I spotted a news story today ... which isn't too unusual. I keep an eye on what the world is up to, usually so I get fair warning if the paranoia turns out right and the world sends a curveball my way.
This wasn't that but the story touched a nerve anyway. What was it ? Here's a link. It's a BBC story, so your credibility-challenged alarm is already going off but take a peek. It's about a health warning issued about the rise of selfie pictures being taken on the internet.
Ok, what's so strange about that ?
I didn't find the subject matter particularly puzzling. The question of self image has been paramount throughout history. It's only recently though that the camera has mercilessly shown the truth of what we look like. At least, the camera combined with our own tendency to self criticise.
But I'll come back to that. What I found puzzling was the scope of the research. 881 people questioned, all women. While not wanting to appear as sexist as that selection, it's not just the ladies who have self image consciousness, it's us blokes too.
We all want six packs. We all want to look like the guys on the telly. We want that strong jaw and that corded rippling bicep. Actually, my reaction to what I see with the guys on telly could be seen as being a little gay. That is, if the reaction was "I wanna be with him." It's not, it's a "I wanna be him cos that's what the ladies seem to like" reaction.
We all tend to want to look like something different. And the selfie doesn't help there ...
The thing about the selfie is that it's a picture typically taken from a very short distance. The camera lens is particularly unkind over that distance and we rarely get that person making us do that chuckle with a "cheese!" which brightens up the pic. There's a couple of pictures I took of myself in my Atomic Hat which I don't like to show people. But I do because I find it funny to say "This hat so bright, this night time pic did not need flash"
I've mentioned before that I'm on the Okcupid site - I found it very difficult to find a profile pic for myself there. Selfie pictures tended to be pretty nasty. I did get one eventually, it's one taken as Lords on a sunny day with me in Smart Stuff (doesn't happen often outside work) grinning away from the top of the Pavilion. I think it's got me a few peeks there, although not as many as I'd like.
But yeah - the selfie. It's one of those modern things that now we have cameras which have instant internet connectivity thanks to being in our phones, it spawns a new craze that the rest of us are expected to join in with.
However ... the ones that will dominate are the ones taken by those with most confidence to show themselves off. I'll admit right now, I'm not one of those people. And seeing pictures that make me look chubby makes me feel bad. I bet it makes the rest of you feel bad too.
My opinion of what I look like - chubby because I know what's hidden under the t-shirt
What people may think I look like - broad shouldered and probably a strong build (cos I engineer my posture that way).
I'm curious actually to know what people think of how I look. I just see the photos/pictures and think "need to lose weight". And I do ... but not as much as I think I need to lose. The more weight I carry, the less speed I have and the more unpleasantness from acid I suffer. That's my primary motivation for not getting too heavy. I could have a few targets for my 5 feet 8 inches :
14stone - a Strong weight. It's what I am now. If I converted the excess ballast to muscle, I'd be a powerhouse. Do I want to be ? Nah. I wouldn't have Warp Speed and there's only so much you can do with Popeye Arms.
13stone - a Fit weight. When I get down to this, I still carry a little ballast cos my arms are spindly but I have WARP SPEED and some strength.
12stone - is probably what I should be. However ... I carry all that leg muscle around which tips me into heavier territory. 12st might be a decent weight for me, I'd have Warp Speed plus agility but I'd probably not have much core strength.
What does Science say ? I just did a WTF at seeing what Body Mass Index recommends for my height - 8st 10lb to 11st11lb. That 11st 11 ain't too far fetched, it's a strong weight for someone who hasn't got the tree trunk legs I can get. When I got heavily into cricket, I filled out from 9st very thin into 11-12st broader shouldered. That was from age 14 to 18 though, so I had a lot of natural growing to do anyway.
But - 8st 10 ? I have to admit, I saw a few gamer boys at EGXRezzed who were probably my height and that spindly weight but I didn't want to be them. They looked like half starved bags of bones and that weight was probably causing them malnutrition type problems. (Although you do get the ones genetically pre-disposed to being ultra-thin and tall)
The key thing isn't weight, or height. It's confidence.
Confidence can turn the otherwise plain into creatures of total beauty. Lack of confidence puts a wall up that hides that natural beauty.
We all have that natural beauty, we just tend to hide it behind a lack of self belief. And that's made worse by seeing pictures of people who we'd like to look like. Me with a sixpack ? Don't think that's ever happened ! Although I bet it could given a breaking of the biscuit addiction and some concentrated exercise. I do tend to lose that Warp Speed if I exercise though.
I think that's another of my quirks. I can see that hidden beauty in people. I occasionally help bring it out when people spot me sending The Grin their way.
I'll close there but not without a message to everyone who's borne with me and read this far.
You're GORGEOUS. Yes YOU ! You don't think so ? Well, there's someone here who thinks you're the most beautiful thing on the planet. You just need to trust me, have confidence and believe it.
Showing posts with label flab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flab. Show all posts
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Windy Weighty Fit Women
And of course, the women in question are definitely not weighty, dunno if they've been on the beans jet propulsion diet but they're most certainly as fit as they come.
In reverse order !
Just finished watching the women's road cycling race, which was pretty awesome. After yesterday's men's race was a case of the Brits saying they'd won the race before the start and then all the other teams leaving it to the Brits to chase down the getaways, the women's race today was far more exciting.
The attitude of the field yesterday was pretty disappointing. There'd been an early getaway of a reasonable group of riders. Usually, the field would chase them down before the gap became decisive. However ... due to the form being shown by the Brit men and their declared aim of pushing Mark Cavendish to the win, everyone left it to the Brits to chase down the breakaway. That's like saying : "We're more interested in you NOT getting a medal than we are in getting a medal ourselves". Self inflicted wounds and it made for a not particularly exciting race where most of the field was there just to make up the numbers.
The women's race today was completely different. We were seeing attempts at breakaway attacks all the way through, where small groups attempted to get away from the pack. Each time it was "can they keep the gap, will they stay away?" and that kept on going right until the last climb of Box Hill where a group of 4 managed to make a decisive escape.
Including a Brit girl - Lizzie Armitstead. Go Lizzie !
And you can probably guess that the excitement level here was ramping up considerably at the prospect of us getting our first medal of the games. The gap kept on stretching gradually, even after the group of 4 diminished to just 3. Would they keep the gap ? What order would they finish in ? Would our girl get a gold medal ?
I won't put the result here but I will say - the group of 3 kept their advantage all the way to the finish and Brits have their first medal of the games. Great stuff.
Fit ?
The stiffness and damage from Wednesday are wearing off :-) Legs are still a bit stiff but I'd consider them ready for action again. The back needs a few more days though. Because of the way my body is set up, I'm suited for explosive stuff instead of endurance. My endurance is actually not that great, except when the stubbornness kicks in to let me block all pain and Not Give Up. Anyway - that explosiveness setup means my muscles produce a lot of lactic acid, which is where the stiffness comes from.
If I've not been running around for a while (I blame British Summer!), it can take around 3 days for my legs to get ready for action again. I'm not 100% yet but they're pretty close. At this rate, if the cricket skipper phones me up on Thursday, I'll be able to play :-). Depends on my back and the impact damage on my thumb.
So yeah - damage that meant I was in lots of pain on Thursday and Friday is diminishing to the point where the rational "you're too broken" is struggling to contain the hyperactive "I WANNA RUN" :-)
Weighty ?
One comment from Wednesday's game was that with the heat, I should have lost another stone from being under the helmet all the way through our fielding. Yeah - it was hot and I sweated buckets, so much it was getting into my eyes (ugh). There's a team picture out there with me under the Pink Hat, no way I was getting photographed without a hat having sweated that much !
But - if you're on an exercise based diet and you get on the scales after exercise to find that you've put weight on, Don't Get Discouraged. Instead of losing that 1 stone over the game, I actually gained about 5 lbs. And (I think!) it comes from that lactic acid I mentioned up above. It took a few days for that to get metabolised but now that it has, I'm back down to 12.5st.
Exercise and sweat does not necessarily mean loss of weight. For me, I'm much more careful now with my pre and post match intake so that sweat thing isn't a factor. I've injured my legs a huge amount over the years with cramp, so I make sure my water intake balances the sweating to reduce the potential of damaging cramp.
So - you're trying to lose weight, you do the "right thing" of exercising, you get on the scales to find out you've gained weight. Don't Be Discouraged !!!!! Our bodies work by very rational methods, there will be a good reason why the weight has gone on. With me, it's because the lactic acid gets in my muscles and makes them heavy.
Weight loss is not a battle, it's a long war. If you're exercising, you're helping yourself out in that long war. Keep it going. It'll be worth it. And you'll feel better for the exercise too.
Windy ?
I've switched over to the sailing - at the moment it's a Star race. That's with a 2 man boat, big sail still because they have a keel and the guys appear to be hanging more off the boat than on. I've always been interested in sailing, since reading Anne McCaffrey writing about it in Dragonsong (Julianne Regan is my voice of Menolly). Sailing is a battle of finding best advantage out of something invisible and barely predictable - the wind. Which ever sailor picks the best place to be to gain the most out of unpredictable air currents will win the race.
Always been interested but not had the chance to give it a go. I'm looking forward to the next Vendee Globe single handed non stop round the world race too, that was fascinating last time round.
In reverse order !
Just finished watching the women's road cycling race, which was pretty awesome. After yesterday's men's race was a case of the Brits saying they'd won the race before the start and then all the other teams leaving it to the Brits to chase down the getaways, the women's race today was far more exciting.
The attitude of the field yesterday was pretty disappointing. There'd been an early getaway of a reasonable group of riders. Usually, the field would chase them down before the gap became decisive. However ... due to the form being shown by the Brit men and their declared aim of pushing Mark Cavendish to the win, everyone left it to the Brits to chase down the breakaway. That's like saying : "We're more interested in you NOT getting a medal than we are in getting a medal ourselves". Self inflicted wounds and it made for a not particularly exciting race where most of the field was there just to make up the numbers.
The women's race today was completely different. We were seeing attempts at breakaway attacks all the way through, where small groups attempted to get away from the pack. Each time it was "can they keep the gap, will they stay away?" and that kept on going right until the last climb of Box Hill where a group of 4 managed to make a decisive escape.
Including a Brit girl - Lizzie Armitstead. Go Lizzie !
And you can probably guess that the excitement level here was ramping up considerably at the prospect of us getting our first medal of the games. The gap kept on stretching gradually, even after the group of 4 diminished to just 3. Would they keep the gap ? What order would they finish in ? Would our girl get a gold medal ?
I won't put the result here but I will say - the group of 3 kept their advantage all the way to the finish and Brits have their first medal of the games. Great stuff.
Fit ?
The stiffness and damage from Wednesday are wearing off :-) Legs are still a bit stiff but I'd consider them ready for action again. The back needs a few more days though. Because of the way my body is set up, I'm suited for explosive stuff instead of endurance. My endurance is actually not that great, except when the stubbornness kicks in to let me block all pain and Not Give Up. Anyway - that explosiveness setup means my muscles produce a lot of lactic acid, which is where the stiffness comes from.
If I've not been running around for a while (I blame British Summer!), it can take around 3 days for my legs to get ready for action again. I'm not 100% yet but they're pretty close. At this rate, if the cricket skipper phones me up on Thursday, I'll be able to play :-). Depends on my back and the impact damage on my thumb.
So yeah - damage that meant I was in lots of pain on Thursday and Friday is diminishing to the point where the rational "you're too broken" is struggling to contain the hyperactive "I WANNA RUN" :-)
Weighty ?
One comment from Wednesday's game was that with the heat, I should have lost another stone from being under the helmet all the way through our fielding. Yeah - it was hot and I sweated buckets, so much it was getting into my eyes (ugh). There's a team picture out there with me under the Pink Hat, no way I was getting photographed without a hat having sweated that much !
But - if you're on an exercise based diet and you get on the scales after exercise to find that you've put weight on, Don't Get Discouraged. Instead of losing that 1 stone over the game, I actually gained about 5 lbs. And (I think!) it comes from that lactic acid I mentioned up above. It took a few days for that to get metabolised but now that it has, I'm back down to 12.5st.
Exercise and sweat does not necessarily mean loss of weight. For me, I'm much more careful now with my pre and post match intake so that sweat thing isn't a factor. I've injured my legs a huge amount over the years with cramp, so I make sure my water intake balances the sweating to reduce the potential of damaging cramp.
So - you're trying to lose weight, you do the "right thing" of exercising, you get on the scales to find out you've gained weight. Don't Be Discouraged !!!!! Our bodies work by very rational methods, there will be a good reason why the weight has gone on. With me, it's because the lactic acid gets in my muscles and makes them heavy.
Weight loss is not a battle, it's a long war. If you're exercising, you're helping yourself out in that long war. Keep it going. It'll be worth it. And you'll feel better for the exercise too.
Windy ?
I've switched over to the sailing - at the moment it's a Star race. That's with a 2 man boat, big sail still because they have a keel and the guys appear to be hanging more off the boat than on. I've always been interested in sailing, since reading Anne McCaffrey writing about it in Dragonsong (Julianne Regan is my voice of Menolly). Sailing is a battle of finding best advantage out of something invisible and barely predictable - the wind. Which ever sailor picks the best place to be to gain the most out of unpredictable air currents will win the race.
Always been interested but not had the chance to give it a go. I'm looking forward to the next Vendee Globe single handed non stop round the world race too, that was fascinating last time round.
Monday, April 09, 2012
Easter Bunny
Muahaha
Yum.
Still happy with the diet actually (it has a minimal amount of bunny). I've been going between 13st dead and 13st 2 over the past few days. So despite (or perhaps being able to) doing a bit of the snacking again, I've maintained or lost a little. That 13st is actually one of my target weights but for a different shape than I am now :
Target 11 st - for my current upper body strength
Target 13 st - for a stronger upper body
Actually, 11st would probably be a little too light with my legs, they're already losing a bit of their mass. Still, those power legs are still conditioned for me being a stone heavier than I now am which means happy days as I'm more nimble than I've been for ages. And they're behaving themselves too, with much less tendency to cramp than I had a couple of months ago so my minerals are more in balance.
Yep - happy with how that diet's going at the moment. I don't think I'll ever go back to a washboard stomach* but this diet is all about keeping the discipline together on trying to settle into a new pattern of munching centred around "only eat while hungry". With Easter Eggs, I used to just demolish them immediately. Now I'm gobbling up a third or a quarter and then putting it back in the fridge for later. Progress !
*Washboard stomach - last time I had one of these was at uni. I'd been living off campus, biking in every day. By the time nets started up for cricket, I actually had stomach muscles. I'd never had them before ! So there I go into bowling practice, first ball goes down and those stomach muscles start firing ... At random. Like totally uncontrollable and the ball was going Everywhere :-).
I figured it out after a few sessions but didn't get the chance to try it in a match that year as that was the year when I killed my shoulder. The injury I got seemed minor at the time but 3 weeks later I found out I'd actually dislocated it (I don't feel pain right, so the signals I had only came when I tried picking things up with my right arm) and after half a season of cricket I found I had a torn rotator cuff. I shrugged, thought that doesn't mean much but then saw some baseball commentary where a pitcher with the same injury was scrubbed for 18 months, if he could come back at all.
Scary.
And it was the end of me playing cricket at uni (except for a staff vs students game where I kept wicket and dislocated both thumbs temporarily). After that, cricket opportunities were hard to come by as I was bouncing around the country on different placements for a couple of years. But I did get the chance to earn another trophy (actually a picture) with a team in Farnborough who I pushed from perennial 3rd/4th to winning their cup.
And I've Wall Of Texted again on something completely unrelated to the original theme.
Supply shopping soon - spookily around the time when the Easter eggs are reduced to clear. I'll have to go in to pick up more Flora and bear absolutely no responsibility for any Easter eggs that may escape the shop in my bags ...
Still happy with the diet actually (it has a minimal amount of bunny). I've been going between 13st dead and 13st 2 over the past few days. So despite (or perhaps being able to) doing a bit of the snacking again, I've maintained or lost a little. That 13st is actually one of my target weights but for a different shape than I am now :
Target 11 st - for my current upper body strength
Target 13 st - for a stronger upper body
Actually, 11st would probably be a little too light with my legs, they're already losing a bit of their mass. Still, those power legs are still conditioned for me being a stone heavier than I now am which means happy days as I'm more nimble than I've been for ages. And they're behaving themselves too, with much less tendency to cramp than I had a couple of months ago so my minerals are more in balance.
Yep - happy with how that diet's going at the moment. I don't think I'll ever go back to a washboard stomach* but this diet is all about keeping the discipline together on trying to settle into a new pattern of munching centred around "only eat while hungry". With Easter Eggs, I used to just demolish them immediately. Now I'm gobbling up a third or a quarter and then putting it back in the fridge for later. Progress !
*Washboard stomach - last time I had one of these was at uni. I'd been living off campus, biking in every day. By the time nets started up for cricket, I actually had stomach muscles. I'd never had them before ! So there I go into bowling practice, first ball goes down and those stomach muscles start firing ... At random. Like totally uncontrollable and the ball was going Everywhere :-).
I figured it out after a few sessions but didn't get the chance to try it in a match that year as that was the year when I killed my shoulder. The injury I got seemed minor at the time but 3 weeks later I found out I'd actually dislocated it (I don't feel pain right, so the signals I had only came when I tried picking things up with my right arm) and after half a season of cricket I found I had a torn rotator cuff. I shrugged, thought that doesn't mean much but then saw some baseball commentary where a pitcher with the same injury was scrubbed for 18 months, if he could come back at all.
Scary.
And it was the end of me playing cricket at uni (except for a staff vs students game where I kept wicket and dislocated both thumbs temporarily). After that, cricket opportunities were hard to come by as I was bouncing around the country on different placements for a couple of years. But I did get the chance to earn another trophy (actually a picture) with a team in Farnborough who I pushed from perennial 3rd/4th to winning their cup.
And I've Wall Of Texted again on something completely unrelated to the original theme.
Supply shopping soon - spookily around the time when the Easter eggs are reduced to clear. I'll have to go in to pick up more Flora and bear absolutely no responsibility for any Easter eggs that may escape the shop in my bags ...
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Turning back the clock
I started to break my lazy ways tonight, by appearing at the open badminton session that's available at work on Wednesdays. It's a 2 hour session and we have 4 courts available. We're hoping to have coaching again later in the year too. 2 hours is a bit more than I can handle at the moment, as I was quickly feeling the effects of having not done very much over the last couple of years.
Talk about slow ! I quickly felt like I had concrete injected into my legs and could barely jump cos of the ballast around my middle !
Verrry, very rusty. But :-) Having a pretty girl there meant there was someone to show off to, which always keeps me going when otherwise I'd look for a break. Going for a sidestep left caused my left knee to go "crunch", despite the knee supports I use nowadays. (They're more padding than support ;-) Saying "I better stop" after that crunch would have made turning up a bit pointless, so I kept on going. Besides, there was pretty girl on the other side of the net who would have had a disappointed expression on her face if I'd quit then. Can't have one of those appearing :-)
Showing off can be a motivator as well as a vanity thing :-)
The rust showed in the results, my side lost pretty much every game. I'm not too disappointed though, my muscles are complaining heavily now but have survived the night. I've not aggravated the shoulder injury and was feeling relatively free for playing the overhead shots (at medium to low power). It's a missed overhead shot that caused my shoulder problem in the first place.
The muscle memory was coming back near the end of the night, although the memory is expecting a me that's a couple of stone lighter with legs that are in far better shape. I still have the same size of leg but I get the feeling that half of what's there is deadweight instead of useful. That'll improve as I play more. The old saying is "can only improve from here !"
On to other stuff - I'm feeling human again and getting able to move my legs properly :-) Lactic acid build up doesn't do much for the mobility ...
I have the opening to my first story for the fiction blog outlined. It should be a fun setting, I'll have a bubbly girl as the central character, along with a big brute of a half orc who isn't as stupid as he looks. Let's just say the opening will have a god leching over bubblygirl who's in a haystack with someone ... Putting that "g" word in there (and the half orc) kinda gives it away that it'll be a D&D inspired fantasy setting. You can get away with almost as much in those as you can in sci-fi. I prefer sci-fi but it takes longer to explain things in those and I'm not ready for that just yet.
Stories coming soon :-) I have an outline for the first few chapters, including that haystack scene. Let's see where it goes from there ... She'll be avoiding haystacks by the way, a religious experience will settle her down a bit.
Talk about slow ! I quickly felt like I had concrete injected into my legs and could barely jump cos of the ballast around my middle !
Verrry, very rusty. But :-) Having a pretty girl there meant there was someone to show off to, which always keeps me going when otherwise I'd look for a break. Going for a sidestep left caused my left knee to go "crunch", despite the knee supports I use nowadays. (They're more padding than support ;-) Saying "I better stop" after that crunch would have made turning up a bit pointless, so I kept on going. Besides, there was pretty girl on the other side of the net who would have had a disappointed expression on her face if I'd quit then. Can't have one of those appearing :-)
Showing off can be a motivator as well as a vanity thing :-)
The rust showed in the results, my side lost pretty much every game. I'm not too disappointed though, my muscles are complaining heavily now but have survived the night. I've not aggravated the shoulder injury and was feeling relatively free for playing the overhead shots (at medium to low power). It's a missed overhead shot that caused my shoulder problem in the first place.
The muscle memory was coming back near the end of the night, although the memory is expecting a me that's a couple of stone lighter with legs that are in far better shape. I still have the same size of leg but I get the feeling that half of what's there is deadweight instead of useful. That'll improve as I play more. The old saying is "can only improve from here !"
On to other stuff - I'm feeling human again and getting able to move my legs properly :-) Lactic acid build up doesn't do much for the mobility ...
I have the opening to my first story for the fiction blog outlined. It should be a fun setting, I'll have a bubbly girl as the central character, along with a big brute of a half orc who isn't as stupid as he looks. Let's just say the opening will have a god leching over bubblygirl who's in a haystack with someone ... Putting that "g" word in there (and the half orc) kinda gives it away that it'll be a D&D inspired fantasy setting. You can get away with almost as much in those as you can in sci-fi. I prefer sci-fi but it takes longer to explain things in those and I'm not ready for that just yet.
Stories coming soon :-) I have an outline for the first few chapters, including that haystack scene. Let's see where it goes from there ... She'll be avoiding haystacks by the way, a religious experience will settle her down a bit.
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