193.5 - Wahoo! So that's a 2.5 lb loss from last week. Just as I thought, the 1 lb gain was water so I lost that and a another 1 1/2 lb. I'll definitely take it. Eating has been OK - not the best choices but trying to really watch the portions. No major PB issues since I've been back from my trip so that's been nice too. I have an appointment with the doc on Thursday and I am hoping for a small fill.
This past week, I did realize that I'm a stress eater. I don't want to say "emotional" eater because I don't find that I eat when I'm sad. I do celebrate with food but that's more just a habit. I had car problems last week (ugh) and dealing with the service center was...challenging. As I got angrier about the whole thing, I started grazing at work. I ate all. freaking. day. long. I seriously haven't grazed like that in FOREVER. As the day wound to a close, I looked back on my eating and thought, "WTF??? I'm not an emotional eater." And I'm not. I'm an angry eater. So there you go. Something to work on next time I'm feeling stressed or something really ticks me off.
News updates - I've seen all kinds of weight related news stories recently. It must be linked to all that New-Year-Get-Healthy psychosis I wrote about previously. So I thought I'd give you the links and my opinions on each.
Working Mothers to Blame for Childhood Obesity. OK...maybe I'm taking it too personally but the gist is that children with working mothers have higher BMI's than those with nonworking mothers. It goes on to follow the logical conclusion that working mothers have less time to prepare nutritious home cooked meals and pack healthy lunches, etc. As a working mother, I can't argue with any of that. I'm not nearly as good about it as I should be. Luckily, I have a hubby who is an equal partner in the child rearing. He makes sure our daughter gets a healthy lunch every day and we work together to try to put healthy dinners on the table at night. However, what disturbed me most about this study is that it never mentions Dad's role in the whole thing. Why is raising your child to be healthy solely a mother's responsibility? I think it was an interesting study but found the sexism appalling. I also found it annoying that they don't offer any suggestions. It basically says "Mothers...you're not doing your job so you better step up." Maybe it should talk about all the poor food options available at schools these days or how much more expensive it is to buy fresh produce as opposed to fruit snacks in the supermarket.
OK...one thing I cannot stand about women who are also mothers is the Mommy Wars. You other moms know exactly what I'm talking about and we're probably all guilty of it to some degree. It's these fights that mothers start amongst themselves about how breast is best, formula is fantastic, kiddie yoga rocks, baby sign language is the best/worst thing since sliced bread, etc. And for some reason, some women feel compelled to fight to the death about these issues. The media doesn't help. This article talks about a study the links formula fed babies/early solid babies to obesity. For the record, I breastfed both my girls for the first few months and then went to formula when I went back to work (so everyone knows where I'm coming from on this). OK...first this article provides very little information about the study itself (how many people were studied, for how long, the methods, etc.) That always bugs me. I need data people! They offer only one possible reason for why formula fed babies would be heavier...that breastfeeding moms stop feeding their kids when they're full as opposed to formula fed mommies who encourage infants to finish the bottle regardless. I'm willing to say that it's a plausible explanation but I know when my kids were done with their bottle, there was no way I could get them to take more. They would clam up and keep pushing it away. What bugs me is that they throw this story out there with very little back up but there are some over-eager La Leche League members who will take it as the bible and use to it make moms who want to formula feed feel guilty. Bah!
Disclaimer about LLL - I know they're a wonderful resource that provides a lot of support to breast feeding women but I also know of some militant members of this organization that seem to have a whole other agenda.
WLS May Be Good For Your Heart. I'm sure this would come as no surprise to most people who follow this little blog of mine but this little gem of a study links to Gastric Bypass to improvement in heart function in obese people. They ramble on for a good bit talking about the link between obesity and heart disease (and other ailments - a.k.a comorbidities) and then make the obvious link between gastric bypass that allows people to lose the excess weight and improvement in key vital statistics. This must have been in the "DUH" section of the paper. "This just in: Not being overweight may improve your health! Tune in at 11!" Here's what especially irks me about this one though - "More research is needed" was added to the headline of this article. The caveat, obviously, is can people retain this weight loss over time. Again, thanks for stating the obvious. People are so hell bent on painting WLS to be a bad thing or a "lazy man's way" that they can't even accept the obvious benefits it offers to a lot of people. I guarantee if the study were something like "Exercise and healthy diet increases heart efficiency," there would be no disclaimer at the end about "further research needed. How many of people who have lost weight the "traditional way" have kept it off? Statistics aren't inspiring. There are a few that have. My BFF is one of them. She's done fantastic...surgery free. Not everyone is so lucky. I'm just getting really sick of the judgment there.
So that's my look at the news. A few stories that just jumped out at me and I felt the need to ramble about them. I haven't worked out in about a week. I was so proud of myself for working out while I was on my cruise and then I came back and turned into a slug. Getting back into my 5k training this week though. I gotta keep pushing on. Tonight, I'm going to my grandmothers 90th birthday dinner. 90 years...can you believe it? She's a bit nuts these days (don't feel bad - she's always been a bit looney) but just think of all she's seen. She came over from Germany when she was a teenager...she was actually part of the whole German Youth Movement type thing so, needless to say, she's got some interesting views on things.
Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. If you're a Packers fan, congrats! If not, sorry for your loss. I hope everyone was able to hold out on the Super Bowl munchies as much as possible. If you did, you're a winner regardless of which team you were rooting for.
