The Other F-Word

Okay, a confession.

One of the reasons I started up this blog is that I think it might motivate me to lose the 45 pounds I have gained since Christmas 2003. I figure that, if I share my figure issues, as well as my store of fitness and nutrition knowledge, we can do this together.

Or at least that's my hope. (Watch my video!)

Play video

The irony is, one of the reasons I put on those pounds is because I spent way too much time in this chair and at this computer. I should be hitting the treadmill, not the keyboard.

The other irony, I don't really NEED to lose weight. I am perfectly fit and healthy, with a good waist-to-hip ratio, a crazy low resting heart rate, the blood pressure of a teenager, excellent blood sugar, cholesterol and triglyceride levels and the ability to do non-stop full-body push-ups, jump squats and standing lunges for an hour -- and then go for a run.

Like too many other women, I hate the way I look.

Yet, 50,0000 years ago, I would have been a goddess, able to pump out those babies and easily skedaddle across the African plains behind the mammoth-hunting men and ahead of the people-eating predators.

But times and fashions change, and this is an era in which Jennifer Love Hewitt is FAT and Tyra Banks is FAT and Britney Spears is FAT and most of the internutters who attack women call me FAT (Look 'em up on the right-wing blogs) because being FAT is supposed to be so bad that girls would rather get hit by a truck than be FAT.

(More of my weighty thoughts here.)

To be honest, I think this obsession with weight keeps women down. We are so focussed on our butts, we can't concentrate on our careers or studies. We can't think straight because we're too goddamn hungry, or counting calories, or beating up on ourselves for eating that cookie.

Oh, of course there are FAT men too. But, unless they're walking cardiac arrests, fat guys get much more of a pass than fat women. How many blogs are devoted to men's bodies?

So why my New Year's resolution?

The truth is, my clothes are too tight and I can't afford to drop several thou on everything from new coats to new bras. Anyway, large size clothes for women look and feel like crap -- still -- and are overpriced. Plus my joints are not getting any younger. I don't want to join that long waiting list for knee surgery.

Finally, it's really not healthy for me to sit here all the live long day.

Big bottom line: The scale going up is getting me down.

So here I am. Broadsides, and broad all over.

But, this year, that's going to change.

Right?

Hey, what are YOU doing at the computer? Get up! Get out! Get moving!

But first, let me know what you think.

UPPITY DATE (4/1/08): Uh-oh. I may need to lose 50 pounds. I have yet to weigh myself post-holiday. Today's the official start date!

Comments

[Shaunna aka Shrunk]

I am so happy that you posted this Antonia. You already know that I'm a fan, but this post really hit home for me. I am slacking off lately and being lazy. I'm still journalling my food intake, but I'm not caring when I go over what I should in a day (like right now). I haven't stepped foot in a gym in almost 2 months. I know it's only a matter of time and my weight will start to creep up! I don't want to suddenly realize I'm 50 lbs above goal and my clothes no longer fit. I need to nip this in the bud NOW before it's too late.

Thanks for the motivation. Tomorrow is a new day, and a fresh start. Off to the gym I go!

[Steven Kas]

Hello,Antonia!

Welcome back! It's your life, your body... You say, you are healthy? So, it's vanity!!!
I bet, you will be inspiration to many, you are a hell of a good writer. Pity the subbject is not on my list of "must read". I still belive you are wasting you talent, and your editors are nuts.(cowards) You are a fighter, you deserve a better, bigger cause.
But I'm happy for you.

All the best for the new year.
Steven

[j.b.]

I feel the same deep sadness that you express regarding the FAT issue and our societies ever growing obsession with celebrities becoming "fat". I'm not sure you can blame a 'male dominated' patriarchy for this one though. The last time I checked not too many men bought those gossip rags or watched the 'entertainment' shows that perpetuate this FAT myth. In fact, most men I know quite prefer a little more curves on a woman. I'm pretty sure that if you did a poll of men, they would take Tyra or Beyonce over Kate Moss or Kate Bosworth (what's with the name Kate?) anyday! I'm not trying to objectify women, but I am trying to say that bone-thin is not "in".

[Mother of the Groom]

Okay, so I have motivation. My son's wedding is in October and my weight loss goal is similar to yours and so is my weight loss story.

I didn't want this to be a cliched resolution...no offense to you of course. But since my son was engaged in late November, it only seemed sane to wait till January.

The one thing I have promised myself is that my objective to lose weight and become fit does not define me. I refuse to let this goal become an obsession and usurp every conversation and acitivity I engage in. I want it to run silent and run deep. It's between me and my middle aged belly fat. But I'll be following your blog, for motivation and a sense of commraderie...I wish you well Antonia.

[Doris Prenninger]

You go girl! I am a huge fan of yours, even though I moved from Ontario 5 years ago, I still read the Star online every morning. I look forward to this blog and wish you all the sucess for 2008! You have inspired me to get on the treadmill this morning.

[Bruce Gilchrist]

Hi Antonia
I've always loved your writing and I'm glad you've started this blog. I am also trying to lose weight-about 60 pounds for health and especially esthetic reasons and I'm male! Of course the misogynistic patriarchal media is much harsher on females for perceived deviance's from the appearance norm. Unfortunately females are also part of this problem as well as you probably know. I don't think we can under estimate the reservoir of hostility towards woman that many males carry around with them. This problem is the most important issue facing human kind in my opinion because I believe all other problems flow from it including our relationship with the environment, terror, violence and poverty.

[Stephen Scullion]

You look fine-but if you are going to lose weight, what specific strategies are you going to use to fight two difficult reasons that you refer to as causing your weight gain i.e. medication and time on the computer? For your general health and your profession, must these issues not continue?

[Sakkara]

Thank you so much, Antonia. This is just excellent. I find myself in a similar position. I went back to do a graduate degree and found myself sitting long days and nights in front of a computer. I also was living with relatives at the time who had poor eating habits. I too, fell into the routine of just eating anything to get by and not have to distract me from my studies.

So here I stand (or sit) with about the same amount of weight to lose. My strategies include joining the Weight Watchers online programme as well as getting more exercise. It's a start and one that's doable.

Bless you for sharing with us. It makes you more accountable and inspires others. You and I shall both lose our weight and feel back to our sexy selves!

Happy New Year!

[Maria]

Welcome back. I am not updating that often but I still keep the blog. It now moved to its own URL address.
OK, so next time instead of going somewhere for dinner we can get together at my place and I'll make a low calorie meal for both of us, what about that?

[mousearoo]

You're too much!
Love the clip, but I've seen you at the gym - you're not that gleeful!

I admit that I started to lose weight for health reasons, but now worry more about how I look in clothes as the doctors have told me I'm perfectly healthy. Vanity always rears its ugly head, as does the cellulite on my arse.

Can't wait to read more :)

[Eric]

Hi Antonia,

Greetings from the 5th floor @ 1 Yonge - I was in a similar fate myself, staring at the screen for hours on end and got a membership at a nearby gym on Queen. Are you hitting those stairs at work? I am - all five flights, twice a day...Good luck with the gym!

[Antonia]

Some quick replies...

Shaunna, you would be the first off the mark here! And Mouse is right. I don't look that gleeful, nor do my my hair and make-up look that good. LOL. Everybody check out Shaunna amd Mousaroo's awesome transformations. Their blogs are on my blogroll to the left, under ''More Friends Who Pound the Keyboard.''

Steven, please read what I wrote in the comments section for the first post below. At my advanced age, I want to finish the struggles that have been with me all my life. Bruce Gilchrist gets it in his comment here.

Mother of the Groom? ONE DAY AT A TIME. One meal at a time. One moment at a time. Good luck. It is a change of lifestyle. That much I have learned. And it's my current lifestyle which packed back the pounds.

Which leads me to Stephen Scullion's post. Good question.

The answer?

Get up from the computer twice a day to put in half an hour of cardio, minimum. I could ride my Schwinn Air-Dyne which has been idle for 4 years. It's 6 feet from my computer. Or I could go for a walk, a run, do a quick boot camp workout or dance around my living room.

I also will get more sleep! And put some order back into my eating.

That's the plan, anyway.

And so, with that in mind ... I am walking away from the primary sit station. (So no Eric, I don't take the stairs much at the office because I work at home, on the third floor, and go up and down the stairs 15-20 times a day.)

[PJ Malone]

Though I'm still ticked you stopped writing your media column, my personal favourite in the whole paper, I'm glad you'll be ripping on people/places/things here.
As a guy, though, gotta say men feel the pressure about appearances, too. You just don't see Vince Vaughn or John Travolta using the issue to get themselves on the cover of People magazine.

[Debbie]

I am so glad to have followed a link to your blog. I know I can count on this journey to be the real thing. Sugar-coated promises just ain't your style. My biggest problem in my own weight loss attempts is that I love being spoiled and I don't mind doing it myself. What is as handy, as acceptable (ciggies don't make the cut anymore), as satisfying and immediate as food? There MUST be something!
Anyway, so glad to read you :)

[Bill-Muskoka]

Oh my GAWD! You're back! LOL Good to see you online again Antonia. I will stop by when I have the time.

[Rita]

Many, many of us in the same boat! My fat clothes are tight too! I'm off to Mexico for two weeks soon and need to go out and buy a body shaper so at least the rolls don't show! I'm going to try something new; cognitive behavioural thinking. I bought a book 'How to think like a thin person'. (Dr. Judith Beck) It doesn't promote a particular diet. I may try Weight Watchers again. Once I read some I'll give you an update.

[lagatta de montreall]

Eurk, the gym. Are you anywhere near a YWCA, or even a YMCA? Usually those are far less objectionable and gym-hunk/gym-bunny laden than commercial-type gyms.

I think most people who have sedentary jobs could stand to get more exercise, even those who are not inclined to overweight in middle age (I suspect I'm the same build as you are)... Difficult in wintertime, but do you ride a bicycle? I take mine everywhere when it isn't snowy, and it does help one keep the bum and other muscles toned, if not as slim as they were when we were lasses.

Yeah, for men, one has to be the size of Michael Moore for a weight problem to be used as a means to slag their beliefs and actions.

[Mark Surchin]

Antonia,

Welcome back to the world of blogging!

I'm looking forward to your posts on this topic. Clearly something has gone wrong with how we approach diet and exercise. My late father was a pediatrician and his advice to those considered overweight 30 years ago was to cut back on processed carbs like bread, rice and pasta. Of course in the intervening period establishment orthodoxy turned this viewpoint on its head with the new "enemy" being saturated fats (including the meats that our cave dwelling hunter gatherer ancestors ate).

I go a group where we discuss these issues every week. Initially the group was an Ornish diet support group dedicated to an all vegetarian diet with very little fat. Now half of the members are more like Atkins and are dedicated low carbers, at least when it comes to processed carbs. You're welcome to come any time (including for the hour of yoga beforehand).

One of our members has done a research study of these issues as they pertain to women only and has come to some very interesting conclusions. Another is an anthropologist who studied the diets of certain groups in Africa. I'll let them both know about your new blog in case either of them wants to post a comment or two along the way.

[Tim]

It is interesting to note that Antonia herself likes to take shots at thin models but is upset when people take shots at her weight.
Oh the inconsistency!!

[Dr.Dawg]

Wow, what a great way to start the year--you're back! And back up on my blogroll, toute suite.

Just keep those broadsides coming. Best to you and yours in 2008.

[Kuri]

I definately see the motivation to avoid future health problems - and with a smashed up knee and an extra 30 lbs. myself, I'm travelling a similar path. At the same time, I've lost weight before quickly only to gain in back again. So, my New Year's resolution is to have a bit of patience with myself this time as well. ;-)

[Ti-Guy]

Welcome back. You look mahvelous.

[Marky Mark]

Join me in one of Toronto's two half marathons next fall either as a runner, walker or doing a bit of a combo!

http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/en/index.htm

http://www.torontomarathon.com/

[Antonia]

I might do that Marky Mark. I climbed the CN tower for the United Way in October. What's a lousy 12 kilometer run?

[brown-eyed-girl]

It's like you took the words right out of my mouth! Thanks for posting this and for sharing your journey with your readers.

[gord]

what an embarrassing piece. you publish this sort of thing regularly?

is there any part of your paper intended for adults?

[Marky Mark]

It's a longer distance-13.1 miles. That may seem daunting but if you start sevreral months before you can build up to it quite easily.

marie and I both did the waterfront one in over two hours. But she then also did the Toronto one as well three weeks later.

The best part of the training was picking routes along the city's natural sites (the Humnber, Don, lakefront) and then finishing at a breakfast spot or watering hole. It was also very social.

You can start the seaon off with the Sporting Life 10K come May and then graduate to the Nissan 10 miler in July.

[Tim]

It's funny that people, including Antonia, think that because they gain weight in their bums and hips as well as their stomach, they are therefore exempt from the ill effects of carrying 45lbs of fat around.
Apparently, this is called waist-to-hip ratio and it could only make sense to people who want to delude themselves.

[pale]

Nice to see you back online...
Also good to see someone writing about the weight issues from a normal perspective...How many Jenny Craig ads must one endure? (I am guessing the ads are better than the dinners)
I have been on the roller coaster all my life, at the moment I'm happy and healthy. (20 pounds overweight from the "charts", but way down from my personal worst, over 200 pounds.)
can be done! We are all with ya. :)

[godammitkitty]

Welcome back, Antonia! Love the profile pic--I think I recognize it from one of your recent articles ("Big is Beautiful").

Viz body-image issues, I came by my feminism through a long battle with anorexia. I've lots to say on this subject, but for now I'll just recommend a great book or two--"Consuming Passions" by Catrina Brown and Karin Jasper, and "Unbearable Weight" by Susan Bordo. More recently, Bordo has written a book about male body image issues, but I haven't read it yet ("The Male Body: A New Look At Men In Public And In Private").

Best wishes to you for a fabulous 2008! Cheers!
GDK

[godammitkitty]

*blush* By the way, thanks heaps for the link! I've been slacking off in the blog-department, lately. If I have a NY resolution, I guess it's to blog more often & more dangerously ;)

[JJ]

Welcome back, Antonia.:) Glad to see you're keeping the combat boots, we're all gonna need 'em. W00t! Bring it!

[Bonnie]

Hi Antonia: this blog couldn't have come at a better time for me personally, as I am also on a journey to lose 45 pounds. I really need to lose them, this extra weight doesn't look good on me and I'm really out of shape. (panting as I type)

I hope you will touch on the crazy marketplace that is the fitness world out there. There is no fixed rate for any gym in town (I go to Extreme Fitness). You bargain like you would at a flea market for the best price you can get, all the while knowing you're being screwed!! The ads NEVER tell the truth about pricing!

And don't get me started on the price of a personal trainer - but what I'm hoping is that the humungous amount of money I'm spending on fitness will not be missed; it will simply replace the money I used to spend on such items that made life worth living, like $3 lattes, pizza deliveries, beer and chocolate bars.

Anyways, good luck and I'll be following along, gobbling up (in a manner of speaking) every piece of advice you have to offer!

[Antonia]

Bonnie, with respect to Extreme Fitness.
The American-owned conglomerate took over my indie Danforth area gym two years ago. Since then, it's been a disaster.
Don't take my word for it.
Have a look here: http://www.extremefitnessforum.s4.bizhat.com/
I joined Riverdale Fitness, a block away.
It's small, friendly, cheap, no frills, and not filled with spandex types.
I don't know where you live but, if you can find a Y or independent owned gym close to your home or work, you'd be much better off than dealing with faceless corporations.
I was a member of The Training Room on Carlaw and Lakeshore, BTW. That was great too -- I went for 10 years -- but I wanted something I could walk to because it became too easy to slack off when i had to warm up the car, clear the snow, etc.

[Paige]

Hi Antonia,
I love your resolve. You can do this.
For my 60th birthday in December I splurged and bought myself a body. That's right, a sizzling hot new body, the likes of which I have not seen in many years. I decided I want this upcoming decade to be as active and healthy as possible. So I signed up for personal fitness at a great little studio. Cardio, weights and personal instruction. Along the lines of a boot camp without so many boots. :-) No machines just supporting equipment and muscle power. It sure doesn't take long to feel the good effects of regular exercise. The more muscle you build the more fat you can burn. Next week I'm starting on a better eating plan too. My goal is to lose 20 or so lbs and be reshaped by the end of April. Three times a week or 5 times a week. Whatever it takes.
I hope I can join you for the half marathon. I've never done that before.
Good luck.

[JW]

I just was reading some articles on theStar online and this caught my eye. Just so you know where I am coming from, I have taken several courses in fitness, wellness, and nutrition. I am currently studying in Pharmacy school.

My tips are these:
1. Be active. If you can put forth the effort of 30-60 minutes a day of being active, you can achieve your goals. Make it a priority!
2. Slow and steady. Any diet/exercise plan that offers greater than loss of 2 pounds/week may not be healthy.
3. Diet is more than half the battle. I wouldn't calorie count, but you can start by taking slightly smaller portions when you eat, take what you normally would eat then put some back in the pot.
4. Lift weights. If you gained a little lean muscle mass (I know women are more inclined not to gain muscle) it will help with losing weight. It is the lean muscle mass you have that contributes to your base level metabolism. More lean muscle, the more calories you burn while sitting around. An example is gaining 5 pounds of lean muscle, its like jogging for 20 minutes a day without actually jogging in terms of calorie expenditure.
5. Treat yourself. You can't always not eat out, or have something like chocolate. It should be a reward and enjoyed, after all, these things are what makes life fun. Just be mindful not to gorge on anything.

Hope this helps

Peace

[David]

I applaud your initiative to get in shape and increase your fitness. I think you will be most successful if you maintain a realistic outlook though. If you're 45lbs overweight, I'm quite sure you can't do "non stop" push-ups for an hour. Most fitness fanatics can't do non stop push-ups for 3 minutes (about 90-100 push-ups). Unless you are cranking that treadmill up to 10-12mph for extended periods you couldn't outrun a man-eating predator. If you really think you already have world-class fitness, I fear you might not have the motivation to really push yourself to achieve difficult goals.

If you're carrying around 45 extra pounds, that's a physiological issue with long-term consequences. It's not a sociological issue. An extra 45 pounds has never been considered healthy. Aesthetically pleasing in some eras perhaps, but never healthy.

I mean none of this as an insult. I do think you'll have more success though if you realistically assess your current fitness and chase your goals through personal, self-directed determination. Worrying about external pressures are not going to help you improve your health. Give yourself the control!

[daryl]

Hey Antonia,

Long time reader, first time poster. I'm glad you're back! We are in this together.

I want to get myself in better shape. 2007 was a good year for me (having done the Harry Rosen 5k spring run off, becel rideforheart 50k, Rona MS 190 km bike tour, Enbridge CN tower climb, and Toronto zoorun 5k. Wow, in retrospect that sounds like so much! I'm really proud of what I accomplished (having never been on a run EVER before the harry rosen).

My friends and I certainly didn't beat any speed records but I sure did have lots of fun while doing it! Have you considered building up for one of these events? There's no real competition (only with yourself really) and they're a great way to motivate yourself to attain a certain fitness point or something.

Keep us posted!

[Antonia]

I am humbled by your response! Thank you.

To David at 5;34, note that I said ''non-stop full-body push-ups, jump squats and standing lunges for an hour -- and then go for a run.'' I meant mixing up all these exercises, not concentrating on push-ups exclusively. I am in fierce shape, as anybody who watches me workout can attest.

[Doug Lester]

Great stuff Antonio! I love your openness and love of life. I read all of the comments and write simply to encourage you to do some of your life affirming exercise outside where you can experience the natural light and the energy of the cosmos. Balance is spiritual as much as it is physical.
Blessings, doug@newchristianity.ca

[Melodie S]

Hi Antonia
This couldn't have come at a better time for me. I rememeber your past journey of weight loss. It inspired me as I was amost 300lbs (at 5" tall). From 2003-2005 I lost 160 lbs through diet and exercise. I figured I had about 15 lbs left to lose, which I was finding difficult to shed when I fell into a severe depression this spring(family and personal issues). Emotional eating and ceasing to exercise sent me to a gain of over 50 lbs. As you, nothing in my closet fits, and I have really felt the negative effects of the extra weight gain heading into my 51st year. It is hard not to beat myself up for this backward step, but I have resolved to let go and put it it the past and move forward with a positive attitude and resolve. I too cannot afford to go out and buy new clothes and besides I don't want to, as I was much healthier and was happier with my appearance beforehand. Your blog couldn't come at a better time for me. Well- onward to a healthier and stronger me!! We can all win this battle with resolve, humour and a positive attitude.

[Louise]

I read your article the morning after I went to dinner and a movie with my sister. After a longgg walk to the restaurant, I was puffing by the time we sat down and in a 'sweat' for the first hour before my body cooled down. Arriving at the movie, I barely fit into the seat...actually surprised myself, but was internally blaming the old movie theatre for their 'crappy seats'. Walking all the way back to my car, I found myself becoming so depressed by what was so obvious. I'm the heaviest I've ever been...I NEVER get a good night's sleep ... 4 hrs. is a big night for me ...and I'm never returning to a gym or private trainer or anything similar, ever again...been there, done that, dozens of times. I will be watching your articles and this blog with much interest...good luck!

[Elka]

RE FEMINISM: I am a feminist and active in many groups that support the needs of women in Halton. For me, a key aspect of feminism, is to view the world through the eyes of women.

An example:

We all support briging water into African communities so that people (read 'women') won't have to trudge long distances to get water and then lug it back on their heads. Laudable, but...

I spent a month in West Africa last year, and from a feminist perspective learned this:

Ecvept for cities, most people live in mud compounds. The women do not speak either English or French and their literacy rate is extremely low. They speak only the local language and EXCEPT FOR THE TIME THEY LEAVE FOR WATER most never leave their compound. It is only when they go for water or to wash clothes that they have any relatively private interaction with other women.

So by bringing water into the compound, we deny the women their only chance of socializing with ohter women.

It still might be worth doing, but we have to understand the implications from the point of view of women.

Do any government agencies or NGOs consider the social needs of women? Doubt it.

I am also trying to view the fat and body shape issue from a feminist point of view. While being healthy is the main thing for me, there is also the esthetics. Just as I want my living room or plate of food 'to look good', so, too, I 'want to look good'.

The problem is: who or what defines what looking good is? And is looking good the same when I was 25 and it is now that I am 66?

[Arlene Cohen]

Hi Antonia,
I saw my life flash before my eyes watching your video just now. My New Year's resolve was to snap out of the inertia I've been in for the past three years so I could have at least a fighting chance of taking off the 45lbs I've steadily gained since my last major diet attempt. I lost 38lbs on Atkins over a two year period and was feeling fantastic until my hair started falling out in handfuls! On my way to making up my mind whether I wanted to be fat or bald I packed on the lbs.-- all the weight I lost plus another 15lbs for good measure. Not a new experience for me. I'll talk about hair loss and my battle on that front another time.

I turned 60 last March and am at my all time heaviest. Other contributors include osteoarthritis in every joint in my body, and FM, both kick-started by a very bad accident; weight gaining and appetitie enhancing medications; and a sit down profession. I'm self employed, work out of my home studio and see clients seven days a week.

When I read your column this AM I felt relieved and refocused. This week I have been trying to cut down on portions and have had some success. Today, you validated that I may actually be able to lose weight doing this. I thought I was fooling myself and once again avoiding the pain/depravation/isolation/agony that I had come to believe would be the only way to any realistic weight loss for me. I am very calorie efficient!

I've also have an excellent treadmill in the bedroom. It's been there for 10yrs and I haven't turned it on in the past five. You've given me the motivation to fire it up again first thing Monday morning .... ; ) Promise.

[Arlene Cohen]

P.S. I also loved the idea of getting more sleep! That is brilliant. You are so right. I always thought sleeping slowed down metabolism. Now I won't feel guilty tucking in at 9PM and not feeling like a lazy sloth for doing so.

[Lana]

Hello Antonia,

On a TV program I watched last night (one of those new weight loss shows), a doctor suggested some guidelines for both men and women. He said that it's all in the waist measurement.
Doesn't matter how tall or how short you may be, the numbers sum it up: 32 inches maximum for women and 35 inches max. for men. How's your waist, Antonia? I'm enjoying your new blog.
Lana.

[Antonia]

My waist is ... um ... proportional to my hips.
Absolute numbers are kind of meaningless. A tall woman with a 32 inch waist would be slim. It's the waist-to-hip ratio that counts.

http://www.healthcalculators.org/calculators/waist_hip.asp

[David]

Come on now, if you're 50lbs overweight you can't be in 'fierce' shape. The workout you describe today is a fantastic stepping stone, but it's hardly indicative of advanced fitness. I think you're doing your readers a disservice to perpetuate the disconnect between weight and health. Just as being exceedingly underweight is incongruous with good health, so is being severely overweight.

People have enough excuses for neglecting their fitness these days. "I don't have time"... "I'm just not athletic"... Giving people ammunition to say "I'm perfectly healthy, it's just society that says I'm fat" is every bit as unhelpful. If tomorrow society's whims were to do a 180 and fat was in fashion, it wouldn't change the medical reality that 50 extra pounds inevitably lead to a shortened and less vibrant life. Would we not agree that ideally weight would always be viewed as a medical issue, rather than a social or aesthetic one? Isn't that the whole point?

Again, I applaud your self-confidence and I'd bet you can be very successful, but if you're putting yourself out there as a topic of discussion, this is one reader's input.

(Also, a 32" waist would be considered average, not slim, for a 5'10" male. For a 5'10" female... even less so.)

[Antonia]

David,

Are you intentionally misconstruing my comments just as a way of calling me fat without calling me fat?

Where have I said that being overweight is a good thing? Where have I said that you can forget about fitness, exercise, eating healthfully? Where have I said that I am happy with how I look or feel?

All I said is, I kick ass in the gym. And I do. I can do hundreds, and I mean hundreds, of jump squats, push-ups, jumping jacks, lunges, etc. WITHOUT STOPPING. I can do an hour on the stepmill or the bike right after that. I can then walk for hours.

If I were not fit, I could not have scaled the CN Tower in October, in sweltering heat and humidity, which left younger, slimmer people puking on the upper floors.

If I were not fit, I could not have rock-climbed in Utah or hiked up Vermont's Mount Okemo. Look at those photos in my video. That's me, at the summits. Those are recent photos.

So let me call you out, David.

On me. A free pass to my gym, and a workout with me. I'll bring the videocam. Then you can report back to readers here. I'll even buy you a healthful lunch on the Danforth where you can catch your breath.

Let me know.

az@thestar.ca

[David]

Antonia,

I'm really not trying to be mean-spirited, and I apologize that my comments come off that way. But in your first entry you say you're 45 (or 50) pounds overweight, then you say there's an irony that you don't NEED to lose weight. Did I misconstrue that? You argue that it's society that claims that the extra weight is undesirable, when I would argue it's the medical community that would say it's undesirable.

I also don't mean to belittle your workout intensity. I just think that your claim of being in top physical condition is not only a bit exaggerated, but also that it perpetuates (rather than combats) the notion that weight and health are not closely aligned. That same disconnect is what makes perfectly healthy women with proper bodyweights think it's okay to lose 10lbs to look better.

Finally, I would never call you fat. Fat is such an ugly term, with so many connotations. It implies character flaws like sloth or gluttony. I have no reason to throw insults like that at you. Overweight is another issue altogether. Being overweight doesn't make you a bad person whatsoever, it's a correctable health problem, nothing more.

If you want to show me your stuff next Saturday at the gym, I assume you have my e-mail (since I have to enter it to post). I really have nothing against you, I'm just giving my feedback on a topic.