The November Plan stems from my session with a personal trainer today. A 24HourFitness member perk gave me a free session today and my trainer taught me all kinds of tummy-toning and butt-building exercises. And it ended with a Cheryl-requested body fat evaluation. Uh, not so sexy.
Body Fat: 30.2% This translates into obese. (OBESE! Can you believe it? I fluctuate between a size 4 and a size 6. Those are not the sizes of an obese woman thankyouverymuch.)
Four-ish years ago, I was heavier than I am now but I dropped that to reach my ever-consistent 130-ish weight. 130 and I are very cozy. Thus you can imagine my surprise when I learned that what I consider to be my sexy healthy adult weight and body make-up actually pushed me into the obese category. FYI for a chica, 18-25% is healthy, 25-29% is overweight and 30%+ is obese.
Now I'm not going on some crazy spinach and watermelon diet or anything like that. And obese or not, I still think I look pretty damn hot. But what does make me a little nervous is all the health risks of being obese or overweight. I certainly didn't think of myself as needing to worry about those but based on the definitions of obese and overweight, well, I might need to.
Hence The November Plan. Here it is, in all its glory:
- At least 200 minutes of cardio per week. As recommended by the trainer I met with today. I think this will average out to about an hour more per week than I currently do.
- Alcoholic beverages two or less days per week. I do kinda feel like a lush with this one so I am going to clarify. I probably drink 3-4 days per week now. Usually a little heavier on Fridays and Saturdays and, during the week, one or two nights when I just have one drink at either happy hour or with dinner. Note: I am usually the driver so even "a little heavier" rarely means actually drunk.
Things I am not concerning myself with on The November Plan:
- Chips, queso, guac, salsa and Chuy's jalapeno dip...though I will admit, this would probably cut calories a lot faster than anything else. But it would also cut into my quality of life and I am not into that.
- Starbucks
- Sit ups
- Lots of other stuff that I'm just going to keep doing (or not doing in the case of sit ups) as I've always done
PS Doesn't this shed some light and perspective on the obesity epidemic we always hear about?
3 comments:
First of all, your are beautiful.
Second of all, be wary of the 24HF consultation. I, too, am a 24 member and when they did my test they found me to be 24% body fat and yet recommended I lose 30 pounds. YES, 30 POUNDS. Because I, too fluxuate between a size 4 and size 6, my natural reaction was "screw you, I'm beautiful and healthy just the way I am."
Third of all, props to you for not freaking out like oh so many women our age would. The thought of hearing "overweight" or "obese" is enough to send today's woman into a self-depricating downward spiral - but you, my friend, are above that. And I commend you! Being realistic about weight, image and lifestyle changes (glad you decided to leave in the queso and guac!) is they key to happiness - not a certain pant size.
Thanks Brittney. What possibly frustrates me most about this experience was the incredibly conflicting messages girls/women receive. On the one hand, accept yourself. Be happy about who you are and your body. On the other hand, me, a fairly healthy and happy 20-something was called obese. I'm not really sure the answer here but it does seem to me that we shouldn't revel in our obesity. I eat veggies, have good self-confidence and am not too dumb and I'm confused! I can only imagine how girls with less resources must feel.
Just remember that the gym people get paid to tell you you're overweight/obese. If you went to the doctor, I'm willing to bet they'd tell you your weight was a healthy one - or at the very least not obese. I'm with you on the conflicting message - we need to be healthy, feel confident and take care of ourselves. If we do these things, we will not be obese. Today's women need to know it's not just about the number - heck, if I focused on my actual weight, I'd be really sad - but it's about your health, how you feel and the ability to live your life free of weight-related illness or negative side effects.
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