[This article was first published as Week 8 Frying In My Own Fat Weight Loss Challenge: Trying to Weigh In As Normal on Technorati.]



According to a recent survey, 36.6 percent of Americans weigh in at a normal weight.

That's up in a good way--about 1 percent from a year ago.

But slow down, Missy, I don't think it's time to break out the milkshakes or Ben & Jerry's ice cream yet. These figures were based on telephone interviews, not actual weigh ins.

According to the article, the data was based on self-reported info of height and weight to determine a score of body mass index. So tell me, just how many people actually have their real weight on their driver's license? Hmmmm? Just wondering.

That also means that even though about a third of Americans are of "normal" weight, everyone else is either overweight or obese. Which also makes me wonder if two-thirds of the population are fatty-fatty-two-by-fours, perhaps that "normal" category is all relative. Sometimes I look fairly "normal" on certain days standing next to certain people in the grocery line if you know what I mean.

The pollsters aren't exactly sure what caused that 1 percent drop. Perhaps, we are finally beginning to get it and doing something about being fat.

I know I am slowly moving in that direction. Week 8 of my "Frying In My Own Fat" Weight Loss Challenge finds me almost another pound lighter, bringing my grand total loss eight pounds closer to normal.

Week 7 Frying In My Own Fat Weightloss Challenge–-Tackling Global Obesity One Pound at a Time

(This article was first published as Week 7: Tackling Global Obesity One Pound at a Time on Technorati.)

A few weeks ago, I read with interest an article about some sort of U.N. special summit that was supposed to tackle chronic diseases. 

In light of my "Frying In My Own Fat" Weight Loss Challenge, I was particularly interested in  British Chef Jamie Oliver's plea to world leaders about tackling obesity globally.

In a letter to the UN, Oliver wrote, “One in ten people in the world are obese. It’s affecting our kids – 42 million are overweight before they even reach school age, and most of those beautiful children will be suffering from the early stages of heart disease and diabetes by the time they reach adulthood… People still don’t realize that the problem is not just limited to rich  countries, that worldwide being obese or overweight now causes more deaths than under-nutrition. It’s convenient for everyone to think that it’s just America which has the biggest problem.” 

Of course, Oliver has been on this skinny-minny bandwagon for quite some time now. A few years back, he tried to introduced healthy lunches in some British schools. That worked about as well as me substituting tea for my morning coffee.

According to the news report, "children fought back by boycotting the cafeterias. Some parents even shoved hamburgers, pizza and french fries to hungry children through school yard fences."

Undeterred, Oliver continued championing healthier food in schools and was vindicated in later news reports when test scores rose and people attributed the increase in brain power to the decrease in junk food. 

Still, I can certainly understand that sort of frustration exhibited along that school yard fence. I sort of felt that way the other day when I peered at my teensy-weensy, t-tiny frozen lunch. (Remember, this past week I grappled with that entire portion control thing.)

Oh, what I would have given for someone to shove a pizza my way, or a hamburger, or a few french fries.  

But because I didn't have anyone doing that, I managed to shed 1.6 pounds bringing my grand total weight loss so far to 7 pounds since I began this  weight loss shebang six weeks ago. 

I think maybe even Jamie Oliver might be proud.

Week 6: I May Be Frying In My Own Fat But I'm Thawing Out Some Frozen Dinners

[This article was first published as Week 6: I May Be Frying In My Own Fat But I'm Thawing Out Some Frozen Dinners on Technorati.]


I've never been a frozen food fan, but I finally succumbed to eating frozen meals for lunch because apparently I am too stupid to visually gauge portions.

I even went to the Mayo Clinic website and watched a nifty little slide show about portion control. "If your portion control is out of control, you may be supersizing your meals and yourself," the site says. But have no fear, it's easy to correct, they promise.

You can use "every day" objects such as baseballs, hockey pucks and dice to help you determine portion size. I'm not exactly sure how a hockey puck can be considered an "every day" object, but hey, I thought, I like hockey so I'm OK with that.

I was whipping through the slides until I got to Slide 11.

The one where they have four squares of cheese (yummy) and four dice. Jeepers, now I see my problem-o.
My portion dice don't look anything like those dice. Rather, they look a bit more like those fuzzy ones hanging off a rear view mirror. No wonder I have such trouble with this whole weight loss thing.
You can see why I've been spending some quality time in the frozen food aisle at the grocery store and why my weight loss report for the week shows no loss and no gain. At least I found some decent meals to take for lunch. Let's see how it goes this week because I must admit I'm getting a tad bit frustrated that after six weeks, all I have less to show for it is five pounds.