Between Thanksgiving and today I've gained 10 lbs. I'm 184 lbs. this morning (which means I've gained back a total of 16 lbs. of the weight I had lost). Oh well, better to gain 10 lbs. in one month because there were so many delicious desserts and cheeses in my hands than to lose 10 lbs. in one month because we couldn't afford food.

Am I to say, "Woe is me because I ate cookies and candy by the handfuls" while other people are looking for scraps in trash cans? And then there are people in remote desolate places of the world who only wish they had trash cans they could search through. Am I to say, "Woe is me because I didn't have to spend 12 hours a day laboring in a physically demanding job" while other people are digging in mines and lifting heavy rocks and timbers? So I will not be complaining about my weight. How lucky I am to be able to gain it while others die in skinny, bony bodies from lack of nutrition.

But I will not be naive either. To much of anything, even a good thing, is simply too much. (It's a lesson I've been trying to teach my children, but I'm afraid I'm rarely a good role model since I tend to vacillate between extremes in much of what I do.) Too much of the good life with lots of good food and little need to struggle in physical work has left me in an unhealthy state.

It's odd since health is so important to me. I avoid carcinogens as if they were infected with the plague and would kill us all immediately. I refuse to consume hydrogenated oils, artificial anything, or large quantities of corn syrup. I do as much as I can to avoid becoming contaminated by germs outside of my home. I focus on safety first in everything I do because I fear that harm will come if I don't. I do it all to prolong my life and the lives of the people I love and to make our lives more pleasurable and fulfilling. But when it comes to my excess weight and sedentary lifestyle, I am my greatest health risk.

So again, I start a New Year with the resolution to get to a healthier weight (130 lbs. is always the goal but I'd be better off with any improvement). My goal is not to fit into the latest fashions or turn heads. I simply want to be healthy, energetic, and agile. I want to set a good example of health for my kids. And I want to enjoy the process. I don't want to do exercises that I dread; life is too short to do things we hate. I'm determined to find something active that I enjoy doing. And I certainly won't be participating in any fad diets. Moderation is always the panacea.

But above all I will avoid complaining about how blessed I am to have the opportunities to be fat while so many others are starving and physically overtaxed. It's like complaining about having too much money and not having to work for it. I refuse to be so spoiled.

Labels: Goals, My Life

So I'm browsing around and find a blog called On a Quest To Be Debt Free. (They're a fellow Entrecard member.)

On that site I discover some articles that look oddly familiar. So familiar that it seems almost as if I had written them. Why? Because in fact, I did write them!

Several articles on Kristen's Guide were directly copied (all of the articles I've found so far were about household notebooks), some of the URLs were changed to point to whatever the copier wanted them to, some were left intact. They removed my information as the author, removed any reference to my Kristen's Guide where my original article is hosted, replaced my name with the copier's name ("Anna" if that is her real name), and re-posted it as an entry on their blog. Then they submitted it to blog carnivals and such.

I'm so angry. I know that there are people out there who copy and paste stuff, but at least most of them don't take credit for it. They usually just say, hey it's from this other site. That annoys me, but when I go through all the trouble of researching by experience then writing articles and somebody else comes along and decides to say they wrote it, I just want to scream.

So I contacted "Anna" and tried to politely but sternly explain that the illegally copied items need to be removed. If they're not, then I'm going to do my best to get the host to terminate the hosting account. I'm hoping to resolve this without having to get attorneys and litigation involved because such measures are always so time consuming and financially draining for everyone, but if I must then I must.

I also contacted some of the blog carnivals she entered them into and so far they seem willing to remove any references to the articles as well.

Argh!

Labels: Blogging and Websites