A 280 pound 14-year-old girl is set to be the youngest Australian to participate in the world wrestling sumo championships taking place in Estonia later this month.

Samantha-Jane Stacey, who eats “Weetbix and lasagna” to help her stay giant, says that a preexisting condition is to blame/is the reason she’s so sizeable for sumo. “I’m naturally a big girl. I don’t have to eat anything extra.” Stacey explains, “I have a medical condition that does not allow me to lose the weight. A side effect of that means I look obese. But I do have a healthy diet.”

While most women would probably freak the eff out if they had a disease that stopped them from losing weight (all those pumpkin muffins!), Samantha-Jane decided to use it to her benefit and spend her teenage years slamming other people down on mats. Well played, Samantha-Jane. Well played.

I was 14. My parents were getting a divorce. My father was also simultaneously dating a new woman. I was fighting with my brother all the time. So what did I do instead of properly dealing with my feelings? I internalized it and took it out on myself.

I was never a heavy person, but at 14, I was 5’8’’ and 160 lbs. Sounds big, I know, but I was a competitive swimmer and full of muscle. I used to eat whatever I wanted; I swam seven days a week so I had a good balance…I wasn’t heavy, but not stick thin, and I was happy with the way I looked. But when I abruptly quit swimming as a rebellion against my father, I realized that my eating of whatever I wanted had to come to a hault. I couldn’t snack on McDonalds Chicken Nuggets if I wasn’t spending two hours a day in a pool.

It started gradually…not sitting with my parents at the dinner table because I was upset, throwing lunches out that my mom made me at school, and making subtle attempts at lessening my food intake. Eventually, I narrowed it down to eating one single Pop-Tart or small sandwich a day…any single item with enough nutrients to get me through.

I also started stationary biking every day as a way to add exercise to my already starved body. I biked around 8 miles a day and did 400 crunches, so any food intake I did have was quickly wasted away by burning these calories. If I needed a boost to keep myself going, I’d pop a few sugar candies. Read More »

I am horrible when it comes to eating, and my metabolism is probably waiting until I’m thirty to get its revenge in the form of cellulite and love handles. I skip meals all the time, and have been known to go days without food.

No, I don’t have an eating disorder. I have a working disorder—I’m a total workaholic.

When I do eat, it needs to be healthy and somewhat portable. I’ve considered trying Atkins or Southbeach protein bars, Power Bars, or even Slim Fast Shakes as a snack I can pound in the car on my way to work. But, honestly, I can’t justify consuming 400 calories in the form of a little bitty rice bar that is not going to quiet my growling stomach, or 13 grams of fat in a similarly unsatisfying wannabe-milkshake concoction.

Instead, I live off of caffeine.

One morning, before work, I stopped at my favorite coffee shop to grab a skim milk, sugar-free vanilla latte, and saw a display of Vegan Energy Bars at the counter. I’m not vegan, but was hungry and I thought that those little heart-shaped bars might be crazy enough to work! I mean, the vegans are picky about what they put into their bodies and without meat or dairy, they still need nutrients, right?

I purchased a package of chocolate chip flavored (if it has chocolate it can’t be that bad), heart-shaped, soy-filled cakes of pure delight that day, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Read More »

I get asked about my diet a whole lot. As my peers are getting older every year (because I am…and you are, too), it’s become progressively more difficult for lots of my lady friends to keep the figures that they want. But, some way or another, it’s become easier for me.

I used to eat whatever I wanted and exercised only when I wanted to. My metabolism was sickly fast and I just figured I was healthy because I was skinny. Over the past few years, I have slowly learned to eat right and to exercise right, too. Now that it’s a part of my routine, it’s easier than ever to be healthy.

BUT I still need to be unhealthy here and there. Some people I know can eat healthy 24-7 without any screw-ups. I am not one of those people. My diet regime that I get asked about so much actually DOES include days where I eat all of the wrong stuff. I have these days maybe once every week or two and nothing sets me back on track for healthy eating faster than a day filled with fried food and chocolate treats.

Are they good for my arteries and liver? Hell no.
Am I being unhealthy by indulging in these days? Hell yes.

But I still feel as though I am better off throwing these days in here and there (and savoring my sweets) than to always wonder what I’m missing, or living a bland life full of carrots and bottled water.

Here is a typical day’s worth of food for me: Read More »

Have you ever looked in the mirror and thought to yourself, “I don’t need to lose weight, but I totally want to tone up”?

Let’s say that you fixate on ‘toning up’ your arms and that you start doing bicep curls with three or five pound weights and a high number of repetitions per set. But after two weeks, you don’t see any results, so you give up.

Do you want to know why that didn’t work?

Because there is no such thing as toning up. All of those bicep curls that you do with three pounds weights? That starts you down the path that you want to go on, but what you’ve got to do is put down the puny weights and pick up those heavier bad boys.

If you were working with three pounds, move up to five; if you were at five, move up to eight and so on. Do 12 reps, rest for a minute, repeat the set and after another one minute rest, complete the final set of twelve. You don’t want to do two or three sets of 12 – 15 reps with such ease that you didn’t actually work the muscle.

Yes, the heavier weights can be intimidating but that’s no reason to stay away from them. Perhaps you’re afraid of ‘bulking up’. Well, fear not, because women simply lack the testosterone to bulk up and look anything remotely like those scary ginormous body builders. Read More »