I feel bad for Joy Nash

First, watch the video:


First of all, I do like this video. It's cheeky, funny, and fresh. It's designed to give fat people some confidence and to just accept the word "fat" as not really an insult. Fat is what it is, after all. But I have an objection.

"I weigh 224 and my quality of life has not suffered dramatically."

I have never weighed 224, but 180 at my heaviest, a size 16 plump from eating too much fast food and junk in my morning radio days. My quality of life definitely suffered! My energy level suffered, my BMI was disgusting, and my energy level (or lack of energy and motivation) was just embarassing.

It's not OK to be fat.

Fat is about more than just what you go to the store to buy clothing wise and how people perceive you. Fat is about your health, your heart, your arteries, diabetes, and a whole bunch of illnesses a large waistline brings about.

Following a healthy, balanced diet and staying fit have done wonderful things in my life that I wouldn't trade for anything. Exercise relieves stress and gives me goals to work towards achieving. I love looking in the mirror at my fit body. I love shopping for clothes right now as I'm losing weight. (I'm down to 166 lbs. now).

I admire my growing knowledge of nutrition -- especially as a vegan -- and my sense of self control around things like candy bars and potato chips. It's something I've had to teach myself. But I've overcome my personal challenges with fitness over the years. These are things like food cravings, lack of knowledge about nutrition, motivation, and a horrendous ankle injury. Overcoming challenges gives you confidence and infinitely moreso than trying to redefine the word "fat" because that's what you want to positively identify yourself with.

I have a friend who weighs over 300 lbs., Joy Nash. She can hardly walk anywhere, she huffs and puffs and has to rest. She could probably use a scooter from here on out. She already has a handicapped placard for her car and will give up going places if she can't find a parking space. There was a point where she weighed 224 lbs., but she didn't stop herself from gaining more and more weight. Now she is extremely unhealthy, a borderline diabetic who doesn't know how to eat properly, exercise or help herself in any way. She hasn't made the choice to do so. She didn't at 224 lbs. and hasn't now tipping the scales at over 300 lbs.

It is not OK to send out the message that fat is OK. It's not. It's a prominent health hazard in our society and people need to take responsibility for their size. Learn about nutrition. Learn how many calories you are consuming in a day and how many you are burning off. Find out how to cook some low fat meals for yourself and do some simple exercises. Challenge yourself. It will give you far more confidence than Joy Nash's video ever will and it may also save your life.

Being an OmKicker Means Duality

OmKicker is "Om with a kick." It means that although I love yoga, I still love other workouts as well. I just can't commit to any one type of fitness as my end-all, be-all thing. I need variety. I like to juxtapose peaceful yoga with something a lot more active like Krav Maga. Some days you want a downward facing dog but other days...it's a workout with a kettlebell. I've been checking out the BeTougher.com podcast of quickie kettlebell exercises. I'm really pining away for a kettlebell now!

Wait, I take that back

I have done guy pushups, but that was three years ago when I ripped up my ankle. I was on crutches for so long and I'd go into Krav Maga and sit in a chair and lift weights because I was going through round 2 of the body challenge and didn't want to quit just because I couldn't walk. So with my black and blue ankle firmly strapped in its orthopedic boot, I'd do pushups one leg -- man pushups. How I long to get that kind of upper body strength back again! I want those cut, sculpted arms again.

How's this for some kick?

I lost two pounds this week! I'm definitely making gains with my arms too -- it is my goal to do guy pushups, something I've never been able to do! I can do 30 lbs. with the tricpes machine...I would give you more detail than that but it will come out really ditzy-blonde. I can't remember for the life of me the name of that exercise. I anticipate a less busy week coming up, so check back for updates! I've got a laundry list of products I want to review, recipes to share, food stuff, exercise stuff, etc.

For food stuff I'm following my 2-year-old (and never before followed) eating plan from my dietician. At the beginning of the week I weighed 170; now I'm 168. Woot! I did the body challenge at Krav Maga three years ago and dropped 4 sizes, from a 16 to a 10. I'm now a fat 10, I must admit. I carry all my weight in the middle though, which is far beyond irritating! My whole family is like that! I have to break the cycle. I learned proper eating habits during the body challenge back then, but now I'm vegan. That's a lactose intolerant vegetarian to you carnivores. So while I love my dietician and her plan, it badly needs to be veganized. So I'll be sharing how I do that. Hopefully some fine, health conscious people will happen upon this blog and enjoy!

What Does Macy Gray Have to Do With OmKicker?

Not much, except that writing about her is taking away my blogging time. Read the article I wrote about her today. She's got a new album coming out called Big on the 27th and she talks about some of her songs here. Enjoy.

A Renewed Interest in My Health

Not that I've stopped working, but my blog posting has been on hiatus somewhat this past week. It was time to relax. Admittedly there was not much om or kick involved. There was quite a bit of laying by the pool post-workout while reading The God Delusion for B.U. I am also on a health kick after seeing Body Worlds 3 last week at the Arizona Science Center. Something about seeing what the contents of the human body looks like really did something for me.

It makes you realize what we take for granted, that life is fragile. It can be taken away at any time. I looked at cross sections of tumors and strokes and knew I was seeing death in others' lives -- others who so kindly gave their bodies to science. It renewed in my mind the importance of caring for my health. So I've been eating well, burning fat, stretching out, using mass quantities of sunblock, and easing sore muscles in the spa. Another hectic week begins tomorrow and I'll once again fighting to fit the om and the kick into my busy schedule. Thanks for reading OmKicker, in case I've never said it before.

A week without OmKicking!

How have I survived? I have been exceptionally busy, so whenever OmKicker gets kicked to the curb, that's why. I have been working out this week though. Today I did my interval training to boost my metabolism as my dietician recommends. It's basically doing an activity slow for a couple minutes, then putting the pedal to the metal for the next few minutes. This goes on for 30 minutes. I did it on the treadmill and walked/ran. I was pretty proud of myself, actually. I ran at a rate of 5.5 mph for the "push" minutes and walked at 3.2 mph for the "walk" minutes. Now I'm back to following her nutrition plan, which I will admit with much guilt to not following for the last two years. Ouch. That's a lot of guilt. Good thing I'm not Catholic.

Speaking of which...

I am getting a jump on my next Boston University class, The Moral Self, which I start on Monday. I'm reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. The question is, do we need God to be good?

That reminds me of another good read, Nick Hornby's How to be Good. You should read it just because it is good and it's by Nick Hornby, one of my favorite writers.

So there hasn't been much kick and definitely no OM for the last week. But I'm getting back on track. That's the whole point -- you can always get back on track. Don't let the guilt bother you! Just shake it off, get back on that meal plan, and back on that treadmill.

No sooner did I write that yesterday...

My boyfriend opens his mail and gets an insurance adjustment check (long story) for a tidy little sum. I remembered my horoscope and was a little creeped out. Then I also remembered that the horoscope said to enjoy it...so we went out to dinner. This may just start a new hobby of horoscope worshipping. So here's today's Yahoo horoscope:

Quickie:
Watching average people just living their lives will inspire you today.

Overview:
Some mornings you bounce out of bed, ready for action -- or ready to create it, if necessary. Everyone wants to be in on your plans right now. You've got the right stuff when it comes to getting the party started.