Monday, June 9, 2008

Ouch

Ouch...I was in the sun all day yesterday and ended up with the worst sunburn of my life and heatstroke. I went home taking half a sick day because I have been nauseaus all day. My skin is throbbing and swelling up like you wouldnt believe. You would think that I gained all my 47 pounds back! I am choosing to not weight in today because I know that it would show a gain as a result of the swelling and it probably would upset me since I am still in a state of happiness from my weigh in on Friday.

I had a great weekend though. Found a new bed and mattress set that is part of my birthday present to myself (with contributions from my parents and boyfriend) so now I can sleep in a larger bed on a mattress that doesnt suck!

Yesterday I went to the NHRA race that came to town (National Hot Rod Association). It was an extremely hot day and an hour under cloudy skies resulted in my severe burn. It rained for a few hours and my boyfriend and I hid under an EZup tent for a few hours and then resumed viewing the races. We had to find the only shady spot around as I was in pretty bad shape at that point, and by the time we got home in the evening, I was in severe pain.

There were so many interesting observations I had yesterday at the race track regarding people and food. We got there around 9 am and already, the masses of people were ingesting large quantities of alcohol and greasy fried food. I remember thinking at one point while watching a guy eat an ear of corn at 10 am, do you really need grilled corn on the cob at 10 am? Do you really need that margarita at 10 am? It was almost disgusting to me. All around me were overweight people. Overweight men carrying their huge guts around, and overweight women wearing skimpy tank tops and tube tops scarfing down large quantities of food all day. I can say this all because I have been there. I know how easy it is to go there and get so consumed with all of the food. But its almost like people just dont care anymore. To me, I have learned to view my body as something that truly deserves to be taken care of. I am aware of everything I put into it and what it does for me. Watching these people eat just to eat when they already looked so unhealthy just made me very sad that this is how a lot of people are nowadays.

I felt pretty proud that my boyfriend and I packed our lunches in a cooler so we could eat something much healthier than what was offered there. I also didnt drink any alcohol, only water, and I felt good. There was an older drunk fat man laying on the ground later in the day who probably got that way because he wasnt drinking any water (only beer) and because he probably didnt eat anything healthy and was exhausted from the sun. It made me sad that at that age (he was probably in his 40s), he couldnt even take care of himself the way I, almost a 26 yr old, have learned to do.

Now Im not saying I know everything about food or am perfect, but I do know that I have been on the other side of the tracks, and having been there and come back, I just dont see why it is worth it. I really dont. Why is eating or drinking any of the crap really worth it? It does nothing for your body and I dont understand how these people can walk around (struggling as I saw some overweight people doing) feeling proud.

The worst thing I saw of the day: I was sitting at a picnic table while my boyfriend left to go to the bathroom, and this overweight man was walking up to where the steps were to get into the seating area. The man said to his friend, "I aint going up no steps". There were THREE steps! And then a ramp where he could have stood to see the track (vs going up more steps). THREE steps! Why on earth would he pay $56 to come to a race and then decide he wasnt going to watch it because he didnt want to carry his large body up three steps.

I tell you people, what on earth is this world coming to sometimes?!

Time to head off to my oatmeal bath..

13 comments:

Holly said...

Ouchie!! I hope you are feeling better soon! Heatstroke is awful! Take care of yourself!

Lora said...

Aloe works well for sunburns - and aspirin. But use the sunscreen from now on...I lost my first husband to skin cancer.

Crissy Rae said...

Hope the swelling goes down and the pain subsides on your sunburn. That's no fun!

Cammy@TippyToeDiet said...

Ouch! Sorry about that sunburn. A cloth soaked in cold milk is good for it, but beware, the milk will sour from the heat. :(

Actually, the roast corn probably wasn't an unhealthy option as long as it wasn't drenched in butter. :)

Feel better soon!

Laura N said...

Oh, man, burns are the worst. I had a bad burn on my legs the first time I went to Florida. "My legs don't tan," I told my new husband (it was our honeymoon). Yeah, in February, in Florida, even if it's cloudy? You need sunscreen. Even on legs that never tan. I flew home with everything below my shorts line swollen & an angry red.

Hope you heal up soon! And good for you for eating healthy at the races.

Tori Leslie said...

Oh, hope your feeling better soon, that's just miserable.

Glad you did so well eating at the race, and we can learn a lot from watching others.

Kathy said...

Ouch! Gotta beware that sun! And congrats on packing that cool healthy food for the racetrack!

Anonymous said...

Do you hear yourself? Who are you to judge others for being overweight? Just because you've lost 50 pounds doesn't give you the right to judge other people who are overweight. You say you can't understand how overweight people can walk around proud? Are you freaking kidding? Why shouldn't they be proud? There's a lot of things in life to be proud of and weight doesn't even play a factor in 99.9% of those things. Ok, so maybe they weren't making good food choices...you obviously didn't make a good skin cancer choice and slather on the sunscreen so maybe I should blog about all the people who just don't care about themselves enough to protect themselves from the dangers of the sun. You need to get over yourself. Congrats on the weight loss but that doesn't give you the right to judge and be critical of others.

Anonymous said...

ewww - you sunburn sounds painful - take care of yourself!

Isn't it horrible what the typical American Diet has come too. And, for the most part, it's socially acceptable. Since discovering raw foods, I've learned a name for the american diet - they call it the S.A.D. - (Standard American Diet) - and that's what it is - SAD! :-(

One thing you can really be proud of is that if you ever choose to have children, you can raise them with your new healthy lifestyle - I so regret not sticking to my guns and letting my kids eat as much sweets and junk as they do...

I guess all I can do now is try to be an example.

(sorry so long!)

Anonymous said...

I didn't see the comment above me until after I posted mine - I just had to say:

You did not sound judgmental at all to me, heather - and if anyone has read your blog regularly, they would know that you are so sweet and kind, and all you probably were doing by voicing your opinion was showing your concern for the way people eat these days and do not exercise... and that it is socially acceptable.

By finding true health, and making healthy choices, you KNOW what freedom that allows you... and you just want it for everyone.

(A little harsh, don't you think anonymous???)

Anonymous said...

No Betsy, I don't think my comment was harsh. I think judging others for committing the same "crime" you've committed is what is harsh.

jillian said...

what amazes me is people who leave anonymous comments. If you really feel that way why don't you leave your name so people can respond to you person to person!!

MB said...

I used to try to tan my lilly white skin when I was younger and have learned it is much better to lather on the Water Babies with SPF 50 than feel the pain of the burn. Next time be sure to pack the sunscreen with the healthy snacks.

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