THE BIGGEST LOSERS - About Weight Loss

WEIGHT LOSS: The Biggest Losers- Why are the obese people getting all the reality shows and press attention for losing weight? There's articles on those poor unfortunate obese children that get bullied in school...those poor obese adults that whine about being a target for snide remarks and ridicule WAH WAH WAH! And God forbid someone mention their being 'fat' and telling them it's because they eat too much or say "hey, it looks like you've put on a few pounds over the weekend..." we have to tip toe around them and and be politically correct because they are so sensitive about how big they've allowed themselves to get. (Please note that I am not including in this those poor unfortunate souls that are obese due to glandular malfunction or other reasons that is NOT in their control)

The reason I am just coming out with this seemingly harsh expression of HOW I REALLY FEEL, is because all my life I've been SMALL, or PETITE as would be a politically correct comment, and we are an equal target. I once worked at an office where a mostly obese woman (I say 'mostly' because she was of proportionate size for her height on the top half, and from her waist down she was ginormous) came up to me after the weekend and said "GEE, it looks like you've lost a couple of pounds over the weekend" - she said this with a tone of concern as if something was wrong. I happen to be sensitive about the fact that I am 110 pounds and cannot put weight on, no matter how much Hagen Daas I eat. However, I do eat ice cream in moderation....not day in and day out, pints at a time.

I have been bullied and ridiculed all through my school years, from 4th through 12th grade. I have been called names for my crooked teeth, my delayed bustline, my small stature - my mother's advice was to ignore them. Then the same bullies would say "oh, did your mommy tell you to ignore us today??" - it was a no-win situation. My mother would wonder "I just can't figure out why you don't seem to have very good self-esteem" - was she that bad at adding 2 + 2 ??? - it wouldn't have taken an Einstein to do the math on this equation!

There should be a TV show for petite people who manage to gain either weight or muscle mass. We've either got the obese or the bulimic, or anorexic--but we in the middle are called "SKINNY BITCHES" by those fat bitches. We are envied and get treated badly by a superior in the office that is a size 18. Instead of envying us, GO ON A DIET and QUIT FEEDING YOUR FACE SUGARED CHEMICAL SHIT IN A PACKAGE. I remember wanting to eat that crap, sure it's TASTY - if you develop a taste for junk food. Ever hear about MODERATION?????

It takes discipline to not join in the junk food party when all your friends are eating it (in the teenage years and early twenties) Sure, I wanted it, but SOMETHING TOLD ME it just wasn't good to eat it ALL THE TIME. I WANTED it, but JUST SAID NO. And guess what - I was made fun of for NOT eating it - for eating something healthy. Because I didn't want chemicals and dyes that were packaged to resemble FOOD, I was labeled "EATING DISORDERLY" - it was questioned whether I was a "PUKER" - NONE OF THE ABOVE FOLKS - ! I had never heard the term "puker" - my food goes only ONE WAY, thank you very much.

I like a TWINKIE every now and then just like the next guy - but not every day, or every week even - maybe once every few months while I grocery shop I pull a package off the shelf and munch while I shop (yes, I put the empty wrapper thru the checkstand and PAY for it!) Twinkies taste best while strolling through the market - mind you, this is NOT a ritual every time I shop, or even every 10th time I shop. MODERATION is key. I love junk as much as the next guy. But it's plain old common sense to not STUFF, but merely EAT. Depressed? Try NOT eating. Try drinking water. Try having a soft drink every ONCE IN A WHILE, not six a day! Bottom line: don't mindlessly stuff your face.

Natural foods and organic foods are not trendy--it's what our grandparents ate and was a way of life before they turned food into big business. Before everyone fell in love with PACKAGING and not eating to be nourished, giving THANKS for the food, reflecting that it came from MOTHER EARTH, not just mindless consumption.

The way we eat is a CHOICE. If people CHOOSE to use FOOD as a DRUG, then they are choosing to distort their body and those of their children by passing this display of bad choice on to those that are too young to choose for themselves. This is the epitome of BAD PARENTING. We would all frown at seeing a parent give their 10 year old a cigarette and lighting it for them. But every day we see, the enormously distorted fat parent walking with an extra large soft drink and junk food and their child eating the same way, sporting a mini version of their own distorted shape. Don't these people have eyes and a lick of SENSE??????? Yet, we all have to feel sorry for them. Their bad choices and continued denial of their own responsibility has the taxpayer forking out too much for their disability payments and related medical costs.

Let's talk about airplane seats. They complain that the smaller people seated on either side of them seem uncomfortable with their weight and size....well you DAMN right we are! You are invading MY SPACE with your obesity and making ME UNCOMFORTABLE on an already too-tight a squeeze in the economy section. You think because I am petite and YOU are FAT that you somehow have the right to take my armrest and make me keep my arms squeezed close to my body for YOUR comfort.

OK, there, I said it. I have voiced my freedom of speech and have, by this blog, put myself out of the running for U.S. President---because should I run for public office, I will be labeled as a very bad and prejudiced little person with a big attitude against those poor unfortunate people that won't stop eating. Well, I'll gladly forfeit my presidential run to have expressed how I REALLY feel. It's about time somebody stand up for those of standard proportion.

Venice - DAY 1

VENEZIA - City of Water, City of LOVE

My adventure to Venice was truly GRAND. I was mezmerized by my immersion into history. There is no place in the province that you are not IN history, no place to walk that has not been walked by those we read about from days of old. If you walk with a stillness at say, 4 a.m., before the throngs of tourists and the locals setting up shop, you can feel the ghosts of days gone by, the intrigue that was prevalent in those times. Courtesans meeting their lovers of high political position, the famous artists who were commissioned by kings, doges, the pope, who's works are today infamous, assassins who are commissioned by those who wish or need someone to be killed, the places of the murders, darkened alleyways, hidden doorways. It's all still there, and the entire place carries the vibes, the memories, the spirits of it all. In the wee hours of the morning, the magic of Venice is truly alive.

I walked these pathways at this bewitching hour my first morning in Venice, and felt myself to be in no danger personally. My sense of adventure, traveling solo, overtook any fears I might have entertained. I did not even bring along my beloved Canon, as I wanted to feel FULLY this energy that is alive before the morning sun gives a hint of illuminating the darkness and solitude that is only at this hour. The pigeons are absolutely everywhere and seem to 'own' the entire place before the sun rises.

I went to the Rialto crossing on the Grand Canal at this same bewitching time. The quiet of Venice's main waterway was soothing to the soul, with the sounds only of the seagulls, pigeons and water gently lapping against the bridge.

I only smoke cigarettes in Italy, it's the only place to buy the DIANA brand. On the Rialto bridge I took out my first one of the trip. Having no light I asked the only person I saw, a very old man. He embraced me immediately and with his thick Italian dialect, said only "No fume" and "Ciao bella - bootifool, bootifool." He took me to the restaurant just over the bridge that he unlocked, invited me in, gave me a light and made us morning cappuccinos. He kept hugging me and saying those same words over and over, he spoke no English, and my Italian was minimal. Like walking the streets alone in these wee hours feeling no danger, I felt no danger from this little old man. We sipped our delicious brew, and I was on my way, feeling properly welcomed to my adventure here in the City of Water, City of Love and Intrigue. It was clear to me, as in my sojourn to Buenos Aires four years before, that I was on an adventure to fall in love again - with ADVENTURER within mySELF!

Check back in for continuing tales of this Venetian Romance!