I’m in the health and fitness section of practicing French on Duolingo.
Some of the exercises are close to home and others made me want to throw my phone across the room.
That’s true!I’m glad this is no longer true!Yeah yeah!A little food judgey, but okay.
But then there were a slew of fatphobic statements that would never come out of my mouth in any language.
In the Maintenance Phase forum someone asks, “Any other Duolingo users felt a little offput by some of the very diet culture heavy phrases they’re being taught? I skipped ahead through a whole unit so I wouldn’t have to do those sentences everyday 🥴”
I did that unit and I was surprised at how strong my reaction was. I didn’t skip it. Instead, I whizzed through it at break neck pace and only later wished I’d screen captured some of the examples.
There was a lot of “maigrir” and “grossir” and “en forme.”
I’m not the only person to notice it,
Not just teaching French language, but preparing people for the toxic fat phobia in France at the same time. Nice one @duolingopic.twitter.com/BOqC8ZFooD
Prior to the era of knee woes, I loved walking and exploring new places when traveling. I never worried really about exercise. And then came the days of doing knee physio in my hotel room, and then traveling with my Brompton so I could get from place to place in new cities.
But look at me and my new knees now!
That’s Tuesday through Sunday in New Orleans, which is a great city for walking. I love the streetcars that get you close enough, but usually not all the way, to your destination.
Today
And now I’m back in my office, sitting at my desk, here’s cardboard cut out me with her Mardi Gras beads!
This Fall my friend Aimee decided to give underwater hockey a try so I decided to go watch a game. I watched the game, I looked up the rules, and I’m still not sure what the heck was going on!
It is similar to ultimate frisbee in that it’s a mixed gender game, with a minimum of two women per team. There wasn’t an obvious coach or referee. You try to move a round object so it goes through a goal marked by a couple of bricks or similar objects on the ground (or bottom of the pool). There is no goalie. You can have extra players who sub in. People of all ages and shapes seem to play. It’s officially a no -contact sport.
There is minimal protective equipment: goggles with ear protectors like water polo players use, a gardening or similar glove to protect the “stick” hand is optional, and some players appear to have a mouth protector thingy on their snorkels.
Aimee is in the water at the side of the pool. She is wearing her black cap, goggles and blue glove. There are three little “hockey sticks” on the deck along with her red water bottle and a construction cone I cannot explain.
I looked up the rules and that’s where things got wild. Some rules say 6 players per side with two spares per team. Others say four spares. There can be two 10 minute halves with a 5 minute break. Or two 15 minute halves with a 3 minute break.
The puck weighs about 1.5 kg apparently, but I never actually saw it in the water. Instead, what I saw was something that looked a bit like a fish feeding frenzy moving around the pool. Does the puck get passed? I have no idea! Who won? Also no idea, and judging by how the players came out of the water, winning was the least important part of the sport.
A group of swimmers in a swimming pool. Some are floating, others are diving with their flippers in the air, and at least one is completely under water.
Update: cleanup afterwards involved a bunch of poles that maybe marked boundaries and to keep the puck from sliding out of bounds? The pool was shared with a fitness class on one side and a swim class on the other. The metal things in the picture below are used for the goals, and the red discos with handles are the pucks. Why did they have so many? I haven’t a clue.
It looks like fun though. I’m always up for a bit of goofiness in the water. It looks like I can sign up for three trial sessions before making a commitment, so I might just do that in the Fall.
February is not quite finished so I will save my final Feb 5 update until later but suffice it to say that the knot in my shoulder created some complications and I had to shift my plans a little.
Speaking of shifting, for March I am moving away from the specificity I used for my February plans and trying a really general approach.
Instead of listing specific types of exercise/wellness activities, I am rolling with the fact that I have a busy schedule this month. So, I am just seeking more movement overall instead of specific types and I am aiming for at least 20 hours throughout the month.
By choosing a time-based goal this month, I make it even easier for literally any movement to “count” – 5 minutes of stretching before my meeting, adding 10 minutes to my walk, a dance break while my tea steeps – am free from other constraints of specific times, places, or equipment.
(After all, to do a specific amount of rowing I have to be where my machine is. Stretching or walking or dancing doesn’t have that limitation.)
A small painting I made as a goal reminder. Image description: a painting of the words March and Move More against a blue and yellow background. The word March is large and in pink letters, the words Move More are in green and they are overlapping the bottom quarter of the the most of the word March. The bottom half of the background is yellow with green vertical pinstripes and the top half is blue with small green dots.
Adding up my hours will be pretty easy because my watch will keep track of my daily exercise minutes. I’ll just have to add up the hours every week or so in my exercise journal.
Right now, my body feels a bit cranky and tight on a day-to-day basis but I know from previous experience that more daily movement will change that.
❤️Outdoor adventures: I had two wild winter wonderland weekends, complete with family and fun and hiking in the snow. Weekend One was in Whitney visiting the youngest of the adult kids who is working at a resort on the edge of Algonquin Park.
Weekend Two was yurt camping with the other two adult kids. We felt brave and adventurous with no electricity and only a woodstove to keep us warm until we hiked by the people winter camping IN TENTS.
❤️ There was also the APA in New Orleans. So many great feminist philosophy papers. So much walking and exploring. I walked more than 10k steps three days in a row and almost cried with happiness that I could do that again. Sarah and I did a fun bike tour with Paved Paradise, an owner operated bike tour company. Also, beignets. Beignets, as many philosophers noted, don’t mix well with black clothes.
BeignetsBikes
❤️Body positive, kid friendly, burlesque and drag show called Glitter held at The Well, in Hamilton. Glitter is a curated art showcase launched in 2007 by First Lady of The Well, Eshe. You can follow her on Eventbrite to get tickets to the next show, in either its adult or all ages format. Definitely an inclusive, ‘feel good but also space for all of your big feelings’ event.
I’m getting fitter. I’m lifting heavier weights in the gym. I’m getting faster and more powerful on the bike. I don’t know exactly how it’s calculated (time and speed riding, power, heart rate, or something more) but I like the upward trajectory of my Strava fitness graph. It’s gloomy of course if you look at the five year trend, but I’m ignoring that and just focusing on recovery post-surgery.
Three months of Strava fitness tracking
Reading
I loved The Mark and the Void. Lots of laughing while dog walking. I’m not sure who recommended it, but thanks. I didn’t expect humour and international banking to go so well together. I have about a half dozen other books in progress.
24 Things in 2024
6, 16, and 18! Don’t have my list memorized? You’ll have to go look here.
We, as a species, love counting. We, as a fitness-loving and fitness-pursuing species, really love counting. We count:
workouts per day/week/month/year/decade
reps/sets of reps
max/avg heartrate
how far/how much/how fast/how high
among other things.
The issues of 1) what to count and 2) what the counted numbers mean are a subject of lively debate and even some controversy in research and popular discussions about the efficacy of fitness tracking. We’ve written a good bit about fitness tracking, both pro and con. Christine recently posted about her accidental FitBit vacation: An accidental (and happy) vacation from my FitBit.
The New York Times just published an article suggesting that maybe we don’t need all the data that our wearable devices and smart phones eagerly gather for us.
What?! What are you saying?!
Yep, that’s what they’re reporting. Here’s the summary:
Not all data is good or helpful, doctors, exercise physiologists and coaches say, and having more data does not mean having a more effective workout. The real questions surround not the wearable, but the wearer.
Hmmm. That last sentence sounds intriguing, but as yet unhelpful. What’s up here?
First, there’s the issue of accuracy: not all features of human functioning are equally easy to measure, much less easy to measure using a phone or watch-like device. Distance traveled: easy-peasy. VO2 max: uh, not so much. That is best done in a lab, with loads of equipment that doesn’t fit around your wrist.
Second, there’s the issue of motivation: more data collection doesn’t necessarily translate into e.g. more workouts:
“Wearables are very good at changing behavior if they are done in the context of a physical activity intervention study,” said Dr. Bassett, who has long studied wearables.
But outside a clinical or lab setting, researchers find that accountability, company, and old-fashioned competition help people set and maintain exercise regimens. Fitness trackers and phones and wearables are a part of that– what we in the philosophy biz might call necessary but not sufficient conditions. We need them to connect with others, but it’s those connections that provide motivation and encouragement to help us establish our workout as a habit.
Third, there’s the issue of excellence: do wearables and fitness trackers make us better athletes? The short answer is no. The Times article said this:
“A beginner and a professional athlete oftentimes use the devices incredibly similarly,” said Darian Allberry, head of user engagement at Coros, a GPS watch company. They want to know how far they’ve gone and how fast they’ve traveled. Beyond that, extra data can be distracting, he added.
If you’re looking to improve some specific aspect of your fitness, more specific data can be helpful. But the article ends with this (which includes one of my new favorite fitness quotes from a researcher):
But if you are just trying to get out the door more, a device’s data dump probably isn’t entirely necessary, Dr. Ethan Weiss, a physician at the University of California, San Francisco, said.
“We have this attachment to data, we all love data,” Dr. Weiss said. “We love to measure things for the sake of measuring things.”
Sometimes he tells his patients that a different item attached at your wrist could better pull you toward more activity.
“Have you considered getting a dog?” he said.
There you have it, folks. Science says get a dog.
And where one dog is healthy, three dogs must be three times as healthy, right? Thanks, Unsplash, for the great pic.
Recently, I was in Vancouver, BC for a few days off. I set the goal of walking on the celebrated Vancouver Seawall, a path beside the Pacific Ocean. The Seawall goes all over downtown but started on the western perimeter of Stanley Park, apparently as a masonry to prevent erosion along steep banks and cliffs.
I wanted to walk the most isolated part of the Wall, which is on the northern part of the park where it abuts Burrard Inlet. Specifically I wanted to walk the path as it runs under the Lions Gate Bridge, surely about 100 metres above. That’s the path I would look down at as I rode the West Vancouver blue bus to downtown as a teen. It somehow symbolized both a wilderness and an urban sophistication for me, a kid from a logging town who had taken a ferry to go to the Big City for the day.
So we set out from our English Bay hotel and walked the route. It was a bright day and very busy initially, but lightened up as we got deeper into Stanley Park.
We received some deeply tragic news the night before, so walking turned into a solace. The brisk air, the looming North Shore mountains, the steady ocean current – they were what we needed in that moment. And I made my goal, and I am so glad.
I’m curious – do you have any fun or meaningful urban walking dreams? Now I’m hungry for more.
In 2023 I decided not to buy any clothing, accessories, footwear, or photography equipment for the year. I integrated my word-of-the-year for 2023 “thrift,” into that project as a way of increasing my focus and resolve. Now, more than midway through February 2024, I have incorporated no-buy in these categories so throughly into my life that I didn’t even think about giving a report about how it went until a friend asked me the other day if I planned to write one. Julie, this is for you.
I’m not the first person from the Fit Is a Feminist Issue bloggers to do this. We all took our inspiration from Mina, who did it back in 2018 and then blogged about buying new running gear early into 2019. Sam, Catherine, Martha, and Diane have all embarked on the Buy-Nothing Challenge and blogged about it at various junctures.
Overall, I got more out of this year than I expected to, and not just the obvious thing of saving money. It’s almost embarrassing now to think back on a time when shopping was something that had such a presence in my life that I felt the need explicitly to put the brakes on it for a year. Who was that person? I neither miss her nor aspire ever to be like her again. The casual expression of privilege through mindless shopping for things in excess of what I need to support the life I intentionally choose to live actually now makes me cringe.
As noted in our word-of-the-year update post back in May 2023, I chose my no-buy categories for a reason: “These things all made the list because they are things I tend to spend way beyond my needs on them. There is simply no need to browse the clothing every time I go to Costco, to buy earrings every time I travel, or to keep adding to my camera kit when I already have more equipment — and it’s good equipment — than I regularly use.”
My deliberate no-buy initiative has been over for almost two months and so far I have made two purchases in the restricted categories: a five-pack of underwear and a new pair of pajamas.
The year was seriously beneficial to my overall sense of well-being and contentment. Here are some reflections on how it changed me:
It got me into a “glass half full” mindset really quickly. As soon as actual shopping was no longer an option, I turned to “shopping in my closet” to see what had been languishing in its dark corners, squeezed between other things, for years without being worn. It may sound cliché, but instead of dwelling on what I couldn’t have (new things!), I began to appreciate the things I do have. There is not one single occasion in 2024 where I couldn’t find sufficient choice among what I already had in my closet. This attitude has extended into other areas of my life, making me see the things I have differently.
It fuelled my motivation to get rid of things. Not only did I have sufficient choice in the clothing department, I soon came to see that I had very many things that I would never wear again. I made a first pass through the closet pretty early on and put the obvious contenders aside for donation. I gathered up a bunch of shoes and offered first choice to a friend who takes the same size. She went home with ten pairs of shoes and boots. I still have too many. If 2023’s no-buy project was about awareness, 2024 is about action. Right now I am doing Project 333 and it’s another step in gaining a sense of what I truly need. I am also working my way through Joshua Becker’s The Minimalist Home, room by room (to me, it’s way more approachable than Maria Kondo’s method). I expect that by the end of the closets chapter about 60% of what’s still hanging in mine will be gone.
It freed me up to do other things. I don’t know how much time I spent browsing (physically and online) for things I didn’t need, but between the literal time saved and the mental energy of knowing that “I’m not shopping so why browse?” I have felt much more available to other things. I started a new blog on veganism, I am writing most mornings, and I have lately rediscovered my love of weight training.
When I do buy something, I am more deliberate about my purchase. This is not just with the things that were on the restricted list, but with everything I buy now. I think carefully about whether I need it. I consider realistically how much use I will get out of it and whether there is anything I already have that would serve me just as well. Last week the purse I’d been using all year was looking pretty ratty. Instead of buying a new one I remembered I have a like-new purse in my closet. I swapped the like-new in for the ready-to-be-retired bag and I’m all set now for probably another year. The questions about need are sincere questions, and a possible outcome is that I will in fact get something new. But it will be a well-considered purchase.
I learned something from my lapses. I had three departures from my no-buy commitment in 2023.
First: In the late summer I decided I needed a smaller camera bag for day-trips. Since I take photography seriously, I wanted a decent bag. I went with the 21-litre version of my excellent 31-litre WANDRD PRVKE bag. It turned out not to be a great purchase. It’s a fine bag, but it’s still quite large — larger than what you want for a day trip. And it was a huge splurge. And for it to function well as a bag for photo gear, you need the camera cube that fits inside. The one for my 31-litre bag didn’t fit. So I ended up buying a new cube. I have used the backpack with cube exactly NEVER. Regrets? Yes, but I’m hoping to give it an honest try on a short trip I’m taking to Newfoundland in June.
Second: Also related to photography, I have long been wanting a 70-200mm lens. But I was holding off because I have also been going back and forth on whether to switch from a DSLR to a mirrorless camera. Mirrorless is really the future of digital photography. But the switch is expensive. Partly as a result of my no-buy year, I came to appreciate my DSLR system and made a decision to stick with it for at least the next few years. That decision made me think, “so I should get that 70-200mm f/2.8 I’ve been thinking about.” With my birthday coming up in September, I went for it. Regrets? Not really. It’s an incredible lens and takes outstanding photos. I used it to take the photo illustrating this post. And in the overall scheme of things, the larger decision about sticking with the DSLR for the next few years justifies the purchase.
Third: New running shoes. But that’s something that was going to be inevitable from the get-go. When the practitioner I consulted about some ongoing foot problems recommended a different style of running shoe, it felt wise to follow the advice. Regrets: No.
I’m not as attached to “things” as I used to be. Not only am I not as attached, I have actually developed an aversion to things that I don’t need or appreciate for their aesthetic qualities. Maybe there are other categories of things, like those to which I have a sentimental attachment, but mostly if I don’t need it or like the look or feel of it, I don’t want it around. It took the whole year to solidify this idea in my head, and as I said I’m not yet acting on it all the time with respect to the things I already have. But my desire to acquire new things that I can’t use is pretty much non-existent at this point. I have more than enough art for my available wall-space, some of it not hanging. I am also aware that there are some artworks and decorative things in my place that I don’t really like. Some came to me as gifts that I have felt obligated to keep, even display, for fear of affronting someone. I like Joshua Becker’s observation that we tend to attribute extra value to things simply because we own them, irrespective of how they actually fit into our life.
It’s helped me a lot with FOMO in all areas. I used to be as susceptible as anyone to FOMO — fear of missing out. I think this prompted some of my shopping, where I would think that not purchasing something that I like would be a missed opportunity never to return. This feeling was especially acute when travelling because it might often literally be the case that I will never come across those particular earrings or whatever again. I had FOMO too about experiences others were having or events others were attending. Like this week, for example, a lot of the philosophers are in New Orleans for the APA. Months back I was invited to be part of a panel that would have had me attend as well. I thought ahead to what it might feel like to have to travel in February, with variables like the weather and my workload undetermined. At the time it felt like possible stress I don’t need. As it turns out, the weather is fine. But I’m glad I didn’t commit to having to write something that isn’t what I want to write and that would have taken me away from the writing projects I actually care about, just so I could go to New Orleans. Even though the gathering of friends from all over the place in a fun city tugs at me a bit, I’m happy I didn’t let FOMO motivate a commitment that doesn’t align well with my current goals.
Not buying things has become a habit and I plan to keep it. As you can tell from what I’ve said already, I’m really feeling energized and lighter as a result of my year of not buying things in my three “problem categories.” I think of the year more as a reset than as a deprivation. I honestly didn’t feel as if I was fighting against any urges or anything through the year. Instead, I experienced it as a kind of freedom because, once it was decided that those things were off the table, for the most part I just followed the guidance. Now maybe that says that I chose just the right time to embark on this challenge, such that it hardly presented itself as a challenge at all. It did redirect my attention in a positive way though. And having done it deliberately for a year, I’ve established it as a habit that suits me well.
Upshot: it was a good year. It helped me gain a foothold on who I am and what makes me happy. I’m not working my way down to one bowl and one spoon or anything like that. But 2023 has positioned me well for 2024, which is going to take it one step further, into actively shedding, discarding, and letting go of things.
CW: discussion of weight loss, which you already guessed from the title of the post.
Many mechanical weight-loss devices seem fall under the scientific category of “hey, has anybody thought of trying this?” Well, here’s the latest iteration, from this piece in The Daily Mail:
Clips that ‘tickle’ a nerve in the ear could be the secret to losing weight. Research suggests zapping the vagus nerve here with a mild electric current sends a signal to the brain that the stomach is full, curbing appetite.
Now a trial involving 150 people [with BMI > 30] is under way in Russia, to see if it can help them lose weight without drugs or surgery.
Hmmm. I’m sort of listening, but skepticism is my overall response. Is there more to this idea?
I looked around the scientific internet, and yes, there have been studies testing the effects of stimulating the vagus nerve on weight control. IN MICE. And, the study involved surgical insertion of a device to their stomach surface (inside their mouse body cavities– I’ll spare you the illustration, but the study is here). The researchers’ work suggested proof of concept that vagus nerve stimulation might have some value in weight loss and maintenance:
This work correlates nerve stimulation with targeted organ functionality through a smart, self-responsive system, and demonstrated highly effective weight control. This work also provides a concept in therapeutic technology using artificial nerve signal generated from coordinated body activities. [IN MICE STOMACHS]
There’s also research under way on humans, stimulating the vagus nerve in the ear, to see if it reduces some of the effects on aging. From this article in the Economist:
“The ear is like a gateway through which we can tinker with the body’s metabolic balance, without the need for medication or invasive procedures. We believe these results are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Beatrice Bretherton, from the University of Leeds.
Great. But also know that there’s no free lunch in experimental science:
However, this kind of stimulation needs surgery to implant electrodes in the neck region, with associated expense and a small risk of side effects.
Uh, no thank you.
Back to the ear device study: Here’s the deal:
Worn on both ears and connected to a battery-powered generator on the waistband, the clips on trial are attached to the auricular concha — the shell-like cavity in the middle of the ear that leads towards the ear canal, where a small branch of the vagus nerve can be found just beneath the skin.
The current trial being run by scientists at Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry, involves obese men and women. Half are getting ten minutes of ear stimulation before main meals every day for six months. The rest of the groups are getting a sham treatment — where they also wear the clips but no current is passed through them to stimulate the nerve.
Volunteers are being monitored to see how much weight they lose during the six-month experiment.
Okay. So that’s a thing someone could try. But even the neuroscientist (not involved with the study) that the news article interviewed said that, while it’s worth trying because it’s not invasive and appears to be safe, “it’s not clear exactly yet how it works”.
Yeah. While I firmly believe that science, and also very speculative science, can and does bear fruit in ways we can’t predict, I’m not betting any money on a device that someone in a lab late at night thought up while eating cold pizza.
This is the type of in-depth scientific analysis that you can rely on from us at Fit is a Feminist Issue. Have a good day… 🙂
