Half my department is out to lunch (they won the wreath decorating contest in December and lunch is the prize) and it's basically the half that sits near me. It is spooky quiet.

ETA Glad your mom is doing well Calla!

I wish I felt as good about any part of my life as the ad lady, Jesse. I mean, I'm fine, but it must be fun to be psyched like that.

Changing your diet will result in more weight loss than adding exercise, but being sedentary is worse for your lifespan than being fat:

[link]

This is EXCELLENT news for me, because I walk everywhere and chase kids around and bike regularly and stuff, but I also eat basically whatever I want and probably too much of it.

Aw, yay, Callaluna; glad to hear the mom news.

Last year I did a 10 day elimination/purge thing, and the only thing I hung onto from it (it involved giving up caffeine--like that's gonna happen for good) is eating sugar mindfully. I still have chocolate, pie, or ice cream on occasion, especially on holidays. Sweet things taste delicious! But since I'm cooking at home for nearly all my meals, I'm almost inadvertently cutting out the random HFC and sugar that gets dumped into a lot of premade food. My sensitivity to sweet seems to have changed. I've stopped putting honey in my kefir smoothies because frozen blueberries make it sweet enough for me. I haven't noticed any major weight changes, but I figure it's unlikely to be bad for me. I've also been walking a lot: 1.5-3 miles a day, 5 days a week, which, again, hasn't made my jeans particularly loose, but is probably better for me than not walking.

I was youngish and slender for about 35 minutes in 2003. It didn't get me laid and I still sprained my ankles, so screw it.

I'm in the middle of The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts. So far it's been pretty good.

ETA: Yay, Callaluna!

Hanne?

Hanne?

Yep, that's the one.

I used to run into her at the Y, back when she was based in Baltimore. Also, cookieswap. She's a fascinating person.

Neat! Small world and all that. Also, her Amazon bio says she's a fierce defender of the Oxford comma, so go her!

It almost felt like a political statement to not worry about my weight in my twenties, and it feels kind of weird to be actively trying to lose weight now, but, to be frank, I still have cute clothes that are too small for me that I would like to fit into. That's really my motivation. I get oddly angry at people who say things like they notice I am trying to eat healthy - I am not trying to eat healthy! I will accept any health benefit that may show up, of course, but that is not something I am working towards and I resent the assumption that it is.