h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

as long as you are happy in yourself thats all that matters,
these people making others feel bad about there bodies aught to be ashamed of themselves

Ackshully measurements are objectively the best way of monitoring fat loss and muscle gain (I don't use the term 'weight loss' for reasons I'll get to in a sec).

BMI and actual weight are pretty much useless unless your physical circumstances put you in the Imminent Danger Of Death category. If, like me, your fitness regime includes weight lifting you will initially see an increase in both BMI and weight, because you'll start building muscle before losing fat, and someone who is extremely fit can score badly on BMI scales and be considered 'overweight' by conventional standards simply by having a significant muscle mass.

Add into this the fact that ideals of anything are entirely subjective and it's quite legitimate for someone to think *their* hips are too big. It's if they tell you *yours* are when you're perfecty comfortable with them that it becomes a problem.

I need to put ON a bit of weight, not lose it; I need to fill out in a place or two, but need to lose the puppy fat on my face (I think only time will do that, but I'm 23 so doubt it will ever happen).

Despite this, I'm around 8st and probably a touch more, not because I am fat but because of muscle mass- constantly moving and using three or four times as much energy as an able bodied person means I burn off calories quite quick, but I probably have gained quite a bit of muscle over the years as my upper half has had to adapt to dragging plenty of weight and doing some of what my lower body should do.

How often do you hear someone say, “I need to put on a few pounds and fill out a wee bit”? Not too much, mind…

>>as long as you are happy in yourself thats all that matters,

Obesity is a huge problem for society, it costs the NHS more and more every year, because bariatric equipment is so expensive (£400, 000 for an ambulance) and there is so much disease associated with it. Obesity and poor diet now places "the largest economic burden" on the NHS of all lifestyle choices, more so than booze and fags.

I appreciate that using measurements can be better than using a person's weight. My dietician has told me to measure myself as well as weighing myself because exercise will build muscle and skew the results. It's the attitude of 'I need to lose more weight because I only lost 1" off my hips' that bugs me. If somebody loses 3" off their bust and 4" off their waist, but only 1" off their hips, that tells me that hips aren't necessarily a problem area.

It used to be considered natural for a woman to have big hips. In some places they consider it attractive. It's only in comparatively recent years with the 'size zero' fixation that people have seen big hips as a problem.

Here's another PH: getting appointment times/dates wrong. I write down my appointment dates and times, but twice recently I've turned up on the wrong day (right time), and at the wrong time (right day). I'm not old enough to have moments (honest!), so I'll put it down to cognitive dysfunction caused by MS. It still annoys me, though.

Idiot people that think throwaway Facebook statuses about violence re X Factor or whatever are funny; they're not... why is this attitude even IN society? Women shouldn't be seen as "things" or whatever just because they are women. Not all men think like this, it's just that the ones who do annoy me.

I can recommend the website everydaysexism.com
tweet them @everydaysexim.com

spread the word!

PH:

Gathering the clothes, putting them in the washing machine and starting it.

...then turning around and seeing the bluddy great pile of socks you forgot to put in.

PH: Hanging out socks!

I buy multiple pairs of the same socks which are worn at similar frequency so are easy to pair up and hang out.

My dear, lovely husband likes those packs of socks - all the same colour but with graduations in toe colours, so a 7 pack of socks, each pair has a slightly different shade of blue on the toe. When they are wet out the machine, they are a complete sod to pair up as they all look the same.

Those washes, I let him hang out!

Ah, the joy of boots. I haven't worn matching socks since 1996.

Pair them up when dry? Make him do his own?

I never bother to pair up socks for the wash. I don't pair them up when I hang them out to dry.

There have been times when I haven't managed to pair them up when wearing them either.

PP.

<>

No-one can be sad enough to pair them up to wash but I do pair them up to hang out, I never seem to have enough pegs to not pair socks up.

PP and KB, you should be ashamed of yourselves for not wearing matching socks - what if you are in an accident? Oh Hell, I'm turning into my Mooother...

https://www.sockclip.com/index.php

Actually, I have a Monday - Friday set of socks with the days of the week on them. It is a matter of personal satisfaction not to wear a matching pair. And not to wear a sock on it's correct day. And I have now noticed that I can wear them on the wrong foot since the day is embroidered only on one side.

I clearly don't have enough to do.

I wear clean pants though so I'm bus-proof.

PP

The bloody great pile of laundry sitting in the corner that I do not have time or energy to do- and having to pay to do my sodding washing here too. Ugh.

There's an opportunity here to develop a simple method of hanging out socks en-masse, maybe by somehow attaching them all together in the wash, and pegging out the whole sock-strip to dry. Popper attachments on each sock maybe?

Limescale.

PP.

Inconveniently placed sunny days. It's been grey and miserable for a month. Until today, when I started antibiotics that make your skin UV sensitive.

Welcome to my world!

Apparently I was the only person who knew that grapefruit and meds reacted badly with each other - whole bunch of people being very surprised about the article on it that's appeared on the beeb

I've not had grapefruit in nearly three years, which is annoying because I liked it

I'm pretty sure that grapefruit/heart medication was the murder weapon of choice in an Agatha Christie novel - one of the ones set somewhere hot, I think.

I can't remember and can't check cos they're far too pricey for my kindle

Ah, there we go, I can even keep the discussion on track by giving a petty hate.

Deb