Out of the shoebox, into the newspaper.
A story about me, along with before and after photos, are in newspapers across Canada today. (Timmins Daily Press, Winnipeg Sun, London Free Press, Edmonton Sun, Toronto Sun, Ottawa Sun and Calgary Sun, as far as I know.) These few images that were spared being torn into bits either because I didn't have the opportunity to (if they were in someone else's shoe box) or I actually didn't think they were that bad.
It occurs to me now that I never have posted before photos, and I know people are curious to see them. I tried to do a little sidebar slideshow, but of course never did get it to work properly.
So here goes. The first one is me with my neice, who was 2 at the time and is 9 now - for a long time she didn't recognize who this is with her in the photo:
This is the after photo they chose for the paper. If you look closely at this picture you can see I have a scarred stomach (not from pregnancy) - but that's another post.
So, back to those cake and broccoli photos. Funny it was also spotted in Heathrow - I saw this coming off the plane in Toronto a few weeks ago. It was an ad for an insurance company or something completely un-food related... the point they were trying to make was that some things are clear black and white, like chocolate cake and broccoli. Easy to figure out. Everyone knows broccoli is good and chocolate cake is bad, right?
This is the scary part, that everyone is expected to understand this. Think about it: cakes are a huge part of our culture; we choose cake to celebrate joyous occasions - birthdays, weddings, births, anniversaries, graduations. Anything that calls for a party, calls for cake.
And yet, we also label it "bad". Not only from a nutritional standpoint; we all know that broccoli is good for you and cake generally doesn't have a lot to offer in terms of nutrition. But it goes way beyond that. If you eat broccoli, you're a good person, doing a good thing. Good for you. If you eat cake you are a bad person, and weak, with no willpower. How can we not be mixed up about all this food and weight stuff with so many mixed messages flying around?
Wanting a big piece of chocolate cake is not a sign of weakness, or a character flaw. Which isn't to say we should all indulge in cake free-for-alls, but as I think I've mentioned before: guilt is a terrible motivator. I'm pretty sure feeling badly about oneself never helped anyone accomplish anything. In fact, the weight loss industry depends on this: with a 5% success rate, why it a $50 billion industry? If there was another product on the market that failed 95% of the time, how many repeat customers do you think they would have? It's because we always blame ourselves and our shortcomings, instead of those impossible promises.
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8 comments:
It was actually quite a bit more involved than that in the UK. http://www.yourpointofview.com/hsbcads_print.aspx It was 2 pictures each of cake and broccoli, one of each labeled good and the other bad. Does that make sense? http://www.yourpointofview.com/upload/good_Print.pdf <- Similar. At least in the UK they seemed to be trying to say that it's all in how you look at it. Which, clearly, did not get translated to the ad in Canada!
Not that I'm arguing with a single thing that you are saying!
Julie,
I opened up the Toronto Sun this morning and noticed the picture on page 41 thinking hey that looks like the picture of the woman whose column I read. Then I realized it was indeed you! I'm going to try your brownie recipe this weekend. I hope it's not a sin to make it without the coffee grounds as I hate the taste of coffee anything.
Julie. I just plain adore you.
Wow Julie, thank you soo much for your honesty. I'm in awe of your strength of character.
I'm interested in how you did lose those amazing 165 pounds. I know you say it was the old fashion way, calories in, calories out, but from day to day, how did you did it? What did you eat? What was your menu for one day? How many calories did you eat per day? How many times did you exercise a week? What kind of exercise did you do in the beginning? Did you journal your days, moods, cravings, pains?
I'm totally hooked on your story because for once in a long time, I feel I to can achieve my goal weight...and that is pretty awesome.
Thanks Julie, you give wings to my goals.
Manon from Ontario
Hi Julie,
My beautiful friend Lana put me on to your blog. I have just recently started blogging for myself and am finding it immensely rewarding. I face my own weight demons every day - trying to find the courage to step out from my comfort zone and be the healthy person I want to be. For me it is so easy to revert back to the comfort zone. How did you get started - where did you find the strength to change?
Fondly,
Kelly
Your story is very inspiring!
Julie,
I have a shoebox full of before photos... still getting to the point where I can take an "after" pic. I'm 1/3 of the way there.
I agree guilt is not a motivator. When I started gaining I started hearing "Should you eat that?" from Mom... didn't help one bit...made me want whatever it was even more...and that was a decade ago. Well I started out a 3x ten months ago and I'm a 1x now... can't wait til I ditch the x's for good.
You're an inspiration Julie. Thank you!
i don't want to sound shallow, but dam you look hot in the after picture!
when i see friends or family members loose a lot of weight it first appears like they are sick. you have to get use to the new outward appearance.
and that is all it is, an outward appearance. health really is a state of mind, an emotion just like happy and sad. even if you are big or thin you can be health or not healthy. so ask yourself are you happy and how do you feel everyday! check in with yourself.
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