I go to see the personal trainer for my first full hour at the YM later this morning.
I'm not sure she's the right one for me––she's rather chilly––but she said I can switch trainers if I want.
I'll give this my best effort.
I love these exercise illustrations from The Weigh of All Flesh, Handy Aid Book, 1953 (from the store). This cutey looks like Baymax, "your personal healthcare companion" in Big Hero 6.
This book is a weird mix of common sense and outdated advice:
"Success in the management of weight demands your intelligent cooperation."
Intelligent cooperation. I like that.
But "Appetite depressants prescribed by your physician are helpful..."?
Well, yeah, amphetamines do suppress appetite, and OxyContin is helpful for pain.
Anyway, I'm not thinking about weight--the topic is too emotionally loaded. It was a weapon of shame and control used against me, NOT in service of health, and I try to forget about it.
It pisses me off to have to admit it's been one of the most painful topics in my life.
And it extra–pisses me off to know that I am far, far from alone in this. Feeling crazy and bad about your body is practically normal in my culture.
Like, isn't this a creepy ad? (From a pharmaceutical company––surprise, surprise.) The young woman in her underwear is faceless, and the self-satisfied old man in a scientist outfit looks like someone who'd design a Stepford wife.
Helps you keep your patient on your diet? YOUR diet?
Huh--I looked up amphetamines and see that since 2015, some doctors again prescribe them for weight loss--just for 12 weeks, under supervision.
Maybe they are less drastic than weight-loss surgery?
I don't know, but I do know this bottom exercise will blow-out your knees.
Anyway, as I said, I'm not thinking about weight--
I'm thinking about getting stronger again:
that makes me nothing but happy!
Even after two light work-outs last week, I feel stronger.
To some extent, it doesn't matter if I love this trainer or not, so long as she helps me get going and stay going.
My related goal: not getting injured!. I've been moving with more intention at work, keeping body mechanics more in mind. I've been pretty slack about that and am lucky I haven't hurt myself.
I want my job to build me up, not wear me down.
I kind of want this T-shirt to wear to the gym:
I'm not sure she's the right one for me––she's rather chilly––but she said I can switch trainers if I want.
I'll give this my best effort.
I love these exercise illustrations from The Weigh of All Flesh, Handy Aid Book, 1953 (from the store). This cutey looks like Baymax, "your personal healthcare companion" in Big Hero 6.
"Success in the management of weight demands your intelligent cooperation."
Intelligent cooperation. I like that.
But "Appetite depressants prescribed by your physician are helpful..."?
Well, yeah, amphetamines do suppress appetite, and OxyContin is helpful for pain.
Anyway, I'm not thinking about weight--the topic is too emotionally loaded. It was a weapon of shame and control used against me, NOT in service of health, and I try to forget about it.
It pisses me off to have to admit it's been one of the most painful topics in my life.
And it extra–pisses me off to know that I am far, far from alone in this. Feeling crazy and bad about your body is practically normal in my culture.
Like, isn't this a creepy ad? (From a pharmaceutical company––surprise, surprise.) The young woman in her underwear is faceless, and the self-satisfied old man in a scientist outfit looks like someone who'd design a Stepford wife.
Huh--I looked up amphetamines and see that since 2015, some doctors again prescribe them for weight loss--just for 12 weeks, under supervision.
Maybe they are less drastic than weight-loss surgery?
I don't know, but I do know this bottom exercise will blow-out your knees.
Anyway, as I said, I'm not thinking about weight--I'm thinking about getting stronger again:
that makes me nothing but happy!
Even after two light work-outs last week, I feel stronger.
To some extent, it doesn't matter if I love this trainer or not, so long as she helps me get going and stay going.
My related goal: not getting injured!. I've been moving with more intention at work, keeping body mechanics more in mind. I've been pretty slack about that and am lucky I haven't hurt myself.
I want my job to build me up, not wear me down.
I kind of want this T-shirt to wear to the gym:
I do not know this Baymax character! But there IS a resemblance between him and the cartoon man in the book. I shudder to think of all the awful things people popped back in the day to make themselves drop the pounds.
ReplyDeleteYeah, and STILL pop—every so often there’s some new death from some pill...
DeleteI used to sneak my mom's Ayds (weight loss) "candies" when I was a kid. I just thought they were chocolate caramels. I was wondering what the drug in them was as I was writing this and found it was mostly stuff to numb your tastebuds so you wouldn't want to eat food. Came across this 30 second ad on youTube:
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/yfFs0o6pCxc
Shows how women's clothes sizing--and body image--has changed: at the end of the ad the woman says she loves being a size 10 again...now they'd probably get someone skinnier who'd say she was a size 4, or 2! (I think the woman looks like a modern size 6.)