Saturday, October 25, 2014

Twilight

Twilight.  Is this book a good source of fitness inspiration?  Let's review.

In the first chapter, Bella reports her weight and height.  "But I thought it was a book about vampires.  Why do I need to know her weight?" you wonder.  Well, body weight is related to eating, and a vampire is defined by it's eating habits.  So, her body weight is relevant...or is it?  What happens if we remove the weight?  Same story, right?  Yes, except better.  Without the weight, the story could be about any girl, making the character more widely relatable.

 Why is it there?  Because the character is boring and has no life, so her weight becomes something that defines her.

Her weight is 110 lbs; height is 5'4." BMI is 18.9, which indicates that her weight is within a healthy range, but at the low end of it (skinny).  However, next to the average American teenager, she would seem very small and likely face accusations of being underweight or having an eating disorder, from other teens and adults.  That doesn't make it true.  There are people who are naturally thin, but is it common?  No.  That's one reason for skinny-shaming.


But is Bella's weight Fitness Inspiration?  It depends on your state of mind.  I'm sure there's some crazies out there who read it and say "HOW DARE A FICTIONAL CHARACTER WEIGH LESS THAN ME!" and then they exercise.  Not me, although I confess to jogging an extra lap today when contemplating Bella's weight.  However, the gap between this fantasy and most peoples' actualities, is too great for this to be motivating.  For this reason and others, the weight should've been left out. 


Overall, the book was uninspiring.  I give points +2 points for a character does grocery shopping and cooking.  Teenagers and young adults tend to frequently eat fast food, due to lack of planning and poor cooking skills.

On a 1-10 scale, with 10 being very motivational and 0 being demotivational, this book gets a 2/10 for Fitness Inspiration.  In conclusion, this book is not good for fitness inspiration.

**On a side note, this book places a huge emphasis on eating and an unhealthy body image.  First, with the unnecessary listing of the characters physical stats.  Next, the character's self consciousness about her clumsiness reveals unhappiness with her body.  Additionally, when Bella is eating lunch with her friends in the cafeteria, she becomes aware of the beautiful teenagers (vampires) who are not eating lunch, which suggests that the author was thinking of anorexic teenagers when writing the book.  Finally, an unusual amount of time is spent detailing what Bella eats, buys and cooks.  Therefore, I believe that the inspiration for the book comes from the author's dissatisfaction with her body. 

So, what do you think?  Motivating or demotivating?  Is this book about a young woman with a body image disorder?

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Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Drag Me To Hell



Drag Me to Hell is a 2009 movie about a woman, Christine, who is cursed by an angry gypsy.  Great movie, but Fit Inspiration?  Let's review.

Christine was an overweight child who struggled with poverty and a mother who was an alcoholic.  As an adult, she is thin, dating a wealthy man, and a bank employee ambitiously pursuing a promotion.  Despite outwardly doing so well, Christine remains internally impoverished and struggles with the ghosts of her past.  This manifests as determination that leads her to acting against her conscience, which leads to her downfall.   

When Christine is introduced, she stops at a bakery to admire cupcakes, letting us know she has weight issues.  Annoyingly, this ruins the Fit Inspiration.  Bakeries become invisible when you're a Fiturist.  You just walk right on by.  Or JOG!  




The actress looks great, doesn't she?  Think she thinks about cupcakes?  Hell no.  I guarantee you she doesn't.  If she ever says otherwise, she's lying or heavier.



Later, Christine bakes a cake while remembering being overweight as a child.  That's when the goat spirit attacks her....See, when formerly overweight people are alone with junk food, it's trouble.  Trouble as in eating-cake-batter-trouble.  When Fiturists bake (like twice a year), they dump the batter down the drain.

 She baked this cake and took it to a dinner party......



........which later turned into this



Flies started flying out of the cake as the dinner party was eating it.  (Yes!  Start that relationship with your in-laws off right).  Bad things can happen when you bake.  More realistically, there could've been hair in the cake or a bug (embarrassing).  I mean, it could've been really gross.  Fiturists Tip #1: Buy a cake (but only if you need a cake).  




^ Here's for the part that'll really make you mad.  Christine boo-hoos into her ice cream.  I hate that.  I hate emotional eating in movies.  Normal people don't do that, and if anyone ever does, it's because they got the idea out of a movie (typical trope).

Fiturists don't do emotional eating.  They exercise.  I've seen it.  When they're up to their eyeballs in problems, they jog.  There are times when you can't do anything but wait.  People want to be doing something.  Non-action isn't an option for some people (overachievers).  But binge-eating doesn't solve the problem.  Better to relax and unwind.  Stop worrying. 

When we see Christine eating the ice cream, she's given up.  Game over.  Christine lost.

Not to ruin the movie for you, but, she goes to hell.



So let's rate this movie for its Fit Inspiration.  On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best:

+10 for a girl who overcame her weight issues
-4 because she loses at the end 
-2 for emotional eating
-2 for baking a cake
-2 for the bakery scene at the start

= 2/10
Overall, great movie, but it isn't Fitness Inspiration. We know that what we see can influence our actions.  Even after it is forgotten, what one fills his mind stays there, forever.  So it's important to watch these things with a critical eye, not allowing oneself to harmonize with poisonous thoughts, but to fight against them.

Remember, the Fiture is now!
  
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