Happy Friday! Wow this week has flown by!
This morning I was so excited to try out my new Booty Camp Fitness DVD.
I started with the Cardio Quickie which was 19 mins plus a 5 min warm up and 5 min cool down. Then I did the BOOTY BOOSTER afterwards. I didn’t know this, but the DVD is actually two DVD’s for a total of 262 minutes. Yowza!
It KICKED MY BOOTAY!!!! Oh my gosh, I was panting up a storm doing the cardio portion and the Booty Booster was honestly the best booty workout I have ever done. I was cursing in my head and out loud!!!
It gave me a nice post-booty glow afterwards! :mrgreen:
Lunch took two minutes to prepare and it was a good thing because I was Hangry!
2 Minute Pumpkin Quinoa
Ingredients:
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- 1/2 cup Almond Breeze (unsweetened)
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- Shredded coconut to garnish
Directions: Mix together and add more salt if necessary. Heat and serve! I think this was the quickest lunch I have ever made!!!
Serves 1.
This is my favourite spoon. It is from Mexico where Eric and I got engaged!
What is that, an elephant??
I can’t stop.
Two delicious kiwis to keep the tropical theme going! A hefty dose of Vit C to keep those colds at bay.
Do You Feel Pressure From Your Job To Be Thin: Take 2
It is amazing how many women feel pressure to maintain or achieve a low body weight because of one’s JOB (see original post here). It is a bit scary actually when you think about how many hours a day we spend at work or in school.
A few themes in the comments stuck out for me:
Please note, I am not saying this is true in every workplace, I am just summarizing what some of the comments were in the original post.
1) Appearance focused jobs come with a lot of pressure to be thin. For example, jobs like fashion design, acting, retail, sales, health and fitness, etc. However, office jobs too can have a lot of pressure depending on the environment.
2) Women often feel pressure from other women, not men, to lose weight.
3) There is a lot of unhealthy diet/weight talk that goes on among women at work.
4) Healthy women are often singled out and made fun of because of their ‘weird’ eating or exercise habits.
5) Women often feel the need to reduce their attractiveness or increase it, depending on their environment. Many of you said you tried to downplay your attractiveness to be taken more seriously, or you used it to your advantage.
6) Many college environments have a ton of pressure to be thin and to ‘keep up with the Jones’
I often hear the saying that women are skinny for other women, not men. Do you think that is true? There tends to be this unspoken pressure that many women feel when they are in groups with other women. This pressure can escalate when women feel that things are at stake like a promotion at work or a higher grade in a class.
One reader put it very well when she asked, ‘Why do we do this to ourselves?’ I think it is so hard to get away from the negative situation, especially if others are constantly talking about dieting all day at work. How do you get away from your coworkers whom you have to talk to all day long?
At my old job, I had one coworker who would make fun of me every single day. He would often say, ‘All you eat is lettuce.’ in front of my boss and my coworkers. It was humiliating and not true, in fact, I never even used to bring salads for lunch (not that there is anything wrong with a salad, anyways!). Other days, he would tease me for eating TOO much. We all know that when you eat healthy (especially vegetarian or vegan) you need a lot of food to sustain your energy. I would pack large lunches because if I didn’t I would be starving all day long! My coworker often said things like, ‘Wow you are going to eat all that?’ and ‘Geeze are you still eating?’. It was a very negative situation day in and day out, even though I tried just to ignore it the best I could.
I eventually realized that no one can bring me down without my permission.
Here I was letting this guy get to me each day, when I knew that I was doing nothing wrong. I finally decided to stop allowing him to affect my mood. I just had to say to myself, ‘No more’, and each time it happened, I tuned it out and told myself something positive about myself inside my head such as, ‘You treat yourself amazing and you respect your health.’ I also realized that he probably said these things to me because he was insecure about himself. He ate fast food for lunch everyday and he probably felt bad about his own choices.
I think it is important for women everywhere to live for yourself, first. Don’t live for your coworkers who expect you to eat a diet yogurt for lunch with them everyday. Don’t live for your male boss who expects you to look a certain way.
Decide to live for YOU and you only. Make yourself happy. Treat yourself kindly. The better you treat yourself, the happier you will be, and the easier it will be for you to ignore the pressure. I found the worse I treated myself, the more I perceived the pressure to be around me. If I bought into the pressure, it was hard to escape. If I told myself that I was in control of how I perceived my environment, then it made it easier.
We can help ourselves a lot if we change our perception and surround ourselves with positive people, or even just positive thoughts.
What do you think? Are women thin for other women, or for men? Is it possible to escape the pressure that many of us feel?
Absolutely! A lot of pressure on women to be thin *does* come from other women. I don’t know why this is, but it’s really disheartening. In my mind, it seems to negate all the positive steps forward women have made over the years: the right to vote, Women’s Liberation, equal opportunity in the workplace, and more. If we women are bringing each other down about something as trivial as weight–and, yes, at the end of the day, it would be better to be an overweight activist who passionately cares about the world she lives in, and strives to make a difference in that world, rather than a slender, fit woman who does nothing all day but sit around and paint her nails–how can we expect the rest of society to take us seriously, and listen to what we have to say? In retrospect, with attitudes like that, it’s amazing we’ve gotten anywhere!
(Then again, look how long it took for us women in the US to get the vote!)
The worst thing a woman can do to another woman is harp on her about her weight. Sure, I’m just as guilty as the next person for judging a person based his or her weight–and I think that’s only because I, too, have struggled with an eating disorder. But that’s an attitude I am trying very hard to change. I can only hope that, in the future, more people will strive towards healthy lifestyles, physically, emotionally and ideologically.
I think it may seem initially like women are thin for other women- but so much of the “ideal” image of feminine beauty is perpetuated by the media and other social constructs (which were ultimately created by MEN). Going with that….
Women tearing each other down over body image and appearance keeps us the percieved “weaker” sex. We can’t unite because we are too busy trying to live up to these ridiculous standards created by men.
What we choose to eat is just the beginning.
Whew!
That lunch looks fantastic; two of my favorites in one dish…
It is so true about negative comments often being a reflection of that person’s insecurities. I also struggled with that for a while. I am an extrememly healthy eater, and yes, I too have to eat a TON to sustain myself. I often hear comments ranging from “you need to eat more, you are too skinny” to “are you STILL eating” or “are you going to eat ALL of that” to “is that ALL you are eating?”. All of these commments from the same person. I finally realized that I couldn’t “win” with these people, no matter what I said/ate, and finally stopped caring! It has been so refreshing and a huge weight off my shoulders to no longer attempt to please others with my eating. I eat for me, and I love it!
I’m very interested in food blogs for this reason. I’m amazed at how much people have to eat in order to sustain energy. Right now I’m eating too much pasta, cheese and protein in my diet, and even though I’ve been reading food blogs for a good 8-9 months now, I still haven’t made the change to eat healthier.
It’s overwhelming to me. I don’t know what new stuff to shop for, and I don’t know what to pack for lunches – even though I read food blogs CONSTANTLY. I just think I’d like to almost have some one guide me (in person) to get me started on it all. Everything always looks so delicious!
How is grocery budget compared to what it used to be? Do you pay more or less now that you eat healthier?
Aww Nancy, I have two bits of advice for you:
1. I HIGHLY recommend going back to Angela’s very first blog posting and read every single day in sequential order. The material here is seriously life-changing. I gain so much encouragement and superb food ideas from Angela.
2. Set goals. Start small…change one thing a week. For me, I’ve made goals to try two new and healthy foods a week. Start exercising with a simple walk a few times a week or once a day after supper. Whatever works. Don’t be too hard on yourself. A healthy lifestyle is a life-long journey, not a passing fad. :)
I felt just like you about a year ago. Then I became inspired to become the woman I’ve always dreamed of being and have never looked back. Angela has been a huge part of my success. This place is like therapy for me.
Nancy — start SIMPLE, with one meal a day (lunch). I eat the same things most of the time. A turkey sandwich, orange or apple, veggies, big cup of tea. OR hummus, veggies, pita, big cup of tea. OR salad with cottage cheese (or whatever I have that is protein — beans, left-over chicken), veggies, oil and vinegar dressing. I keep apples/fruit at all times with me for snacks. I used to underestimate how hungry I’d be, so I always pack an extra piece of fruit, pack of nuts, etc. at work. Give that a try — pack a bunch of lunches at once. YOU CAN DO IT!
Thanks for the great replies! Ever since I started to work out (okay, I just started December 1, but still…) I love that I’m NOT craving chocolate, but rather crunchy apples, and carrot sticks.
I do pack great lunches, it’s just my supper is lagging a bit. Right now for my “healthy” lunches I usually eat rye bread, turkey luncheon meat, iceburg lettuce, a slice of tomato, and a squirt of mayo. I suppose that’s not too horrible, and I could replace the mayo with honey dijon or something. But I’m going to back to the very beginning like Amy suggested – and start reading and going from there.
Plus, it’s grocery day. Maybe I’ll pick up some hummus.. I have a bad taste in my head about hummus because when I was 16, I went on a camping trip and we had hummus and it was so gritty and dry and not so great. Maybe it’s changed since then, lol.
Again, thank you so much gals! You’re the best.
Your lunch looks delish- I am breaking out my canned pumpkin tonight!
I really do think that women dress for other women and that pressure comes from our peers. We are inherently more critical of ourselves (have you ever seen a guy feel bad about eating chocolate cake?!) and I think when we all get together, it’s worse.
I bring huge bags of food- it takes a lot of apples, veggies, fruits, nuts, etc. to keep this girl full. I just laugh it off- their problem, not mine!
Personally, I think all the pressure women feel they are under is a result of trying to compete with other women. Nobody ever tried to be superwoman to earn a mans approval.
I mean, do you really think you’re getting weekly manicures because men care about raggedy nails? Sure, its nice to look down at neat nails, but we’re doing it so we confrom to female standards, and so other girls don’t see us with raggedy nails and think we’re gross! Guys certainly don’t like trendy clothes, yet we’re all beating ourselves into jackets with huge shoulder pads and skinny jeans! And no guy expects us to be skinny…all the guys I know like girls who are regular :)
We totally do this to ourselves.
Great post…I agree that it is other women that make me want to be thin and look nice…guys just don’t notice or care about that stuff. As nother poster said, we totally do it to ourselves.
I didn’t think to comment on your original post because I don’t feel pressure to be thin at work. But, I am treated differently based on how I look. I get negative comments when I’m sick and not wearing makeup. I’m told I’m pretty whenever I wear my hair down (by my male boss). When I wear cute clothes my boss makes a big deal out of it. I don’t feel comfortable looking my best at work because it’s such a big deal. I purposely wear my hair back and a big, baggy sweatshirt for fear of another “compliment”.
At my old job, I was constantly berated for eating when I was hungry which didn’t happen to be at the specified lunch hour. I chose to take my lunch break with my friends, which didn’t happen to be when I was hungry. I was hungry before or after usually, so that was when I ate. I could only take so much before I snapped. Why is it ok to comment on how much a “skinny” person does or does not eat when it’s not ok to comment on how much a larger person does or does not eat? It’s an unfair double standard.
Hey! I’m always so impressed how gorgeous and glowing you look after a work out! i do NOT look like that haha…my face gets pretty red after I’m done.
I tend to want to be thin for myself. I was a dancer growing up so I always had a lean body but after I stopped dancing in college the pounds quickly started packing on. (I was used to dancing all day and eating what I wanted!)
xo
Jocelyn
I’m sure that I first wanted to lose weight out of pressure to be like other women. And somedays I feel the same pressure since Hunni doesn’t care if I gain a few pounds here or there. But mostly now i do it to prove I can do it for myself. I want to look good for me.
But I hate those comments of “Are you going to eat all that?” and “How do you not get fat eating all that food?” It sometimes comes out as snark when I talk back about how my food is better for me even in larger quantities than the burger they are eating. But mostly I can avoid that in my work situation now.
Pumpkin quinoa? Sounds delicious!
The pumpkin quinoa looks delicioussss. And I think that aside from being hard on OURSELVES…the next thing is that women are EXTREMELY hard on other women. When I think about all the times I’ve heard girls making fun of other girls for how they dress or look…especially due to weight…oy. We should support each other not tear each other down!
Your lunch looks fantastic! I love the shape of quinoa and the little tendrils that come off of it:)
Though call. Interesting. I’ve never though about it this way. Been thin is the ideal of beauty, in mostly every country in the world, and especially in the occidental world. Women put pressure on themselves to get to this ideal, and they perpetuate it (for the youngest generations) by doing so. There is some sort of social “beauty scale” that measure the ideal of beauty and that everyone knows from a very young age. Remember that we were young, we all envied (thin) princess and young popular movie stars. The more you look like a model, a cheerleader, a movie star, a magazine cover girl, the highest you rate on the scale. The highest you are on the “scale” the more you will be envied by other woman. Why? Because they’ll think you will have a better life, better husband, better job, you will be happier! I am not sure how men influence this, I doubt they are at the origin of all that. But about women, there is a lot of frustration since most women do not and will never look like THE top scored ideal or wouldnt been healthy doing so, there is therefore a lot of competition among woman, to “reach higher”. That lead SOME women to be mean, look down, isolate other woman that are “less ranked” than them or the one who do not seems to put much effort to be thin (which is frustrating for some who are trying but are not). I never felt pressure to be thin in my work environment but yet I did felt the frustration of some woman toward me and some jealousy.
I love this discussion. I struggled with this so much just in every day life and situations while getting healthy. People would constantly point out what I was eating and it made me incredibly uncomfortable. Then I was vegan for awhile, and the pressure was worse! I finally gave up all these ideas I had of letting other people control my food choices, and it’s been so liberating.
I now don’t feel the need to justify what and how I’m eating. If someone asks “are you vegan?”, “are you vegetarian?” “WHAT are you!?” I just say “I’m healthy”. And that’s enough justification.
I think it’s totally true that we try to look thin/beautiful for other women. My fiance doesn’t care at all if I don’t wear makeup or if I eat like a pig, or if I gain 10 pounds. However, i know that I’d get comments from other women if I suddently let loose and didn’t care about my appearance.
OK I don’t really think it’s women’s pressure on women. Let’s face it, men and women compete against their own sex for attention from the opposite sex. (unless you are of course homosexual, or bi, or whatever you may be) Men compete against men different then women compete against women. But let’s face it, most mean commments come from someone who is feeling insecure about something in their life.
When I was struggling with my ED, I would make sure I’d order food after my friends. I would eat slow, and make sure I had the least amount of food on my plate. It made me feel superior, stronger that I was eating less. If my friends had chocolate and I resisted, I felt better about myself. Needless to say I was far to conscious of what I was putting in my body in comparison to others.
To this day I get self-conscious when I order a salad or something because it totally does bring up those old feelings. What I really hate is when someone says, “Oh you’re being so good ordering a salad.” It seems so innocent, but I feel so guilty for enjoying the salad. Or like when people say, “Oh I wish I could be a vegetarian… but I just can’t.” It makes me feel like there’s something wrong with the fact that I am a vegetarian for me.
None of what I do is for other people, or to be superior, so I really don’t like it when people take my lifestyle as a comment on their lifestyle. So you want a burger and I want a salad? So what, there are times I eat crap too, it’s all relative.
At least I’m not super tiny, so people don’t bother me about that. Though sometimes I definitely feel like people look at me and assume I don’t eat well…
I’m sometimes given a hard time, as I’m not a fan of low-fat, and I even eat sugar sometimes, which many women can’t deal with. Too damn bad, I used to be obese, now I’m not, and I am not willing to be insane about food. The weird thing about it is that while I am given grief for intentionally, deliberately eating sugar and/or fat, it seems perfectly acceptable to follow a “clean” diet, with regular slip-ups, accidents, etc. If we’re going on a 3 hour hike, and I eat a heavy breakfast, and my hiking companion snarks on it while she eats a light breakfast, then a donut (“I shouldn’t, but I can’t resist”), I still think I’ve made the healthier choice. I’m not going to feel guilty about enjoying my food, as I think it’s a better choice than not enjoying it, and then eating junk to compensate. Besides, I’ve lost 50 pounds, if people don’t like how I eat, they can kiss my not so fat ass.
oh my god. I just about died laughing at your comment “Besides, I’ve lost 50 pounds, if people don’t like how I eat, they can kiss my not so fat ass.”
There are a few people I’d like to call up and just say that one line too, except, since I haven’t gotten to the 50lb lost (not even at the 15 pound loss yet) I’d substitute in my half marathon accomplishment.
The pumpkin quinoa looks so yummy and simple!
With regarding to woman being thin…I think they do it for other woman, as competition almost. Men don’t like girls who are too thin…at least I don’t think they do – cosmo told me haha.
Women are thin for other women – no question.