Caution: Not All Curves Are Dangerous

I’m biking about 46km a day now.

Naturally I was pretty proud of myself, and so when a friend asked “How’s that whole hungry thing going?” I blurted out “Pretty good. I’m eating daily, and biking almost 50k per ride now!’

He just blinked, shrugged, and took another sip of beer. Dear friend though he is, this chap has a liver so dark and bloated it could’ve been cast in the movie Precious. He’s one of those 6 beers per day minimum types, doesn’t work out, and thinks nachos are a food group.

Part of me wants to reach over and calmly shake him by the lapels, demanding to know if he even notices the Michelin-tire-man like rolls when he gets out of the shower every day… but I don’t. But not just because his shirt doesn’t have lapels.

We sometimes have to remind ourselves that our priorities aren’t other people’s priorities. I started this project wanting to show the dangers of extreme dieting, and am now trying to rebuild myself as a reasonably lean person who knows enough about good nutrition to eat well and live an active lifestyle without taking it so seriously that I won’t have the occasional bacon or ice cream. Who the hell am I to look down o someone who has decided to eat whatever he wants, consequences be damned?

Sure, every time we get together he complains that women aren’t attracted to him. I don’t think it’s the pudge; I get hit on a lot less since I lost weight… though to be fair, large but healthy looks better than skinny but sickly, so I can understand why their interest waned. He, however, has never attained either. He’s just large and rather sickly.

So I’m concerned for him. And I do say so, because as regular readers may recall good manners can have deadly consequences. And he gets hurt, and changes the topic. Lather, rinse, repeat.

My concern isn’t his appearance. Having a couple of extra pounds on you is nothing to be ashamed of. In his case, however, he exceeded a couple of extra lbs by what amounts to the weight of another person. That’s an obvious health risk.

On top of feeling crummy most of the time and being upset that women want to be with him about as much as they want to be with me (which is to say, not much), he’s obviously feeling bad about his current physical state. Yet beer after beer and chip after chip, he refuses to do anything about it.

On the other end of the spectrum are those who choose not to get defensive while carrying on their destructive behaviors, but instead choose to do something about them,  get to a healthy place, then switch to maintaining the changes for long-term health and self esteem benefits.

Sara Rue, who starred in Less Than Perfect and a number of other TV shows, is now a Jenny Craig spokesperson.She recently dropped 50 lbs, going from a size 14 to her current 6, and now says she’s comfortable with her body as is.

A brave Sara (apparently forgetting that my girlfriend Christina Hendricks is a size 12 yet lithe enough to cut you if you think she’s less than perfection) waxed enthusiastic about her recent weight loss.

See, it’s great that Sara decided to do something to make herself be able to move better and feel healthier. She does, doesn’t she? “I’m done losing weight.” … yup, she does. She went on to say “I feel great, and I love looking like a woman.”

“I love being curvy and having boobs and hips. It’s hot. I don’t ever want to be size zero.” Okay. Perfect. You see what Sara did there? She recognized that size 14 was unhealthy for her, and adjusted her diet and activity to compensate… yet didn’t get so obsessed with it that she couldn’t put the brakes on it before becoming just another Hollywood stick bug.

And as for maintenance? “I do my workouts five times a week,” she says. “I work out with my trainer one or two times a week, and we run together. As long as I do cardio for 45 minutes to an hour each day I work out, I feel like I’m okay.”

“[her best friend’s boyfriend] was like, ‘Holy s—t!’ really loudly and he kept staring at me. I think he had the best reaction” she gloats, apparently unaware about how boasting that her bestie’s boyfriend ‘s new lust will make her bestie begin plotting to stab her with a baseball bat, if only she can think of a way to make it look like Sara slipped and fell on it. Three times.

Sara’s judgment in quotes notwithstanding, her choice of sane weight loss and sound maintenance are a recipe for long term health indeed.