Costume Inspiration II

More came to me and I thought they weren't bad ideas, so here's a few more!

Carmen San Diego

Fortune Teller Box

The Muppets

"Baby Jane" Hudson

Amelia Bedelia (don't forget to carry around a "dressed" chicken)

The Grinch or the Whos from Whoville

Happy Days Cast

Threes Company

Recess

The Golden Girls

Eddie and Patsy from Absolutely Fabulous

The Magic School Bus

Costume Inspiration

For some reason I've got a costume brainstorm going today and figured I might as well share them since I couldn't possibly use them all!

Some aren't specific, just a cartoon or idea with a lot of characters. Hope you get some inspiration!

The Planeteers and/or the Captain from Captain Planet

The Jetson's

The Flintstones

Futurama

Animaniacs

Sit and Be Fit Lady - (I think it'd be hilarious to bring and keep a chair with you at all time)

1920's

Annie Oakley

Toy Story

Rainbow Bright

Pippi Longstocking

Bewitched

Mary Poppins

Neverending Story

Wizard of Oz

Shrek

Doug

Joan of Arc

Amelia Earhart

Patsy Cline

The Charlie's Angels (in true 70's form!)

Any Rogers and Hammerstein Musical Character - (a fella as Curly from Oklahoma could take me out any day of the week . . . just saying)

Any Character of Val Kilmer in The Saint

Rick Astley (from the infamous internet Rick Roll)

Inspector Gadget

Original Pink Panther

Marx Brothers

Three Stooges

Little Rascals

Karate Kid

Surf Ninjas

Study Shows Fat is Better Than Thin

Yes, I'm back to this same topic. Sorry. It's just been on my mind a lot. I've hit a breaking point as you probably saw with my original post about skinny jeans. . . .

It's just that I'm sooooo tired of people talking about their weight like they can't allow themselves to be happy until they're the perfect size or shape. Or that they can't be a contributing member of society and be taken seriously if they don't look like a poverty stricken, malnourished human being from a country in famine. I'm frustrated that a baby is being refused medical insurance because he's "too fat"! Seriously? Who can't understand that fat is purposely stored by a child's body to supplement his/her nutrition as his/her body doubles and triples in size within the first year of life? I'm ticked that, because of model obsession, my friend believes a common acquantaince of ours, who is painfully anorexic, is "naturally thin" and has a great body!

I'm done letting the lies soak into our generation. I'm done with the media reeling us in: hook, line and sinker. I'm just done.

So here I am again, tossing out another train of thought. You can take it or leave it, but I'm throwing it out anyway.

Here it is.

A Japanese study took 44,000 adults between ages 40-79 over the course of 11 years and estimated the expected life span in relation to that person's BMI level because they say "the relation between body mass index (BMI) and mortality is not well established."

NOTE: 44,000 is a LARGE sample size. For those of you wanting to know the comparison . . . most obesity=death studies usually have samples from 500-2000 and, frustratingly, are poorly pooled . . . like groups from convalescent homes (who probably already have health conditions and are inactive . . . duh). The other issue is that a lot of these articles compare factors that say things like, "since it's already been proven that fat=death and disease, we looked at other things in this study and didn't bother to study that". I have not seen a well done article proving the reverse of this study, and believe you me, I've looked up a lot.

So anyway . . . you know what these guys found? Here, I'll let them tell you:

"Result: During 11 years of follow-up, 1,121 men and 567 women had died. Compared with the referent BMI category (23.0-24.9), women in the highest BMI category (BMI>30.0) had a RR of death of 1.64 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.09-2.49) and men and women in the lowest BMI categories (BMI<18.5) class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">confounders and after exclusion of deaths occurring in the first three years of follow-up. We did not observe significant differences in mortality for subjects with wide range of BMI (18.5 or higher in men and 18.5 to 29.9 in women)."

Ok, what is this telling us? . . . It says that there is a greater health risk associated with being underweight than there is in being overweight . . . in fact, it says that those who were overweight in their BMI category had the longest rate of mortality of all groups.

The UK's Telegraph reported on this study. They said that:

The study found that among those aged 40, the overweight category topped the polls in terms of the longest life expectancy, with expectations of an average of 40.5 extra years for men and 47 years for women.

Those classed as "normal" weight followed closely behind, with 38.7 additional years expected among men and 46.3 among women, the study showed.

However, researchers found that those defined as slim were bottom in terms of life expectancy, with 33.8 further years predicted among men and 41.1 among women.

Health concerns surrounding the slimmest eclipsed those of the overweight, with higher risks of heart disease and other illnesses as they age, according to Masato Nagai, a graduate student involved in the research.

'Those who are too slim are reportedly said to be at higher risk of cardiovascular disease and are more likely to develop pneumonia as nutritional deficiency lowers their resistive force,' he said.

So there you have it. Skinny does not equal healthy, and that's extra sad because it probably means they haven't been getting to eat dessert either. :(

My advice stays the same. Eat healthy, exercise and DO NOT STRESS about your weight . . . that's probably the part that's gonna kill you anyway.

And, as one last side note . . . even the studies that say fat will kill you also say that small amounts of weight loss can change your health. In fact, despite our huge focus on BMI in our country, everyone seems to forget to tell the doctors that losing only 10 lbs in an obese adult can do wonders, not losing 50 . . . so who's duped us into believing we have to be in our BMI normal weight range to be healthy? Because, believe you me, 10 lbs in my life is easy . . . it's a drop in the bucket and wouldn't even put me over the line between obese and overweight . . . but according to obesity researchers, keeping that 10 lbs off will keep me healthier.

Think about it . . . obesity.org (who say fat will kill you) says that losing small amounts of fat, around 10 lbs, can potentially reverse the effects of diabetes and sometimes put it completely into remission . . . so who's telling you that more is better when it hasn't been proven . . . and where did your doctor get the idea to recommend losing 50 lbs instead of 10? . . . Do you think your doctor takes time (or even has the time) to critically review the statistical information of articles they choose to peruse during their free time (when they also have to keep up on their CME credits to keep their license and usually do so through a 3rd party education firm that chooses materials for them) . . . or maybe, if they have time, they read the articles someone else chose to put in certain magazines and news journals who happen to make most of their money in weight loss advertisements between the pages . . .

In fact, when is the last time you saw a magazine, newspaper, commercial block or website that didn't have one weight loss ad in the mix? . . . Do you realize how big of an industry this is? It's an industry that makes more money with a higher recidivism rate (or in other words, they do better the more times you fail and have to try again) . . . an industry that increases sales the more you're convinced to hate yourself and your body . . . an industry that can convince you to eat nothing but juice, processed diet bars and/or even take diet pills that act as glorified laxatives . . . turns out people are desperate enough to lose weight that they were willing to risk pooping their pants in public! . . . no foolin'!

I'm just saying, think about it.

Weight, Let Me Clarify!

I've gotten a fair amount of disagreement with my blog post on the Boy Scout's new weight restriction initiative and I thought I would clarify a few things.

First of all, the BSA's plan is to exclude kids with a BMI percentage higher than about 32%. These kids would not be allowed to attend 3 of the elite high-adventures camps. Not only that by they will be excluded them from any activity over 30 minutes from a health facility. The BSA does not give any other qualifiers. Those of you who have been on scout outings know that probably most places fall under this heading. So even if the activity is a 5 mile hike, as long as it's over 30 minutes from medical attention, the fat kids will be excluded.

Second, gauging fitness by weight not only implies that fat people are not fit, but assumes that skinny people are fit. I know from personal experience (and you probably do too) that "normal" size kids can be just as out of shape and hold up the group just as much as anyone else.

I guess I'm a little more invested than the next person because I wouldn't have made the cut even as a teenager. . . or even later when I was at my most fit. My BMI was still over the limit when I was running a few miles 5 days a week and when I hiked Mount Timp in Utah, which is 13 miles round trip in an altitude of about 11,000 ft. I had no problems keeping up with everyone (okay, maybe not everyone . . . one guy there had legs as tall as me, but I believe that has more to do with his stride capacity than anything else . . . and anyway, he was just fast for anyone . . but I digress).

I have known many people who've done tremendous physical feats while maintaining a high BMI percentage. I actually just met someone who ran a marathon while over the BSA's BMI limit. I have an aunt who's always been active; teaching aerobics and belly dancing every day for years and still over the limit. You can even see a photo gallery of people *here* doing all sorts of activities while still at a high BMI . . . please note the man completing an Ironman Triathalon who's at 32% on the BMI and who doesn't even look fat . . . which he probably doesn't have much fat anyway and would still register over the BSA limit. (And please don't tell me that these limits could be more indicative if they were going by your actual fat percentage because one, it's just not true and two, because when's the last time you went to the doctor and he/she checked your actual body fat percentages rather than just cross-referencing your height and weight to tell you your BMI?)

My issue is not with the BSA choosing to make sure kids are prepared for these events, it's that you cannot choose that by weight. What confuses me is that they have always required a doctor's physical which should be sufficient and you'd think as part of the program, they could very easily (and probably already do) have pre-qualifying treks and hikes. It seems that the system is already set up to work out case-by-case situations of youth and kids, but is still choosing to use the least definitive method of selection with an upper-limit unnecessarily disqualifying a lot of kids.

The other issue I have is that this isn't just for the 50-200 mile hikes (which, again, you shouldn't automatically assume fat people can't do anyway), the BSA states that these limits would be for any activity that is over 30 minutes from a medical facility. They give no other qualifier. So even a 5 mile hike 40 minutes out of town would be off-limits. Let's be honest, that would weed out a LOT of scouting activities. Also, this is to assume that fat people spontaneously die or have health reactions from exercise or limited amounts of food and water, which they don't! . . . And let's be honest, if we're talking about scouts getting cut off from food, the fat kids gonna hold out the longest anyway.

The only time fat people have health episodes are when they already have pre-existing conditions . . . which normal weight people are just as succeptable to. Which is why I figure that a physical by a doctor should be sufficient on the liability front.

And lastly, I even called my brother who is currently involved in scouts to see if he had a different perspective. Specifically I called this brother because he happens to be one of the skinny kids who's in tip-top shape running up the trails before everyone else; who doesn't have patience to deal with the unfit kids who just wanted to play around. I asked him what he thought and he felt this was a poor qualifier since there are a lot of skinny kids who aren't prepared and hold people up as well as the fact that he also has friends over the height/weight limits who were amply prepped for their activities, even including the 50 mile trek they did.

Feel free to disagree, I still just can't see any need for this kind of regulation.

On My Honor, I Will Do My Best . . . to Be Thin?

Since posting my last entry, I've been getting a lot of feedback about dieting, health, wellness and body image issues. It's encouraged me to start becoming part of the Fat Acceptance movement.

I've recently joined the website bigfatblog.com. It's a great community of people helping to spread the knowledge of REAL health and body acceptance and refuse to focus on weight as a true indicator of wellness.

It was in one of the forums on this site that I found the following from user DebraSY.

"PLEASE READ your September/October 2009 edition of Scouting magazine, starting page 45, Fat Chance.

. . . Scouting is determined to raise the bar by encouraging responsibility.

The Annual Health and Medical Record, which takes effect in January 2010, restricts participation in high-adventure activities based on standardized height/weight ratios. For wilderness outings where health care is 30 minutes or more away, Scouts deemed too overweight won't be allowed to participate. And bottom line: If you're overweight, you can't attend Philmont Scout Ranch, Florida Sea Base, or Northern Tier High Adventure Base.

Reynolds (Ruth T. Reynolds RN, BSN, and medical cooordinator for the Boy Scouts of America) doesn't apologize for that. She says the BSA intends the new forms to be in line with the Scout Oath: "I will keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight." She argues that, "We as Scouters are not taking responsibility for who we are. The Scout Law says a Scout has 12 important characteristics, but it doesn't say a Scout is sedentary, fat, or unhealthy."

Basically all kids deemed too fat (those with a BMI higher than 30-ish%) will not be allowed to participate in any of the cool high adventure scouting activities! WHAT THE HECK!?

First of all, let's just say right now that it is ridiculous that the last sentence of that quote puts sedentary, fat and unhealthy in the same little pool. Per my earlier post, we've already identified that the idea that fat people are fat because they don't eat right and are lazy are STEREOTYPES . . . not fact.

Second of all, isn't scouts one of the few places that kids can still jump in and be active? *Begin side rant* We can't necessarily blame kids for the health problems in our world . . .we live on processed foods and in neighborhoods with 10 square feet to play in. . . if there is a problem with weight, it's going to be as a byproduct of these situations, as well as poor health . . . anyone who's taken basic statistics knows that correlation is NOT an inference of causation!*End side rant* Is this really going to make them feel welcome at the scouting activities they are allowed participate in (i.e. the mile hikes at your local park . . . LAME)? Will they be encouraged to continue being physical when they're outcast from their group of scout friends!? No! It is most definitely going to encourage the stereotype that they don't fit in, don't belong, or aren't the same as the "regular" thin kids. Great plan guys!

DebraSY's post reflects my thoughts exactly when she says, "'Authorities also say obesity affects a child's quality of life. Obese kids have negative body images and poor self-esteem. Many become targets for bullying.'

Uhm, let's see, so we're going to raise their self esteem by humiliating them and excluding them from scouting's most treasured experiences? NO, they won't fell alienated, ostracized. They'll be MOTIVATED, eh?"

The last part of the article is about a troop leader (although I can only assume he's a leader because it isn't clearly stated) . This leader, Jack Hancock, was encouraged to get healthy and lose 125 lbs because of his doctor's denial to sign-off on his scouting physical. It says that Jack's blood pressure was really high and he was becoming diabetic . . . it doesn't say the doctor refused because of his WEIGHT!!! I agree with the doctor on this . . . he had REAL risk factors that indicated he might have serious problems if he wasn't able to stay properly hydrated during extensive hiking and he also had high blood pressure, not a great risk factor for high adventure.

Obviously his poor diet and exercise were the problems and NOT his weight . . . in fact, it would seem that he was too fat for what his body's homeostasis. If a proper diet and exercise allowed him to drop 125 lbs, the weight wasn't the problem to begin with. . . .Nice try Scouting magazine! I'm not swallowing this story of a shamed adult who was unhealthy to begin with to encourage your exclusion of fat kids.

I plan on sharing my thoughts with the Scouting magazine . . . I hesitate at this point to direct my thoughts to the Boy Scouts in general as the magazine is the only place I've found this information. I have a hard time believing one message wouldn't go from one to the other though.

If you are encouraged to do the same, here's the contact information for the Scouting magazine. You can email a letter to the editor right here: http://www.scoutingmagazine.org/about/contact/letters/index.html or mail a letter to their address here: Scouting, P.O. Box 152079, Irving, TX 75015-2079.

Skinny Jeans? No Thanks, I'll Take Mine Fat!

I've finally decided to do it. I'm blogging about being fat.

Why you ask? Really, I'm not sure. . . I think partially it's that our society is so bogged down by body hate that I feel the need to put up some sort of fight . . . the other is probably that, like most women, it gets to me and I deal best with my issues by laying them out on the table.

I've talked to a lot of girls who have pretty horrific stories about families, friends and schoolmates making inappropriate comments about their bodies. To me, I can't fathom how awful this would be from your own family . . . seriously. You can eventually brush off the digs of bully kids you barely know, but from your family? They're supposed to love you no matter what, right?

Many of my friends accounted to me that their mothers used to mandate exercise times with sentence endings such as, "because you don't want to get fat like your sister", "because basketball season is over and you're already getting chunky around the middle", and even "because boys don't like fat girls". . . (unbelievably, the basketball comment was one I witnessed and said to my leanest and most muscular friend).

I know parents don't want their kids going through the trauma and teasing, but if there was one place you would expect understanding and a reprieve of negativity . . . well . . . yeah, I would hope that would be at home.

The truth of the matter is that, for someone who's always been overweight, I've had a charmed life. I had awesome parents who encouraged healthy, not restrictive, eating and fun, not forced, physical activity. I was raised by a mother who was ahead of her time and fed us on whole grains and home grown organics long before it was a fad. I have a father who constantly told me I was beautiful, and meant it. He was also so worried about his daughters developing eating disorders that he asked if I was getting enough to eat when I came back from college and had lost 10 lbs . . . putting me at an even 200 lbs . . . yes, he's adorable.

Honestly, I've never felt I was really fat and some of you wonderful people probably believe (and some of you have even said) that you don't think of me as fat. But unfortunately according to social indicators, I am fat. I submit the following: Exhibit #1: according to the BMI (Body Mass Index), I am not just overweight, I am considered obese. Exhibit #2: I cannot shop at a lot of the stores you lovely souls do because the sizes do not run to my size. Exhibit #3: Weight-loss advertisements use my body size to show people just how scary fat can be (albeit, these people are clad in frumpy and loose clothing . . . or in scandalous sports clothes that are two sizes too small with body mass flying everywhere. Not a great portrayal, but they are, nevertheless, still my size). Exhibit #4: Those of you who popped out your eyes a bit when I earlier admitted to weighing twice that of a supermodel.

So what's my point? Good question.

I feel like our society raises us to believe that we will never be good enough physically. I think women have slightly harsher guidelines, but it definitely applies to both the genders. . . We are raised with these eerie expectations of perfect bodies. Even those with "ideal" body shapes and sizes have things they want to change. I'm hard-pressed to find one woman in 10 who is only dissatisfied with one or two things about her body. It's a sad reality.

What's also unfortunate to me is that our "scientific" medical society has begun telling us that being fat is a sin. . . And I HATE bringing this up, because a lot of people will roll their eyes and think that fat people make this stuff up to feel better about themselves. . . but I'm gonna say it anyway: BEING SKINNY DOES NOT GUARANTEE BETTER HEALTH. (Commence rolling of eyes you naysayers . . . everyone else, continue reading.) I don't mind that our nation is health conscious . . . but we're all being duped into thinking that the anorexic supermodel look is what health looks like. I submit that health doesn't look like anything. Health is defined by other things. I will use myself as an example.

I submit that I'm not the healthiest person on earth, and most of us probably aren't, but as I said before, I was raised on whole grains and organics, I have normal cholesterol and perfect blood-pressure. Although I'm not much of a runner, if I feel inclined, I can get up and jog 2 miles without stopping and without having any of my organs rupture.

In high school, I started Weight Watchers at the beginning of my senior year and learned what a healthy diet consisted of (not just calorie restriction, but a balanced, nutritious diet . . . which I'd already been getting, thanks to my mom). At the time, I was taking a body toning class at school that I did three days a week and did cardio another 3 days a week. I dropped about 10 lbs for a total of 210 lbs.

Then I went to college where I had limited funds and no time to eat but did my best to have a somewhat balanced diet. Fast food was not in my budget and I would guess that my daily average calorie intake was around 1500 to 1700 calories. I had no car and two feet so I walked wherever I needed to go. Additionally, I continued to do toning exercises at least 3 times a week and played killer games of water polo as often as my free time allowed. . . at this point I had dropped 10 lbs during my first few months at college, which, as I mentioned above, put me at an even 200 lbs.

So, 10 lbs in the first few months seems encouraging right? Right. . . I continued this diet and exercise cycle for the next two years by lifestyle default and (cue the trumpets) . . . still weighed 200 lbs . . .wait, what? That can't be right! I have been told that diet and exercise mathematically creates weight-loss. So I got my thyroid checked. Normal. So I got my blood checked: Diabetes. No. Cholesterol. Normal. Blood pressure. 120/80.

Hmmmm . . . I'm just under 5'8", so take that, cross-reference 200 lbs, and I get 30.4 on the BMI . . . that's still obese. . . not just overweight, but obese! What's wrong with me!? My doctor says I'm healthy, but I can't get to a "healthy weight" on the BMI! How depressing!

So, what did I do? I read Wendy Shanker's book called The Fat Girl's Guide to Life and stopped trying to change my weight. Instead, I changed my mind.

I realized that I was healthy and active; that I had a fabulous body that could do fabulous things. I felt like my confidence was always held just under the surface of my skin, but never thought I would have the courage to tell others that I could be okay the way I was. I mean, fat just isn't something you come to terms with. You tell people about that new diet your going to try, or the new exercises you're going to do . . . you don't just tell them you're fat and okay with it! Or do you?

Now I do. I have decided to put Health before Beauty. . . not that you can't have both . . . but if it really gets down to it, I will opt to be healthy and fat (yes, they can be synonymous) rather than get down on myself because I cannot attain an unrealistic image of beauty.

What do I mean by health? I mean, a balanced diet to include rational amounts of food everyday. I mean, doing your best to maintain an active lifestyle, despite the fear of being mocked by the skinnies. I mean, finally taking those one-day-I-will-finally-be-beautiful-and-fit-into-you-again clothes that you wore in your "attractive glory days" and storing them because you finally realize you can look good at any size, especially when your clothes fit! I mean, embracing your body for the amazing creation it is; realizing that it is self-healing, that it provides you your five senses, that it can be trained to accomplish amazing feats or even just that your brain can process these alphabet letters I'm throwing up everywhere and use them to comprehend what I'm trying to say.

So, here's the deal. Take another look at the way you think about and treat your bodies and decide to be a little nicer. Start working with your body, not against it. Just training yourself to be kinder to your body is a healthy step that will decrease stress and negative emotions. Realize that we can all be a little healthier at any size. Health before Beauty, not the other way around.

Women in particular, need to stop kidding themselves that it is okay to hate your bodies. It is not! When you do this, it teaches others, including and most especially the media, your community, your family and children that this is an acceptable practice. It is not!

If you need help in the process, I highly recommend Wendy's book. There's also another book I've heard good things about, it's called Health at Every Size by Linda Bacon, PhD.

The best part is that when you love your body and treat it right, it will only love you back and make you feel better.

It's time to start loving your body. No more excuses!!

A Tribute

I've had a lot of different thoughts about the passing of Michael Jackson. It seems that his death has had a great impact on our lives. . . . not necessarily on a personal grief level, but on the bombardment of the story from online newsfeeds, to television news, to twitter and facebook, and as a "good story" to tell a friend in passing.

As I would for anyone who's lost a loved on, I feel very sorry for his family and friends. I think of all the trials his family has dealt with since the inception of The Jackson 5 and it's hard for me to watch as a nation and world pries into his personal life and rushes to broadcast news of his death, most likely informing strangers of intimate details of his death before friends and family are even aware.

I cannot mourn Michael Jackson as a friend as most of us cannot. I do grieve though over the fact that he seemed so troubled in his life. He had an amazing career and was incredibly talented, and yet from my limited knowledge, it seemed that he was often fighting demons. I grieve for this. It's hard to see someone, whether a celebrity, a stranger and/or a personal friend, lack peace in their life. It's often amazing that someone with so much talent, so much popularity and fame could live a life lacking confidence in their potential and worth just as a human being.

I guess I'm drawing conclusions about the personal feelings of a man I didn't really know, but it makes me think that, for all our focus on fame and fortune, we should remember that happiness doesn't come from these things. In some ways, I think Michael knew this and tried hard to find some peace. He worked hard at raising money for charity. He organized charity pop concerts and donated to many different organizations gaining him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2000 for the "Most Charities Supported By a Pop Star". . . .which was 39 total. He also co-wrote the song "We Are the World" with Lionel Richie and sold it to benefit poor in Africa. In fact, the settlement he received from Pepsi Cola because he got burned during a rehearsal was completely donated to burn recovery patients.

Anyway, we all have our own thoughts about Michael and remember him in different ways. I've been a fan of Michael's music and dancing since I was a kid. I distinctly remember visits with my cousin Julian where we would sit and watch the music video for "Beat It" over and over again; perfecting the moves and learning the words. I loved the "Bad" and "Thriller" albums and many other songs . . . but I thought I'd share this video of a song that's often forgotten by our generation but should provide a good amount of nostalgia. . . . if you can't remember what movie this is from, think of the ocean.