Deadpool and weight

[thistlechaser]

While I'm not a reader of comic books, the Marvel movies still tend to work for me -- and some a lot more than just "work for me". I love the Avengers and Iron Man movies. Deadpool though? I didn't hate it, but I think I barely could have been less the target audience for it.

The movie made me feel very old -- I kept thinking how immature the humor was. I know it's just how the character acts, but again, I was far from the target audience for this movie.

I liked a few of the minor characters. Colossus especially (even though I had to google to find out even his name).

I have so little patience for movies nowadays. I don't know how I'd ever see a movie in a theater again -- I just cannot sit and do nothing else for multiple hours. Though Deadpool was 1:40 long, it took me about seven hours to watch it because I kept getting bored and pausing it to do other stuff. (Which happens even with movies I like, I just can't not multitask during them.)

---

Every week I write my weight down in a little notebook, and today I finished a page and so did some math. The page lasted me for seven months, and in that time I lost a grand total of... 19 pounds. On one hand, that sounds horrible -- so little! But when I do the math, that's not too much off from a pound a week (about .8 a week). So I'm trying not to kick myself over it.

I'm in an odd situation at work. A woman, a rather heavy one, keeps picking my brain to find out how I lost weight. I'm well beyond the point I could mention the surgery, and I honestly don't even know how I'm losing. I told her the things I know (never have fast food, never have soda, count calories closely, never have anything with sugar, and exercise), but she'd doing all that and not losing weight. Which, of course, I know the feeling of!

There's also the element of me feeling like, if I tell her about the surgery, she'll discount that it took any effort at all on my part. Because let me tell you, it's not even a daily effort, it seems an every-minute effort. I'm constantly thinking about calories, kicking myself, trying to fight the temptation to eat at all (seriously, I feel bad/guilty about every bite of food I have, nevermind that's stupid and of course people need to eat).

Blah weight.

Comments

[changeling72.livejournal.com]

It's certainly been a long road for you. Looking back, was having the surgery worthwhile for you?

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's a hard question to answer. I think I was happier before, but I'll live longer and be healthier now. I suppose happier in the long run too, if I'm healthier. So, sort of?

[liedra.livejournal.com]

This may not be an appropriate comparison, but the way you talk about it makes me think about how I talk about my implementation of peer marking in my classes. This is a bit round-about so bear with me for a bit!

I'm all about new pedagogical techniques, particularly ones that help the students learn better. I work with a lot of students who are not natural students - they have to work very hard to "get it". One of the better ways I've discovered to help them learn is for them to not just soak in a lecture & regurgitate it but to think really hard and go over it again and again, what's called "reflective learning". So I built a bunch of assessments around the concept of reflective learning and one of the methods I use is peer marking. In this, the students submit an assessment, then mark their peers' work. To be honest, the quality of the assessment the students submit is only secondary - the peer marking is the main thrust of the assessment! The key aspect is that they are looking over someone's work, and then - the main part - I ask them to compare and reflect on their own work based on the marking they've done.

So anyway, my colleagues hear that I've done this and naturally they're all "omg this must save you so much time! You don't have to mark the work of the students, you get them to do all the work for you! Brilliant!" And then I have to sit them down and explain *exactly* how long it takes me to set it up, set up the marking schemes, train the students, monitor the students, be available all hours of the evening for questions, then mark the students' marking... it doesn't save me time *at all*.

When they go through all of this with me, they then say "well what's the point?" and I say - well, the teaching and learning is the point. You don't get a free ride, you have to work for it. But the outcome is far better than the old methods, and the students enjoy it a lot more.

So hopefully you can see where I'm coming from when I suggest - if she asks and you don't mind her knowing, tell her, but tell her all of it. Not just the outcome, but the whole awful process. She can then make her own decision!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's a really good point. (And a clever way of teaching!) If I told her the whole thing, not only would it help in how she sees me, but would help her in her decision, if she ever wants to make it for herself...

Thanks!

[liedra.livejournal.com]

No problem! I think that people who are looking for a way for themselves to skip the hard graft right to the reward tend to downplay the amount of work that goes into these sorts of things. Then, when they try, they realise it's hard and probably give up pretty quickly because they're not after a good solution, they're after a lazy solution. I mean, when it comes down to it, losing weight is not just about changing up what you eat, it's a psychological change (which is much harder) that enables that lifestyle change. Getting surgery isn't an "easy short cut", it's a very difficult but worthwhile procedure to help to enable the psychological as well as the physiological changes necessary. It's still a lot of hard work and discipline, just a different path, basically. At least that's how I see it.

By the way, a pound a week is great! You should be proud of yourself :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yep, you're seeing it exactly right. It's just a tool to bring about the changes you need to make anyway... and it's all too easy to not use the tool if you're not willing to put the work into doing it right. That's why so many people gain their weight right back...

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe if she asks you again, instead of talking about your surgery, just urge her to visit her doctor. So many people struggle with losing weight but they never bother to go to their doctor, instead following around people who lost weight and asking them how they did it. So instead of divulging your private medical history, I would just tell her that if she has tried all the things you have suggested, maybe she should visit a doctor so they can rule out medical reasons.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's a good idea, I hadn't thought about that. I don't want it to seem like I'm brushing her off, but it is an important thing to bring up as well, so I could mention it as part of other elements.

Thanks!

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

I don't know much about losing weight, I admit, but if she really is doing all of that and still not seeing improvement, I'd suggest she see a doctor to rule out things like hypothyroidism and so on. I think you gave her good advice without having to go into more private areas like your surgery.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Next time we talk, I'm going to suggest that. Maybe her doctor might have good ideas too.

[bacchuslives.livejournal.com]

Do you care if she were to think that? The surgery route requires all the work and also the bravery to take the risk...

I've heard that dead pool was pretty adolescent. I think I'll wait for it to show up on net flicks of some such venue.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, "adolescent" is a good way to describe Deadpool. It has its moments of amusement, but all in all, it was way too immature for my tastes.

And very true about the surgery...