less leslie
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The Curious Case of Gabourey Sidibe
When Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe walks the red carpet Sunday night, all will judge how she looks in whatever she’s chosen to wear to the Oscars. People will stare, comment, smile and be polite – in public. We will hear commentators talk about her Precious role and sudden fame, maybe her mother, maybe something about the…
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At the Gym, Proper Coverage is Everything
At my gym, every now and then a woman will shuffle from the showers to the lockers naked, giving new meaning to the term “indecent exposure.” Bags, sags or stretch marks, no matter. I’m guessing these ladies have high self-esteem. Me, I dress and undress in one of the changing rooms. I can’t imagine ever…
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Brown Bag Test: Whatcha Got for Lunch?
When my children were younger, I did everything I could to arrest their weight gain. Overweight during both pregnancies, I knew each was born with more fat cells than average. That’s my fault. My responsibility is to make sure those fat cells stay lean. Years of elementary school lunches started showing up on Trey and…
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Sometimes, Loss of Appetite is a Good Thing
Woke up to some truly awful news. The kind that sends you into shock: You can’t get properly angry or sad. You just go numb. At least, that’s been my reaction to really bad news of late. First, go into shock. Then, prepare for battle. I’m thinking it’s the loony pills. I just don’t wig…
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‘Fat’ is the new ‘N’ Word. Seriously?
Over on HuffingtonPost.com is a column by some chick named Vicki Iovine headlined FAT Is the New ‘N’ Word. She’s white, and that’s all I’m going to infer about why she played the race card. The headline – a breathtaking work of staggering ignorance – speaks for itself. And hey, it worked: It got my…
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Doctor’s Orders: Stay Out of the Gym
Today is Day 3 in The War of the Rash. I’m on two different, very strong meds, one which causes intense drowsiness, the other insomnia. The first casualty of this internecine war? My willpower. The first, Prednisone, is a steroid that for years I’ve refused to take because I’m so susceptible to its side effects…
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When Stress = Stress Eating
I woke up this morning, slowly. I’d stayed up until the wee hours, and didn’t want to get less than seven hours of sleep. I ended up with only five. Couldn’t relax because I was anticipating a stress-filled day. For me, stress equals stress eating. Doritos, pretzels, homemade caramel corn – things that crunch. My…
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Blood Test Results: Exercise or Die
This is not the blog I was thinking about writing today. An hour ago, I was prepared to state that personal trainers are agents of the devil. An hour ago, I really wanted to have a protracted pity party about how much I hate exercising, and how I might have to renew my inhaler prescription…
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12 Pounds Down, 88 to Go
Friday morning, I was down 9 pounds. Yesterday, the scale insisted I’d somehow lost 3 pounds over the weekend, despite not exercising and eating fast-food practically the whole time. We were in Greensboro for my daughter’s cheer competition, and that meant long hours of mostly sitting. Sky is on three senior squads, and competitions always…
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‘Don’t mean to be rude, but I didn’t ask for your advice’
There’s really no polite way of saying that, is there? No, I don’t already know what I need. I just think people assume I’m clueless. And apparently quite approachable. No matter where I go, total strangers come up to me and strike up a conversation. Now, I know that’s also a Southern thing, but honestly,…