A lazy Friday

I didn't make it to the gym.  I kinda needed a break.  Guess I'll have to work up to 6 days a week - but since I went five days, I guess I'm almost there.  I just needed a veg day.  But today I'm back with the program.

I didn't weigh in yesterday (because the scale is at the gym), but I did do measurements.  I lost 3.5 inches last week, so yayyyyy me.  That leaves me about 24.5 inches away from my NYC goal.   (that's a guestimate, considering I don't know how the much the measurments for middrift/girth/thigh etc in the smaller sizes are)

I started to wonder if maybe I'm overdoing it at the salad bar.  It's good stuff, but maybe I'm eating too much of it?  I just figured out the calculations on fit day and it turns out I was eating approximately what I thought I was eating (around 500 calories), so it's all good.  The only reason it's that high is that I add a small bowl of chili and a half a slice of cornbread to the salad.  It's $6.85 for all you can eat, but I only eat one plate of salad and one bowl of chili.  That's progress for someone like me, who always wanted to eat a lot to "get my money's worth".

Which reminds me, I caught a bit of Supersize Me yesterday and they were talking about how the "supersize" revolution has contributed to the obesity epidemic in America and it got me to thinking about a few things.

Personally, I think it's ridiculous to sue McDonalds for obese kids.  The parents have a choice to take them there and they have a choice what to buy there when they get there.  We all have choices, it just seems stupid to me to make a bad choice and then blame someone else for offering that choice.

McDonalds has been around for, what?, 50 years?  Why then has obesity "just started" to gain momentum?

Well that's when they brought up another point.  McDonalds markets to kids and young adults.  From the Happy Meal to the "I'm Lovin It" campaign, they appeal to younger type folks and have for years.  Now those same kids are adults who get to choose their food PLUS food for their kids.  

And let's face it - it's cheaper to eat badly.   I know when I have a gaggle of kids to feed it's cheaper to get burgers and pizza than it is to buy a salad for each one.  What is on their dollar menu as opposed to their fancy salads?  And there is the supersize factor, where you can end up eating a huge quantity of stuff that is bad for you for just a few pennies more (soda/fries).  

Another point raised was how obesity threatened to topple tobacco as the leading cause of preventable death in the US, but yet it's totally acceptible to target smokers and yet political incorrect to target overweight people.  I never looked at them as the same thing, but I guess they kind of are.  The main difference for smoking vs. overeating - someone at my table smoking affects me personally no matter if I choose to smoke or not.  Overeating is a pretty self destructive habit.

Although points have been raised in the press lately about how the medicare system will have to pay for the medical reprocussions as the obese adults of this generation start to hit retirement age.

It was a lot of food for thought, to pardon the pun. 

I still think it's stupid to sue someone else for your bad choices, but I do understand where the frustration comes from.  However, it's not McDonalds' responsibility to police our food choices.  They offer choices, it's up to us to make the right ones.  And if the kids clamor for Happy Meals or the teens clamor for Micky D's, it's the parents' responsibility to show them how to make healthier substitutions.  I believe Wendys has paved the way offering fruit with their kids meals, giving parents options.

And as always, that's what it all boils down to.  Yeah, maybe it's more expensive to eat out "correctly", but that kind of limits how much you eat out in the long run.

Which may be the best step to take toward life long weight management.

I'm just really glad I found a place like Green Jeans that I can make a healthier choice without breaking the bank.

I got an inspiration last night to tweak a couple of the scenes from my script so I wrote the producer and asked that he after read it we could discuss those changes before he sends it on.  He wrote back to say he already did send it on.  This means he trusts my writing enough to send it on without reading it himself now, and that's a big deal.  A really big deal.  

This last week has been so surreal.

It's good... but it's surreal.

Now I gotta get some "real" work done so I can hit the gym later.  I'm trying to flip my schedule and Saturday nights are pretty good nights to do it.  Keep your fingers crossed I won't need a nap LOL