talkhealth Blog

Judgement – we have all experienced it at some point, and we all do it at some point…make judgements on what we see.

I have mentioned that lady at my Slimming World group before – the one who looked me up and down and said, “A girl of your size will lose at least 7lbs in your first week”…when I had already reached a loss of 15st-odd I think it was…she assumed that I was a new joiner! And then there are the old ladies at the pool who keep telling me that I ‘move well’ through the water, or that I did ‘an excellent job’ in the aquafit class. Of course there are those times that I get funny looks at the checkout at Asda…the pizza really is for my other half and the salad really is for me!

We all get judged and we all judge.

I read an interesting article a couple of days ago about a group of bikers – they were surrounding a young girl and in the picture, at first glance, they looked quite intimidating…until I took a second glance. And then I read the words – I took time to understand the story behind the picture, rather than basing my judgement on what my eyes told me.

These bikers belonged to a ‘gang’ called BACA, Bikers Against Child Abuse. Actually, it’s not a gang – it’s an association. These tough looking people work towards protecting children. One lady told her step daughter’s story and the association’s part into making her child feel safe, “they went to every single hearing, they literally formed a wall in front of us while walking or sitting during the hearings so we wouldn’t have to look at the abuser. To hear them thunder down the road to show support for your little one made the difference for us. The smile on her face while they pulled into the driveway, and the love these big bad men and women show, can’t be put into words.”

We all get judged and we all judge.

These bikers work with officials in America who are already working to protect children, and each member is carefully selected and trained for the job – they have a thorough criminal background check and are fingerprinted – and are trained by a licensed mental-health professional. The comment I read is that they are bikers, not Boy Scouts, and so if the checks show a criminal background, as long as it is not related to children, domestic violence etc, then they can join the group. They don’t take payment – they just volunteer and they have changed the lives of so many boys and girls along the way, while using their menacing image for the greater good.

According to the article, they handle their cases in groups as big as twenty to thirty five members – imagine them on your doorstep! – they counsel the children, stand with them through trials and meetings, they guard their houses and call each other brothers and sisters. Even when the case is over, the organisation appoints one or two motorcyclists that constantly follow up on the child and offer their support and friendship.

One of the cases that BACA managed involved a small that girl that had been molested and was facing their aggressor in court. The kind-hearted men and women from BACA stood with her during trial filling the court room with frightening motorcyclists, making the girl feel safe. When the judge asked the small girl if she was afraid, the girls said “No – because my friends are scarier than he is.”

Amazing – just goes to show that you can’t judge a book by the cover, or a biker by the leather jacket they are wearing! Although, I must say that I do judge a wine bottle by the label and as I have no clue about wine…if the label looks good, I’ll buy it!

My recent talks at Slimming World groups has seen me chatting with some amazing and inspirational people. All of whom attend Slimming World to lose weight and develop healthy habits. Their stories and backgrounds have been so different though – incredibly so. I work hard not to judge but cannot help it at times. Focussing on my own goals and my own journey helps me with this…finding my own happiness and positivity means that I am less focused on what everyone else is doing…less judgemental I guess.

Focus on you and your loved ones!

Today has been good…but not so good, as I have finished watching Breaking Bad! What to watch next?! I worked for a while this morning, packaged up some stuff for eBay, and headed to the gym. Today I mixed things up a little – I used to lift my weights first, and then do my cardio. Recently I have been doing the opposite. I find that getting the cardio out of the way first gives me more energy to do this…plus, I am not keen on cardio! Yet my body doesn’t go into fat-burning zone during that workout. So I did a short warm-up, my weights and then the cardio. It was okay – I was a little tired for the cardio and didn’t reach my usual level of ‘strides per minute’! I left feeling quite tired but energised and headed to see the horses. They were all okay and in good spirits. It was then a trip to Asda, via a traffic jam of some duration…the shortcut I took didn’t work on this occasion! And then it was home for a late lunch, Breaking Bad and dinner prep, before heading out for my evening swim. I had another judgement moment – actually, it was outright piss-taking from a couple – who sadly had their children with them – who put their goggles on to have a good look at me under the water and were then taking the mickey. To be honest, I was a bit bothered by it. I did think about dive-bombing them, and then it crossed my mind to stick my swimming cossie up between my bum cheeks and give them something substantial to look at, but then I just came to the following conclusion – they arrived at the end of my swim…I had been swimming constantly for 75 minutes…I had also been to the gym and completed 35 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of weights…I have lost nearly 17.5st…I am changing my life for the better and am aiming to help other people do the same…so they can feck off as far as I am concerned! Oh, and I almost mowed down a cyclist tonight…I saw him approach the edge of pavement on the dual carriageway I was driving along – with my main lights on, fairly close to him – and he decided to stop, look at me, and gently start rolling across the road! My horn was furiously beeped and I swerved in time to miss him…there were quite a few swear words! It was dark, he had no lights, no hi-viz and no helmet…and clearly no fecking eyes as I was close enough to see that he had acne when he decided to risk his life. Phew…what an evening…I think I need to find a nice violent movie to release some tension!

Breakfast: Fruit.

Lunch: Burgers with cottage cheese, beetroot and pickled onions (2 x HEA, 2 x HEB and 2 syns).

Dinner: Syn free chips, veggies and chip shop curry sauce (5.5 syns).

Snack: Nakd bar (7.5 syns).

A good food day again. Just the fruit for brekkie…I keep forgetting to buy porridge! Lunch was my burgers with some cottage cheese for added protein, and some beetroot – not sure why, but I fancied beetroot – and some pickled onions…lovely! Dinner was mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach and beetroot all cooked in the wok, with syn free chips and some of the Bisto chip shop curry sauce…sounds rather strange, but tasted lovely! My post-swim snack was the Nakd bar.

Exercise: 5 minutes treadmill, 45 minutes weights, 30 minutes elliptical machine, 75 minutes of swimming.

Thank you for reading,

Weight Loss Bitch xxx

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WeightLossBitch

On a health and fitness driven journey to lose over 32st / 448lbs / 203kgs – yes, it is a considerable amount – I am committed to losing my excess weight without the aid of weight loss surgery, diet pills, or quick fixes…as there aren’t any! Changing my eating habits and building up my fitness levels, along with addressing the ‘head issues’ will be crucial in order for me to achieve my goal. Living in England as a 31 year old super morbidly obese woman can be challenging to say the least. I have been shouted at in the street and verbally abused far too many times to mention; hence the name ‘Weight Loss Bitch’…the day I am just called a ‘bitch’ instead of a ‘fat bitch’ will be the day that I know I have cracked my weight loss! With many reasons to lose this weight I am documenting my journey for a number of reasons. Firstly, I would like to keep a record of the ups and downs, the highs and lows, and the challenges I face with such an enormous task to tackle. Secondly, I would also like to inspire and encourage other people who are in a similar situation and to show them that significant amounts of weight can be lost naturally…with a bit of motivation, hard work, dedication and will power. Thirdly, all of the blogging, Facebook-ing, Tweet-ing, Pinterest-ing and YouTube-ing keeps me occupied and keeps my fingers out of the fridge!