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.

Yeah, I mostly want to lose so I can fit in more cute clothes I have and so I can run better. Because it's easier to run when I'm not lugging around quite so much weight. It's hard though, because I dont WANT to have to think about it. I want to just eat whatever I'm in the mood for and not think about it! But im really bad at stopping when I'm full.

It's Friday afternoon and I don't have to work tomorrow or Sunday and I'm practically GIDDY. I have GOT to find a job that doesn't make me work every other Saturday (and 1 Sunday in 6). Two days off in a row is everything.

Changing your diet will result in more weight loss than adding exercise,

I feel like a weird outlier (and I actually don't know if it would be true for me today), but back in the day when I did Weight Watchers (and therefore tracked my weight every week), I lost more weight in the weeks that I exercised than in the weeks I didn't. Assuming I followed the food plan the same in the exercise and non-exercise weeks, that's...a weird outlier.

but being sedentary is worse for your lifespan than being fat:

Being active and fat is something I can TOTALLY do.

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.

I got that out of the library and didn't have time to read it. I'm glad to hear it's good -- I'll have to get it back out.

I do a fair amount of walking - I live in the city and don't have a car, so it's walk or stay put. Every working day begins with climbing a steep hill to get to the bus stop; it may help. My foot doctor was impressed with my calluses, since he doesn't often see people who do a lot of walking (most of his patients are older).

Me, I don't lose weight without exercising. Except the first time I went on a strict low-carb diet, then I dropped 30 pounds without exercising more, but it's never been that easy again. I think you get one chance at that and then your body says, "oho, I know this trick!" and adjusts.

I lost more weight in the weeks that I exercised than in the weeks I didn't.

That is absolutely true for me (and I have charts and graphs with linear regression to back it up because I am that person). But if I exercise but eat whatever I want, I don't lose weight at all and may gain, whereas if I cut calories but don't exercise I will probably lose some but definitely slower than if I exercise.

Todd, you remind me of the time my mother went to the doctor and complained that if she walked more than 3 miles at a stretch her toes would start hurting and could he fix that. He was all - can you get the rest of my patients to walk 3 miles?

I bought a yoga mat at Target today. Weightloss would be good, but I've got to get some flexibility back. My weight has not changed in years, but I'm hoping to make my joints hurt less.