Some people would have you believe that being fat is the worst thing you can be. They think that if a person is fat they have no life, no love, no reason to want to look good in their clothes. The sad thing is that many people who are fat do feel the same loathing toward themselves and others who are overweight or obese.

    I know what I'm talking about because I have been there. I have been that fat girl who wore big T-shirts to cover my “sins”. Forget style. Forget fashion sense. I absolutely had none. I didn't even bother getting haircuts for years, just wore my hair long and straight, pulled back in a ponytail, I have to wonder if the reason the fashion industry has ignored plus sized women and children for so long is because plus sized people, feeling they couldn't possibly look great, didn't bother shopping for new clothes, and therefore no profit was to be found by producing those sizes.

    For me, the change that improved my outer look actually started with my outlook on life. I started by being grateful for all I do have, like great health, a stable family, a steady income, freedom, a decent home, the ability to see the trees turn orange in the fall, to hear my grandson humming in the back seat, to remember the great times I've had in my life.

    I started to focus on all the positive aspects of the life I already had. I actually started to feel the beauty of the Universe all around me and to realize that I am part of that perfection. The self loathing stopped. I noticed all the people in my life who loved me in spite of my size. I got off the pity pot and smiled at myself. I acknowledged my shame and embarrassment and moved through that too.

    There have always been a lot of commonly believed but false ideas about being fat and doing exercise. Some people believe that they can't help putting on weight as they get older, while others hold that if they stop exercising, their muscles will turn into fat. Here are some more myths:

I'll never lose weight — I come from a fat family

    Wrong! While we can't change the body type we are born with, we can't blame our genes for making us fat. There's plenty of evidence that fatness runs in families, and the main reason is that they share the same habits of eating too much and exercise too little.

    I am fat because I burn calories slowly

    Wrong! Fatness is not caused by a slow metabolism（新陈代谢）. If fact, although fat people consume more energy that slim people, they also fail to realize how much they eat! Keeping a diary can help you work out your daily food intake more accurately.

    Exercise is boring

    Wrong! Anything will become boring if you do it repetitively. The key is to develop a balanced and varied program that's fun as well as progressive. If you enjoy a Sunday walk, take a different route. If you do Yoga, try a tai chi class. If you like swimming, set yourself a distance or time challenge.

    No pain, no gain

    Wrong! Exercise is not meant to hurt. Indeed, pain is your body telling you something's wrong, and continuing to exercise could lead to serious injury. You may experience mild discomfort as you begin to exercise regularly, but this your body adapting to the positive changes in your lifestyle and the aches should disappear relatively quickly. If you don't, rest and seek medical advice.

    Top 5 smart wearable vendors in the world

    Market research company IDC's latest data showed that a total of 21 million smart wearables were shipped in the third quarter of 2015, up by 197.6% year-on-year.

    As a rather new area, market players change positions frequently. China's BBK, owner of a children's phone watch brand Xiaotiancai, outperformed Samsung and broke into the top five clubs, gaining a market share of 3.1 percent.

    Let us have a look at the top 5 vendors.

    No 5 BBK

    Shipment volume: 0.7 million

    Market share: 3.1%

    People can watch a video on the website of Guangdong Xiaotiancai Tech Company Limited to know more about its phone watches.

    No 4 Garmin

    Shipment volume: 0.9 million

    Market share: 4.1%

    Garmin's new fenix 3 multi-sport GPS training watch is displayed at the 2015 International CES, a trade show of consumer electronics, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Jan 7, 2015.

    No 3 Xiaomi

    Shipment volumes: 3.7 million

    Market share: 17.4%

    The Mi Bands, developed by Xiaomi's ecosystem company Huami Co Ltd, has a function to track the user's heart beat while in motion.

    No 2 Apple

    Shipment volume: 3.9 million

    Market share: 18.6%

    Customers try to use an Apple Watch in an Apple retail store in Hangzhou city, East China's Zhejiang province, April 24, 2015. The watch went on sale on April 24 around the world.

    No 1 Fitbit

    Shipmen volume: 4.7 million

    Market share: 22.2%

    Various Fitbit devices were displayed outside the New York Stock Exchange on Jun 18, 2015, when the company got listed.

    Why do some people live to be older than others? You know the standard explanations: keeping a moderate diet, engaging in regular exercise, etc. But what effect does your personality have on your longevity? Do some kinds of personalities lead to longer lives? A new study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society looked at this question by examining the personality characteristics of 246 children of people who had lived to be at least 100.

    The study shows that those living the longest are more outgoing, more active and less neurotic（神经质的）than other people. Long-living women are also more likely to be sympathetic and cooperative than women with a normal life span. These findings are in agreement with what you would expect from the evolutionary theory: those who like to make friends and help others can gather enough resources to make it through tough times.

    Interestingly, however, other characteristics that you might consider advantageous had no impact on whether study participants were likely to live longer. Those who were more self-disciplined, for instance, were no more likely to live to be very old. Also, being open to new ideas had no relationship to long life, which might explain all those bad-tempered old people who are fixed in their ways.

    Whether you can successfully change your personality as an adult is the subject of a longstanding psychological debate. But the new paper suggests that if you want long life, you should strive to be as outgoing as possible.

    Unfortunately, another recent study shows that your mother's personality may also help determine your longevity. That study looked at nearly 28,000 Norwegian mothers and found that those moms who were more anxious, depressed and angry were more likely to feed their kids unhealthy diets. Patterns of childhood eating can be hard to break when we're adults, which may mean that kids of depressed moms end up dying younger.

    Personality isn't destiny, and everyone knows that individuals can learn to change. But both studies show that long life isn't just a matter of your physical health but of your mental health.

    "Mummy, I don't know what to play with." Steve interrupts his mother, who is talking to a friend, for the fourth time. "You've got a room full of toys!" his mother says, impatiently. In fact it is the jumble of toys which is to blame for four-year-old Steve's lack of interest in his dolls, cars and stuffed (packed) animals. Each morning he tips out three washing baskets of toys all over his floor, listlessly pulls out something and shortly after is standing at his mother's desk or following her into the kitchen saying: "Mummy, I am bored."

    A family therapist (心理医生) explains why children lose interest when they have a whole "toy shop" at home: "According to their brain development, little children are not in a position to judge the quality of a variety of things at once. There is always just one favorite toy for the moment. All the rest is left lying about." What can parents do to stop their children from being oversupplied with toys? Under no conditions simply make something disappear without the child's knowledge. If he/she takes no more notice of a toy, a parent can ask if it can be stored or given away. Be warned though the child will always say he/she wants it then! A talk with relatives and friends may also help. Lyn is the mother of four-year-old Jessie, and we like her way. A small set of shelves in her child's room holds the toys and books that are the current (at present) favorites. When it seems to her that her daughter is tired of these toys, they put them away in a box together and select some other toys from a cupboard in another room. The box of "old" toys goes into the cupboard. When her child says she is "bored", they also get something from her cupboard - it may be something she has had for some time but because she hasn't seen it for a while it is almost like a new toy.

    Some favorite toys stay out all the time, and there is collection of dolls which sits in the corner, but in this way Lyn has found that she has fewer toys to put away at the end of the day and her daughter always has something "fresh" to play with.

    Backcountry for beginners: the best destinations in Canada

    When carried out safely, your first backcountry trip will leave you lifelong memories, opening a getaway into nature. But the leap from car camping to backcountry requires preparation and learning. Here are some recommended trips for backcountry beginners:

    Grundy Lake Provincial Park

    The park's 9 backcountry sites are a 30-minute paddle (划船) away. Grundy Lake is motor-boat free. Your sites are quiet enough for a true backcountry trip. Each site comes equipped with a fire pit (坑) and a picnic table.

    Bon Echo Provincial Park

    Many visitors don't know about the 25 canoe-in campsites located on Joeperry and Pearson Lakes. A short canoe trip of 30-minute will get you to your campsite. At each campsite, you will find a picnic table, tent space and a toilet nearby.

    Charleston Lake Provincial Park

    Experience the best of the Canadian Shield, and hike or paddle your way to 10 backcountry campsites. Travel time can range from 10 minutes to 2 hours. All sites come equipped with elevated tent platforms, a picnic table, a fire grill, and a toilet.

    Murphys Point Provincial Park

    Paddle through Big Rideau Lake (part of the historic Rideau waterway) to access 14 backcountry campsites. Most are located 5-45 minutes away from the boat launch. You'll find a picnic table, tent space, and a pit toilet nearby each site. Paddle back to visit Murphys' piece of living history: the Mica Mine!

    Remember: backcountry travel requires careful consideration of packing, route planning, meal planning, safety, and your skill level.