Eat Less, Move More

Yesterday, I went to have my blood drawn to test for diabetes/cholesterol/thyroid problems.
  So far, my diabetes came up normal and my cholesterol came up very good.  I apparently have  very high levels of HDLS, which are apparently the "good" cholesterols that help prevent the bad cholesterols from building up in the arteries.
I attribute this to 2 years now of staying mostly away from processed foods and sugars.
I am still waiting for my thyroid test back, which is kind of the most important of the three.  A part of me is kind of hoping that there is something wrong with my thryoid so they can give me pills and i'll be thin again.
It's not that I mind eating well and working out, it just seems to be so much damn work for such little return.  There are some weeks where I don't lose any weight at all, and this is frustrating, especially when I know I've done everything right.
All of this reminds me of an old MADTV skit that pretty much sums up the general attitude to weight loss that most people have.  I love it:

The Kirstie Alley Effect

I first started this blog with the intention of it becoming a beauty products news and review site. Hence, the name, Pretty Baby, which is what I will name my very own Beauty Supply store someday when I get around to growing up and becoming self-employed.
The blog lay fallow for months and months until I finally realized that I didn't know enough about beauty products anymore to write an interesting blog about them. I've been out of the beauty biz for too long now. For fuck's sake, I still think Glycolic acid is the wave of the anti-aging future..
I also realized that it doesn't really matter what you put on or do to your face if your body is a mess. It doesn't matter how beautiful your face is, really, if you happen to be overweight.
It's not right or good or fair, but it's the truth. I call this, The Kirstie Alley Effect. In case you don't know, Kirstie Alley is the beautiful actress from Cheers in the 1980's who has gained notoriety these past few years for letting herself get very fat:

Now, you will read any number of celeb gossip blogs, news stories, or other such nonsense regarding Kirstie's ever losing battle with her weight. I often notice, however, that nobody ever talks about what an amazingly gorgeous face the woman has. Or, if they do, it's always in the context of what a shame it is that she's gotten so portly and lost her looks. As if, somehow, her face mutated into a rubber pig mask or something when she got fat.

 

But the truth of the matter is, fat or no fat, Kirstie still is an amazingly beautiful woman.  And no one cares, because she's gained tons of weight.

The reverse of the Kirstie Alley Effect is, of course, the Jamie Lee Curtis Effect, wherein you can actually look like Clint Eastwood in the face, but people will still love you and call you hot because you happen to have a bangin' body:  

Other notorious instances of the Jamie Lee Curtis Effect would be actresses like Jennifer Garner, Jennifer Aniston, and Sarah Jessica Parker.  These women are often referred to as "beautiful" "hot" and "sexy" despite the fact  that the only thing they have going for them physically is a low BMI and a great personal trainer.

Sometimes, I personally feel like I suffer from the Kirstie Alley effect.  I used to jokingly refer to myself as having the face of a porn star and the body of a housewife when i was still thin.

Ha, if only I'd known then how true that would become later on, I might have actually put down the goddamn macaroni and cheese once in a while.

Sad story of the day

Today, I came across this really sad story on Divine Caroline of a woman who struggles with severe depression and obesity:
http://www.divinecaroline.com/24133/92534-bbw
Now, I want to point out that I 100% believe that the only way to combat the things that cause you sorrow in your life is to change the way you perceive and react to them.
I also believe that Morbid Obesity (like, obesity that has reached the point where you need to ride a cart around the store)is entirely self-inflicted and that you need to take responsibility for yourself if you want to correct it.
That said, I also want to add that this is the saddest story I've read all day, and it's a good reminder for me to be patient with people who seem to be victims of themselves (the morbidly obese, addicts, etc.) because you never know what events in their lives led them up to that point.

Why am I Not Shredded Yet??

6 days ago, I started doing the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred workout DVD.
I must say, it is quite challenging, despite the fact that the workout is only 20 minutes long. You do short intervals of cardio, abs, and strength exercises focusing on getting the most benefit for the shortest amount of time. The idea is that you do this workout daily, for 30 days to see maximum results.
Ideally, you want to move up from level one through to levels two and three as you progress.
I am still on level one. I haven't found this workout to be quite the killer that I was expecting it to be, but it is still no picnic.
So far, I haven't really seen any physical changes in my body, but we'll see how things look when I am at least 15 days in to it.

In other news, as of Dec.25th, I have only lost 5 lbs and an inch and a half. Not the stellar losses I have been expecting. I have to admit that it's a little discouraging being stuck at the same scale weight for 4 weeks now, even though I know that plateaus are common, especially as you begin to work out and build muscle.
I still haven't decided if it would be wiser to eat more or less right now in order to blast through this plateau.
In the past, I have tended to give up right as I hit a plateau. This time, I will perservere, tweaking my diet and fitness routines until I see positive results.
I also have to go get my blood drawn soon to see if I have any medical problems that may be contributing to my slow weight loss.
I hate having blood drawn.