I'm Doing Something Right

(As usual, this progress update will discuss weight, body fat percentage, diet, etc)

Last month, my InBody scan showed I'd lost weight, but it was mostly muscle. So for the last month, I've changed my approach. I stopped using Noom, which was starting to feel tedious. I let myself indulge. I enjoyed two Passover seders without a concern in the world. I added snacks back into my daily habits, ate Passover leftovers (including cake every night) and basically ate however I wanted. I tried to prioritize protein, but I didn't actually track it. My lower back was hurting so I skipped a few runs and workouts. 

And somehow, the  numbers on my InBody scan were...good.

The wake-up call

When I joined the gym back in September 2024, I didn't have a real goal in mind other than to build some muscle. In November, I got on board with my sister's goal to be in the best shape of our lives by 40. But it wasn't until late January that I finally realized I needed to do more than workout consistently: it was really time for me to take my diet into account.

And for the first time in my life, I'm doing it for the right reasons.

Warning: This blog post covers body image, weight, calorie counting, eating habits, and all the sensitive topics that come with all that.

Body Acceptance

I recently read an article that attempted - awkwardly and unsuccessfully - to promote "body acceptance". After some reflection, I think maybe the article itself wasn't the problem; my outlook is.

You see, there's a fine line between accepting your body and ignoring it. Or maybe I should say "neglecting" it. After a drastic rise in eating disorders in the 90s and early 2000s, partly (and superficially) blamed on the "heroin chic" look of models, we've finally come to a point when young women are encouraged to accept their bodies and treat them well.

This is the kind of body acceptance I can happily get behind.

And of course I'm delighted and supportive of this. Like many women - hell, like many human beings - eating disorders have touched my life in many ways. I don't write this with flippancy, and I don't take the issue lightly either.

But I am uncomfortable with the fact that suddenly any encouragement of healthy lifestyles seems to fall into one end of the spectrum or the other. We see women and men forcing themselves to exercise beyond what is necessary or deemed healthy; we also see them turning their back on any kind of self-improvement and hiding behind "body acceptance".

Should we accept our bodies? That shouldn't even be a question. Our bodies are fascinating machines; they work in ways that, to me, sometimes seem almost magical. It's mind-blowing to know the details of how our systems work to moderate our breathing, our temperature, our blood-flow, our energy...How can anyone look at the trillions of cells working in harmony to create a human body not find it miraculous?

Nature and its inner workings never fail to leave me awe-struck.

Our bodies are capable of amazing things. Running has taught me that. History has taught me that. We are physically able to do so much, and we are only here living our lives because we have a body to live in. Our bodies deserve to be treated well, taken care of, and respected. This means our bodies deserve exercise.

So why do I feel so uncomfortable with "body acceptance"? It's probably because these days that seems to be a euphemism for avoiding exercise. More and more I'm seeing this weird battle about what makes a woman a "real" woman. It started as a way to empower those that didn't fit the ideal, which is something like 95% of us. But it's become an "us vs. them" mentality. To hear the rhetoric, either you're thin, fit, and smug about it, or you're overweight, sassy, and proud.

Exactly. Whatever floats your boat, ladies and gentlemen.

Fat-shaming and prejudice is despicable, whether a person is fat due to simple inactivity and overeating or a glandular disorder. I believe in loving our bodies as they are; I also believe in self-improvement.

I believe in pushing yourself to see what you can really be. I believe in testing the paradigms we surround ourselves with in order to test and realign our world-view and our idea of "normal".

Why is this a desirable mindset?

There has to be a balance between accepting our bodies, loving our bodies, and improving our bodies.

This is the same reason I feel uncomfortable when people talk about exercise as a form of bodily punishment, as if their body is a disappointment or a wayward animal that needs to be brought to heel.

Exercise has taught me to love and accept my body, not because it has changed my body, but because it has changed my mind.

I'm afraid I've written this whole thing and have no answers for myself. How do we balance body acceptance and improvement? How do we seek to "fix" ourselves while still loving ourselves? Why does "body acceptance" have to mean neglecting making healthy exercise and food choices?

I don't think it should.

And because I believe in staying positive, and I need to remind myself that not everyone out there has such a skewed outlook on health and what bodies "should" look like, here are links to two excellent articles about bodies and weight.

The Different Body Types of Olympic Athletes

Female Bodies: A Weighty Issue

What does "body acceptance" mean to you?
What are your thoughts on finding balance?

ABK

Gear Report: Bracelets

It's been a long time since I've written a review of new products I'm trying, but over Christmas I received two I immediately wanted to talk about.

(I'll pause here to mention that all my runner friends, IRL and in blog-land, have gotten new Garmins, and I still don't have one! I am just sentimentally married to my Nike+ app, I guess, and a Garmin seems pricey and redundant. But I know if I had one, I'd fall in love. And even though I don't need one...man alive I'm jealous of all you lucky ducks!)

Check out that awesome blackout job I did in Paint.

The first bracelet is my Road ID. If you recall, Matt and I both won raffle prizes of gift certificates for Road IDs at our SUP n Run race. They were waiting for us in the mailbox when we got home from Christmas vacation.

Matt's Road ID is just a precaution because he doesn't have any medical conditions or allergies. Mine is a little more necessary, and it's insane that I haven't had one before now. As you can see, the etching is very clear and easy to read. I was able to list my allergies and chronic illnesses, name, birth year, and emergency contacts without any issues for space.

The packaging in minimal but hugely important.

I got the Wrist ID Slim in a small, and it's tight going over my hand but then fits perfectly on my weirdly tiny wrists.

The best thing about Road ID is the lifetime guarantee. As it states in the "manual" the bracelet comes with:

"If you are not satisfied with our products for any reason, simply return them for a full refund or exchange. NO QUESTIONS ASKED. Additionally, the laser engraved, stainless steel ID carries a LIFETIME GUARANTEE. If you are tough enough to wear it out, return it and we'll send you a new one."

To me, this is one of the biggest perks. Their customer service is really unbeatable.

I got the Road ID in red so that it's clearly recognized as a medical bracelet.

The second bracelet I received was a gift from my in-laws. I had mentioned on Thanksgiving, as I flipped through the various sale catalogs around the house, that I was interested in the Fit Bit Flex. Sure enough, Christmas morning rolls around and they had remembered!

I haven't had a chance to use some of the more detailed aspects of the Fit Bit yet, so this review is going to be surface-level. The Fit Bit is basically a glorified pedometer that also links to an app and allows you to track food and water consumption, sleep patterns, and activity levels.

Clearly I haven't really set it up yet, but here are all the features for tracking in the app.

One of the main attractions for me was the "silent alarm" feature. When you wear the Flex to bed, you can set an alarm and it wakes you up by vibrating. This is less jarring than a typical alarm, and allows for a more gradual and natural wake-up.

My favorite feature at this early-date is the "How did you sleep?" menu. Once the Flex has been put into "sleep mode", it tracks how often you move around. There are two settings for this, so you can have it set to "ultra sensitive" or "normal". I kept mine at normal, and this was my result from last night:

You can scroll along the lines to see what times you were "restless" and for how long. Although a normal clock would show that I slept 9 hours last night, the reality is that only 8 of those hours were quality sleep.

I'm hoping this feature really comes in handy when school starts back up, and that I'll begin to see a pattern between what I eat and when I eat and my sleep patterns. (Once I start logging food.) I also haven't taken it for a run yet, and I'm interested to see how it tracks my steps and miles.

My only concern is that the app is so detailed that I (and many women like me) may toe that slippery slope of tracking myself to a point of obsession. The more you use the Fit Bit, the more accurate it is. The biggest "con" I've noticed so far is that you need to go into the app to put in food/water consumption, so in a way it's just as inconvenient as any other calorie-tracking app when it comes to that aspect.

Other cool features: the Fit Bit Flex is 100% water resistant, so it's safe to use in the shower; you can buy bands in different colors; the original bracelet comes with two sizes in the box (I'm wearing the small size); and the app syncs wirelessly using BlueTooth and is designed for both Droid and iPhone.

Have you ever used the Fit Bit before?
Do you wear Road ID or another kind of emergency notification while running? The Road ID app is pretty awesome and free, but I always forget to turn it on before a run!
What fitness gifts did you receive for the holidays?

ABK