Category Archives: Overweight and Obesity
Fat Acceptance and Arthritis
What Is Fat Acceptance?
Fat Acceptance is a social movement, that promotes changing cultural attitudes, towards overweight and obese people.
Other names for fat acceptance is fat liberation, fat power, big is beautiful, and health at every size.
Advocates of fat acceptance want to change the collective bias about overweight people. They believe that health is independent of body weight.
In February 2016, fashion model, Cheryl Tiegs was criticized, and subsequently apologized, for her comments about Sports Illustrated full-figure cover model Ashley Graham, who at 5’9″, weighs 182 pounds.
Tiegs quoted Dr. Oz, that being over-sized isn’t healthy in the long run.
Fat Acceptance Is Medically Unsound
The outcomes of excess fat aren’t glamorous. Medical studies have shown that overweight and obesity are risk factors for chronic, and sometimes life-threatening diseases such as:
- Cancer
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis and Obesity
Excess weight causes a break down in joint cartilage, causing
pain, swelling, and problems moving the joint. Cartilage provides cushioning between the bones. In osteoarthritis, bone rubs against bone, creating joint damage and more pain.
Eventually a doctor will give an obese patient bad news about the effects of carrying around excess weight. An overweight person can expect any or all of the following conditions:
- A knee or hip replacement
- Ruptured spinal discs
- Pain medication
- Decline in quality of life
- Loss of balance
- Back ache
Facts About Obesity and Arthritis
- Being only 10 pounds overweight increases the force on the knee by 30-60 pounds with each step.
- Overweight women have nearly 4 times the risk of knee osteoarthritis. For overweight men, the risk is 5 times greater.
- Even small amounts of weight loss reduces the risk of developing knee osteoarthritis.
- A person who is 100 pounds overweight, puts 400 extra pounds of pressure on their knees.
- The more weight on your joints, the greater the chances of cartilage breakdown, and premature damage to the knees, hips and lumbar spine.
Irene Pastore is a native New Yorker, health and fitness blogger, and personal trainer. Irene owns this website, and writes all the blog posts. For her complete bio, visit the About Page.
Copyright 2016 Irene Pastore and Tour De Core.com
Motivated Guy From Virginia Loses 166 Pounds
BEFORE
One Man Decided That Fat Isn’t Acceptable
Austin Shifflett, a 22-year-old man from Charlottesville, Virginia, lost 166 pounds, by changing his diet, and starting an exercise program. While he found comfort in eating junk food, his weight ballooned up to 324 pounds.
AFTER
He became tired of being bullied about his appearance and decided to take action. His weight loss method was the Atkins Diet, a low carb, high protein regimen. Through diligence, he made a miraculous transition, and now weighs in at 158 pounds.
Here are more weight-loss articles, to get you motivated. Weight-Loss Motivation. Weight-Loss And Common Sense. 90 Inspiring Weight-Loss Stories. Confused About Calories? Most People Are. 20 Low-Impact Calorie-Burning Exercises.
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Irene Pastore is a native New Yorker, health and fitness blogger, and personal trainer. Irene owns this website, and writes all the blog posts. For her complete bio, visit the About Page.
Copyright 2016 Irene Pastore and Tour De Core.com
A Teaspoon of Sugar: A Mountain of Cravings
Are you craving the taste of sweet food? Do you continue to eat even after you’re full?
If you can’t stop eating food with added sugar, you need to cut down, or eliminate it.
Sugar is difficult to avoid. It’s added to most packaged, restaurant and fast food.
Kick The Sugar Habit
Get rid of the food that makes you crave. Have a mango, instead of ice cream. Replace ketchup with a slice of tomato.
Mangoes are a tropical fruit that provide a healthy source of natural sugar. They are low in calories, contain vitamin A, vitamin C, antioxidants, and flavonoids.
Add More Fiber
Replace sugary food with fruits, and veggies. Eating more produce adds fiber to your diet, improving digestion, and elimination. As long as you drink plenty of water, you won’t need laxatives, when your diet is high in fiber.
Fresh fruit and vegetables make you feel full because of their fiber content. Known as roughage or bulk, fiber isn’t digested or absorbed.
Read food labels for added sugar.
When you eat food with added sugar, you’re ingesting calories from the sugar, plus the calories from the food itself.
Eliminate Packaged Food With Added Sugar
If you buy packaged food, read the label to find out if it contains added sugar. A few examples are canned fruit, tomato sauce, frozen food, and condiments such as ketchup.
Sugar Cravings May Cause Overeating
Some sugars have more calories than others, some have trace minerals, some are lower glycemic. Xylitol has fewer calories per teaspoon than sucrose, but its sweet flavor, may cause overeating.
Avoid Overweight and Obesity
Health benefits in honey, or maple syrup are of little value, if you experience cravings for more of the sweet stuff. Overeating leads to overweight, and obesity.
Copyright 2013 Irene Pastore and Blue Moon Personal Training
400 Pound Woman Gets Skinny
Before at 400 and after at 152 pounds.
Are you stuck in a rut about losing weight? Do you think it’s impossible to shed fat, especially if you weigh hundreds of pounds over your normal limit?
I’ve got news for you, there are plenty of people in your boat.
Many of them reached a breaking point, and made the decision to turn their lives around.
For some the tipping point is fear, for others it’s a medical scare, and others are literally sick and tired of being fat.
Here’s a news story about 49 year-old wheel-chair bound Theresa Borawski, who weighed over 400 pounds before deciding to change her eating habits, and lost 276 pounds in the process.
Her method was cutting back on calories, and eliminating junk food. Theresa got down to 152 pounds, and no longer needs a wheel chair or cane for mobility. Her blood pressure has stabilized, and her medications have been reduced.
If she can do it, so can you. Read the entire story at Huffington Post.
Copyright 2013 Irene Pastore and Blue Moon Personal Training
Citi Bike Coming To New York City
Bike Share Docking Stations Go Up in Manhattan
Effective May 2013, a bike sharing service is coming to the Big Apple. Citi Bike, the provider for the new program, says their bikes are rugged 3 speed cruisers, with sturdy aluminum frames, and durable tires.
CITI BIKE
Across Manhattan bike share docking stations are being installed.
330 docking stations will open in Brooklyn and Manhattan, to be filled with 6,000 share bicycles.
Bad News For Obese Riders
The bikes carry a limit of 260 pounds, and anyone who exceeds that amount, cannot use the program. ABC News reports on this story, ‘NYC Bike-Share Program Bans Obese Riders.’ and the New York Daily News, ‘Bike-Share Ban.’
Convenient and Inexpensive Transportation
Citi Bike is New York City’s next public transportation system, that will provide convenient and inexpensive mobility 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.
The DOT has built 200 bike lane miles in all five boroughs, and commuter cycling has more than doubled in New York City since 2005.
Copyright 2013 Irene Pastore and Blue Moon Personal Training
