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UPDATE: We are organizing a chat on twitter this FRIDAY, January 27th from 9-10pm EST to discuss the implications of these ads to children. We will also be discussing the obesity epidemic and effective ways of communicating change. Click here to join us!

I can’t even begin to tell you how incredibly offensive this ad is to me. I was that overweight kid years ago. I lived everyday of my life with shame about my own body.

The Huffington Post reported on these ads earlier this month. Where was I? Today I happened upon this post. It looks like the State of Georgia thought these ads were a great idea and has plastered the state with them. This is NOT one of those times where “I have no words”…I’ve got words. And I’m going to share them with you. Why? Because I WAS this girl. And I’m speaking to you as someone who struggled most of their life with being overweight, later morbidly obese & having an eating disorder, and today healthier YET NO DIFFERENT INSIDE MY HEART.

This is a public health communication campaign that has gone very wrong. Since when it is okay to shame children? I’ll tell you when. When people with fancy degrees sit in their ivory towers and decide that the people in Georgia need to “wake Up and smell the obesity in their state” (my own quote, btw.)

They should be ashamed of themselves. Not only has The Strong4 Life Campaign succeeded in shaming children all over the State of Georgia, but they are missing the point. Here you see a child who is overweight, but what you don’t see is how that child got to be that way. It makes the child look like the problem. Guess what? The child is NOT the problem. The lifestyle of the entire family is the problem. To solve this issue, everyone in that household will have to change. Everyone. More activity and better nutrition. Pointing the finger at this poor child only succeeds in making her feel worse. In fact, I would go even further to say that THIS AD CREATES EATING DISORDERS IN CHILDREN. They are made to feel more shame about who they are.

Quote from Marsha Davis, an obesity prevention researcher, “We need to fight obesity, not obese people.”

I was that child years ago. Every time someone drew attention to my weight, I spent my time eating more. Why? Because food was how I made myself feel better. If you were going to make me feel bad about myself, I was going to run to food again. Does that make sense? No. But since when does having an eating disorder make any sense?

Btw, I assure you this child knows she is overweight. It’s not like drawing attention to it is going to make her have some kind of an epiphany. Like “Wow, I never knew that…are you serious? You mean this roll in my belly isn’t just water?”

And guess what? I’m right. These type of tactics don’t work when it comes to weight. They are counterproductive. I would say abusive.

I think these ads should be pulled. They are harmful to children.

If you would like to voice your opinion you can do it directly AT The Strong 4Life Campaign. They just so happen to be on twitter and Facebook.

Twitter: @Strong_4_Life

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/S4LGA

I live all the way in California, so it’s not like I can show up on their doorstep, but some of you sure as hell can.

I’m summing this up with what has the world come to when we make children the problem? Children are never the problem. Sometimes people with fancy degrees are part of the problem. (And btw, I’m one of those people with a fancy degree…but at least I have the sense to know what is harmful and what is not.)

UPDATE: I’d like to add some links to additional posts that have covered this issue

Diets in Review
Curvy Girl Guide
Skinny Emmie
Mrs. Fatass
Lisa Johnson
Skimbaco Lifestyle
Mommyality
ShePosts
GanzWorld
5 Minutes for Mom

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Okay so January is here. It’s that time of year when us fitness peeps become important because ya’ll start paying attention. Why? Well, after the holidays are over you either step on the scale or try on your skinny jeans and realize they don’t fit very well anymore. You indulged. A lot. And now you are feeling guilty and want to fix it. We’ve all been there…myself included.

January/February is the craziest time of year for people to try and wade through the health/fitness marketing and flashy programs that promise you will “lose 20 lbs. in two seconds”…etc.  For the average person, it’s very easy to get duped. Yes, even IF you are highly intelligent. And sometimes it’s easiest to dupe the highly intelligent cause they are so busy thinking and creating, they don’t exercise enough to know the difference. They, i.e. the evil marketing people, know this and so they focus on your emotions rather than your intellect to sell you things. They have the upper hand…especially at 3am when you are just desperate for a change after finishing off that 1/2 gallon of double fudge chocolate ice cream.

Here are my top 5 things to watch out for when purchasing anything health related in the New Year:

1. Shock and Awe. If it includes something that vibrates OR shocks you with electricity…pass. I know it sounds crazy, but you can’t get 6 pack abs by shocking your abdominals into submission. You have to lose overall body fat. I know. Sad, but true. No 6-pack abs will be attained while Facebooking or watching TV. Sorry.

2. Pills and shakes. Okay, this is hotly debated by some who want to believe they work or sell them to you, but they don’t. There is no magic pill and shake that speeds up your metabolism enough for you to actually lose real weight. Trust me if there was, I’d tell you. Although if you remember Fen-Phen from years ago, that actually DID help people lose weight, but remember they pulled it off the market because people were dropping dead of heart attacks. So it’s possible that some “natural” products are still out there that can speed up your metabolism temporarily, but they are dangerous. So just remember, IF your heart starts racing in your chest…THROW IT AWAY!!!

3. Funny looking fitness contractions. Purchase this “thingie ma jiggy” and it will help you lose 5,000 lbs. in one month OR get you looking like Jessica Alba in no time. Okay, that’s nice and all, but I promise you when you finally get it in the mail, you’ll use it about 3-4 times and then forget about it. Why do I know this? Because I have a mountain of them in my house. It’s the shrine to my “get skinny quick” phase of life.

4. Space suits that promise to burn the fat right off you, i.e. sweat suits. If they tell you that you can sweat weight off you, it’s kinda true, BUT it’s very temporary. Your body is comprised of mostly water, so when you sweat you weigh less, BUT the second you drink water again you will put it back on. This is something that CAN work for a special event to make you appear slimmer, but don’t eat or drink anything until you take pictures. Yeah, it’s like that. Celebrities do this, but it’s not a real weight loss tool. So don’t be tool and buy it.

5. Belts OR funny contractions that promise to make your waistline trimmer. As for the belts, I’ve never worn them but from what I hear, they don’t work. They bleed dark ink on your clothing, fall apart easily, and after you measure yourself…nothing has happened. By that time you feel like an ass, have stained your clothes, and are not telling anyone you actually purchased it. The ab contractions are a scam. If you want your waistline to get smaller you have to lose overall body fat. That’s the trick. Once you get trimmer, you can start focusing on v-ups and crunches.

Let’s all do ourselves a favor and stay away from all these things. If you decide to purchase them anyways, make sure to stop by later so we can all have a good laugh.

And of course, how can we forget this from years ago. Yes, I bought it too.

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I’ve been very impressed by the amount of talent we have in the fitness blogging niche. Our bloggers, coming from all walks of life, have united in health to share common experiences and their lives with their audiences. I think there are several that deserve some additional praise as the New Year is starting to emerge. So this list is NOT the Top 10 Most Influential Bloggers of 2011, it’s a list of up and coming bloggers that I think are just going to keep getting better. I advise you all to follow them on twitter and start paying attention to them because they are only going to get better and better. They are badass.

1. @MrsFatass, F*cking hilarious and real

2. @MealsandMiles, Great food porn and pets, etc. (You understand I don’t mean porn w/ pets…food porn is pics of food that make me want to eat. I’m just going to shut up now…I’m hoping my father in law doesn’t read this.)

3. @Runeatrepeat, What a REAL runner’s life is like (when I say that imagine I mean NORMAL not crazy)

4. @FANNEtasticfood, Again more food porn and me watching how life is like BEFORE kids

5. @Fitcheerldr, Canadians are so f*cking awesome…(Damn…why do I feel the need to cuss so much when pregnant. This is totally off topic, btw.)

6. @InspiredRD, She’s adorable…she’s nice…she knows her shit. RD means Dietitian for those of you that don’t know. And they actually go to school for that degree. Translation: you can trust what she says. Oh, and she’s gluten free.

7. @YumYucky, She always has a picture of her eating some “forbidden” food. She’s lost weight and is maintaining. Doing a good job of it by sharing REAL experiences.

8. @According2Kelly, She’s a runner. Lives in Orange County. No, she’s not a bitch and I don’t think she’s richer than Midas. She also does Team Sparkle. Those are the girls with the sparkle dresses on when they run marathons. Also Mom blogger.

9. @SmashFit, Trainer. Gorgeous and has a wonderful and loyal twitter following.

10. @JackSht, He’s sarcastic and very funny. Definitely a weight loss blogger and I have NO idea what he looks like. He just makes me laugh especially on twitter.

11. @Savorthethyme, healthy foodie who used to be a biologist. I think that’s fascinating. More of a mom blogger, but I am too, so I think that gives her brownie points.

12. @SarahStanley, Runner, Ultra marathoner (yeah, she’s crazy like that), vlogger and writes a lot about working out and different things you can do

13. @Fitmomtraining, Canadian, Is really foxy looking pregnant, does great information & personal posts

Understand this is a totally subjective list. I haven’t based my opinions on Klout scores or anything quantifiable. My opinions are based on a “gut feeling” that I’ve received and over the years, my own success has been based on that same gut feeling. So take that for what’s it’s worth. Each one of these bloggers has some some serious qualities about them that I know helps you rise to the top in this industry and those qualities are: good content, a willingness to help out or converse with their fellow blogger, community engagement, a positive attitude and dedication to their blog/social media platform.

I’m looking to do another post like this on runners, trainers, & more healthy foodies to watch in 2012. If you have any recommendations for that post (including yourself cause I really don’t mind people that already know how awesome they are) put it in the comments section w/ twitter names included. I’ll sort through it all with my Bookieboo lenses and create those lists pretty soon.

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The other day I was on twitter and someone random said something to me. It was kinda mean and it’s sad that the mean things tend to stick out in my head, but it did. This person said something to the effect of “with all the splurging you are doing pregnant, I bet you are gaining too much weight.” I didn’t respond to them AT ALL. I’ve learned that when I do respond to people like this, all of a sudden they gain more twitter followers. Not something I wanted to give them. So I sat on that for a couple of weeks and now want to talk about it.

Pregnancy is always hard for me. It’s not so much the physical part as it is the emotional part. After all that hard work and sacrifice, I HAVE to gain weight. To some people that doesn’t sound like such a big deal, but to someone who has come as far as I have and has an eating disorder, it feels like a HUGE set back. My last pregnancy, I gained about 60 lbs. Way more than the average person. Was I watching what I ate? Yes. Was I exercising? Well, I was taking Tae Bo and boot camp classes up until 2 weeks before delivery. So yes, I was. (As a matter of fact, I was doing better than some of the people in there that weren’t pregnant.) And then I wonder to myself how much I would have gained had I not done those things. I’m scared of that answer. So why all the weight gain? I really have no idea. The only thing that makes sense to me is my body is desperately trying to put back what was lost to give to the baby somehow. I have NO other explanation than that. I’m sure someone who knows a great deal about metabolism and major weight loss can give you a better explanation.

As to this pregnancy, It’s been different than the last one. I’ve been far more depleted: sick, tired, nauseous, feeling overwhelmed, and emotionally drained. I haven’t exercised as much and yet I haven’t gained as much. And I’ve actually been far more hungry, so I’m eating more. I’m halfway through and have already gained almost 20 lbs. To me that’s a HUGE improvement from last time. Yes, that’s more than the average again, but I think my metabolism is getting better. Ironically, I still have some major stamina when I do workout. In fact, I’ve been taking classes with Billy Blanks every Tuesday night and I’ve been doing just fine. In fact, I’m finishing stronger than most of the women there. How? I have NO idea. I should be exhausted, but I think all the high intensity stuff I did BEFORE I got pregnant may have something to do with it.

Enter the mind of someone with an eating disorder. Any weight gain is too much weight gain. We are really tough on ourselves. We tend to have a black and white interpretation of things. I’m fat and therefore I’m bad and I’m just going to sit here and drown my sorrows in this tub of ice cream. Does that make any sense? No. Are people with eating disorders highly intelligent people? Mostly, yes. It doesn’t matter how big I am. The only thing I see is how I weigh more than what I did X months ago. So here is my own personal struggle. Everyday I feel some sort of guilt and shame about my weight gain. My own personal challenge is putting it all into perspective even though my eating disorder tells me I’m a failure. The craziness about it all is I’m NOT a failure. Look at how far I’ve come and it’s not like I can’t lose all the weight again after the baby is born.

I share this all with you because I know there are people reading this who also struggle with eating disorders or emotional eating. I’m not comfortable being your leader and making you think that I have conquered it all. I don’t think that helps people because then you all have a false sense of reality. “If I can just lose XX amount of weight, my life will be perfect and I’ll have gotten over all this”…not true. When you lose all that weight, you will still struggle emotionally every day. I do. If you have gained ANY weight over the holidays, you may feel just like me–guilt and shame over it and kicking yourself from all the hard work you have done that you just erased. So if you feel this way, don’t think for a second that I don’t understand how you feel. And don’t hide ashamed from me. I’m revealing myself here with open honesty. Don’t be afraid to do the same. Trust me, I have more to lose here.

Some places online will make you feel ashamed when you have lost your way. This is not one of those places. I say…SO F*CKING WHAT? You are here now and that is all that matters. The most important lesson I’ve learned from all this over years and years is the ones who get back up (even though they feel lower than low) are the ones who get what they want. Who cares that you had bad month or bad year of a bad couple of years. That is all in the past. We have the here and now to deal with. And today, I want you to stand WITH me–Proud, imperfect and strong because we have each other. I have you and you have me. We are badass.