Born2lbfat

My life with Lipedema & Lymphedema...destined to be fat.

Shine With Me at OAC’s YWM2014

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YWM2014

Come S.H.I.N.E. with me this September at the OAC’s 3rd Annual Your Weight Matters National Convention. This year I have the pleasure of being a topic leader for Lunch with the Experts. I will be leading the Saturday Lunch Topic – You are Your Best Advocate: Leading Your Healthcare Team. Last year I wrote my Top 5 Reasons Why YOU Should Attend OAC’s #YWM2013, and not that you need more convincing but I wanted to write about the 5 elements of this year’s theme SHINE.

Support – Obesity Action Coalition offers support to everyone, no matter where you are in your journey or which path you are choosing, even if you have yet to choose a path. My favorite part of the OAC Vision Statement “All individuals are treated with respect and without discrimination or bias regardless of their size or weight”

Health – Health is not measured by the number on the scale, health is a combination of factors and clinical indicators.  Also being healthy is not just physical health, but emotional and mental health. The YWM2014 will be the opportunity to focus or refocus on your overall journey to health.

Inspiration – Often we seek or find inspiration in others, at YWM2014 I challenge you to find inspiration within yourself and your story, where you have been and where you are going. Our stories our powerful, and together with our stories and experiences we can make a difference. I encourage you to attend one of the Advocacy Training sessions on Thursday to learn more about how you can assist OAC in their mission.

Networking – At YWM2014 you will meet many other individuals working towards the same goal as you, and you’ll also meet many professional dedicated to improving the quality of treatment and life for those affected by obesity.  And those connections will continue even after you return home, the connections you make will provide many new outlets of support and information.

Education – I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Sharma speak last year at the ObesityHelp Conference, his message and perspective is one that is needed among both patients and practitioners in regards to weight and obesity. My favorite topic Dr. Sharma spoke on was the meaning of failure and success.

Mix ‘n Mingle – OH2014 ObesityHelp Conference

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OH2014cardsI am excited to be attending my ninth ObesityHelp Conference on August 15-16 in Los Angeles, California. This year’s keynote speaker is MasterChef judge, Graham Elliot. I look forward to meeting him and hearing more about his post-op journey.

This year I have the pleasure of co-hosting the #OH2014 Friday Opener Mix ‘n Mingle with Diana Vogel, MS, MFT, Intern. I met Diana last year at #OH2013 and really enjoyed her sessions and her overall personality so I’m really looking forward to leading some activities to help attendees get to know each other.

In addition to the support and educational opportunities at #OH2014, there is the socializing and FUN. The Friday Night Meet & Greet is Hawaiian Themed and I have already bought supplies for my costume. Anyone who knows me knows I always take part in the costume parties at conferences!

luau

 

I look forward to seeing all my OH friends again, and making new friends at #OH2014!

My First Impression of FitBloggin’ 2014

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I had this revelation on the final morning of FitBloggin’ ….

No one tried to save me, or sell themselves to me.

For those who just met me at FitBloggin’ that is a GOOD thing. A very good thing. And a rather refreshing feeling as compared to what I typically experience at least once at other conferences. This is not a negative reflection on the other conferences I attend. I very much enjoy attending and support the work of the organizations. Sadly, it’s the few attendees who are fellow weight loss surgery patients who have good intentions but cannot seem to accept that I accept myself and my weight that put a slight damper on the overall experience.

This being my first FitBloggin’ and not having interacted with many attendees prior to the weekend I wasn’t sure how I would “fit” in at FibBloggin’. I had met my roommate, Nikki from Bariatric Foodie, at a conference last year and communicated often online. This was her third FitBloggin’ so I knew I would make connections via her. I also easily made connections on my own and found a very warm and welcoming group of new friends.

There were people at various stages of their journey, various levels of fitness, and of various types of fitness and nutrition regiments. The refreshing part was the sense that despite the differences everyone was comfortable with themselves at where they were and supporting each other in making changes they wanted.

The focus was fitness and health, not weight. People were focused on achieving goals as a priority and for those who also had a goal to lose weight, they weren’t waiting for some magic number on the scale to appear in order to consider themselves successful, or to achieve what they set out to accomplish.

My Diet Mt. Dew was not referred to as contraband and I was never asked “oh can you eat that?” I never felt as if what I was doing (being myself) was “bad” and the only time I explained myself or my weight was during my Ignite Fitness presentation, which the purpose was to spread awareness about Lipedema and Lymphedema. When I got off the stage after my Ignite, my Twitter feed blew up with comments from fellow attendees, it was an awesome warm and fuzzy moment.

Even more awesome was Roni mentioning the possibility of me leading a water aerobics class next year in Denver! Of course, that requires me achieving my current goal of becoming a certified water fitness instructor, already confirmed the hotel has a pool, last but not least…I have to make sure my graduation from graduate school doesn’t occur that same weekend!

Roni Selfie

Roni Selfie