Have fun

For those planning on walking the 5K:

• Monday = Rest or walk easy
• Tuesday = 30 minute brisk walk
• Wednesday = Rest or walk easy
• Thursday = 30 minute brisk walk
• Friday = Rest or walk easy
• Saturday = 5K Walk!
  
• Sunday = Rest or walk easy

Notes:

Monday morning, at the office. Felt like regular day, but as the minutes went on I felt warm, warmer, and warmer still. I was getting a headache, and starting to feel "uncomfortable" in my stomach. No problem.

As the morning went on, my stomach continued to be problematic, and I was feeling bloated and nauseated. I used the restroom, and felt ok, then continued my work. Then - I burped.

The taste? Well, look back on the blogs, I discussed my hotdog/ravioli/tatortot/lemon pie fiasco before Christmas Fest. In that post, I stated that when I burped that night the smell was like boiled, rotten eggs - with garbage on top. It was so horrible... That was the taste I had in my throat on Monday. All Day... it was awful.

The day went on, I left work - my manager joked "I was wondering when you were going to take a sick day" - I haven't been sick since - well not this year. Anyway, at home the bloating, hot feeling never quit, and finally as I was failing to find a comfortable position to get some sleep, I remembered to call my folks. I guess my voice was so sad-sounding that they prodded me to call a nurse. I was convinced. I called the 1800 nurse line, my dad called a neighbor, who took me to the hospital that night.

At the clinic, they did a blood pressure, pulse, temperature, cognitive test, oxygen test, and all of the tests came out 100% great, but I was in pain. The treatment they had was this - smother me with niceness, laugh, have me get comfortable (lie down, meditate, take shoes off, just listen). They asked me all sorts of questions: Do you know what you ate? - "Yes, because of my diet, I record everything I consume." Are you sweating? - "No, my abdomen is warm, but I am not sweaty." Can you tell me specifically where it hurts. - "No, it is a general uncomfortable feeling, but no specific areas of pain points." Evidentially, these answers, plus my symptoms, plus my test results, all pointed to something that will pass. Thoughts? - Perhaps it was food poison from my Sunday dinner (steak, mushrooms, tomato, orange). I thought I cooked it thou roughly, but something could have happened.

No concrete answer. Tylenol, Pepto, and Sleeping Pills - call us back tomorrow if symptoms persist.

The next day, while recovering in my couch, I was watching Alton Brown discuss how to prepare Cornish Game Hen, and then it hit me. Living like a "bachelor stud" has perhaps allowed me to become to lazy in my food preparation and care. Looking at my kitchen - it is a playground for all sorts of potential contamination. It needs a good cleaning, and disinfecting. It is nasty.
If you missed "Good Eats", you can read most of Alton's suggestions here.

If Alton Brown's warning wasn't enough, I also received an unsolicited email this week telling me that "One-third (33%) of men don't bother to wash after using the bathroom, compared with 12 percent of women, researchers reported their latest findings Monday at a meeting of infectious disease scientists. " Since this report was at the same time that I got sick, I consider this a sign. If you want to be really disgusted, read the whole article online.

In my research this week, I found that State Colleges and Universities are great for information about food prep and storage. Also, local Education and Extension Services have good information. (My college course auditing is already coming in handy, huh.)
These links are for files you can download and print as good guides to review if you are interested in keeping your food clean and healthy from store to fridge to stomach.
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/fntr2/
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/store.html

After Monday's episode, I have decided this is another "Renaissance Man" quality.

#Diet#

I am pretty close to announcing that I am "half the man I used to be". Maybe I will announce this at the St. Olaf 5K!

Note, because of the events next week, I may not get a full post next week on the blog -> I will try for next week, but I will be also doing the Twin Cities Marathon 5K, and maybe busy.... keep watching, or sign up via email (see sidebar) and you will know when the next post is ready.



more later,

Chazz

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