| Oh,
what a sensitive topic! And rightly so--a sensitive
topic is one that should be dealt with with a lot of
sensitivity, and this is an area that affects many, many
people and that must be respected. These days, most of
us face issues with our weight which are strongly tied to our
self-esteem and self-image, whether we're overweight or
underweight. Very often we let our perception of our own
bodies determine how we feel about ourselves, leading to many,
many problems including depression and other psychological
issues.
Personally,
I've been significantly overweight several times in my life,
though I didn't even notice it as being overweight until I
suddenly forced myself to be realistic. I weigh 168
pounds right now, which is in the "high healthy"
range for a man of my height and age, but I've been over 200
twice, and I weighed over 180 for many, many years.
What happened
to change that? Simply this: a decision, or a
series of decisions. My first decision was to admit that
there was a problem--by being overweight, I was putting extra
strain on my heart, my lungs, my knees, my ankles. . . on many
parts of my body. That extra strain, while not
immediately obvious, could have led to pretty severe problems
later in life.
My second
decision was to research and find out what would be a healthy
weight level for me, and then to get there and stay
there. I read up on calories--how many of them cause us
to gain weight, and how many we burn off through different
types of exercise. When I started to lose weight (I've
never used the word "diet"!), I made sure that I was
burning more calories than I was taking in so that my weight
would regularly decrease. I made sure that I was
physically active every day (I don't use the word
"exercise," either), even if it meant being on the
treadmill in the winter, and I hate treadmills. But they
serve an important purpose when it's five degrees and icy and
windy outside.
The third
decision was to maintain the new weight. I switched to
foods that were lower in calories, such as light yogurt
instead of regular (a difference of more than 100 calories a
carton, or more than 10 pounds a year!). I always check
calories now, and if there are too many in a certain food, I
either decrease my serving size or eat something else,
instead. As you can see, this step involves a constant
series of decisions, every single day--do I eat this or
not? Do I partake in a physical activity, or do I sit on
the couch and eat some potato chips? Do I drive to the
store or do I walk? Do I take the elevator or do I take
the steps.
The math is
very basic, and though it varies with individuals, it's pretty
standard. 3500 calories equals one pound. If you
burn 100 calories a day more than you eat, you'll lose a pound
in 35 days. If you burn 500 calories more, you'll lose a
pound every seven days.
But if you
walk five miles and burn five hundred calories and then come
home and have a soda and a candy bar that add up to 500
calories, guess what? All other factors being the same,
you've just destroyed the effects of the walk on your weight
(though your heart and lungs will appreciate it). And if
your snack equals 800 calories (after all, I deserve it after
walking five miles!) and you do that every day, you'll
actually gain a pound in 12 days, even though you've walked
sixty miles! So you see how the idea of rewarding
ourselves can be pretty damaging and lead to a lot of
frustration.
Personally, I
decided to hit a certain weight and stay there because I felt
that it was important to take good care of this body that has
been given to me. I wouldn't buy a car and then not
maintain it well, and I wouldn't buy a house and let it fall
apart. Why, then, would I treat my body poorly by
allowing it to stay in an unhealthy state? I didn't
decide to lose weight because of what other people thought of
me or because I felt I was wrong to weigh what I did--I
decided to lose weight because it would help my body to
function well, it would improve my health, and it would help
to prevent many different types of disease and sickness later
in life.
For many
people, weight problems are a medical issue, and any weight
loss should be undertaken in consultation with a medical
professional.
So what's
your ideal weight? It's easier and more effective to
tell yourself "I want to weigh 155 pounds," which is
a positive goal, than it is to say "I want to lose 20
pounds," which is a negative goal. Focus on where
you want to be, then make the decisions in your lifestyle and
eating habits that will allow you to get there. And be
patient--sometimes I'd go six or seven days without seeing a
change on the scales, or I'd even see that I gained some
weight, but as long as I stuck to what I was doing, the weight
did come off consistently. Don't judge yourself, and
don't be harsh with yourself--just do what you need to do to
make your goals. And if you slip and eat that bowl of
ice cream tonight that will add a lot of calories that you
hadn't planned on, don't beat yourself up--just walk a couple
of extra miles tomorrow or over the next few days.
And if you're
looking to gain weight, be patient, too. The human body
is an extraordinary machine that tries to maintain itself as
it is, and it will take time for it to metabolize food
differently, allowing us to gain or lose weight. Choose
a plan, know what you're doing, and stick to it.
It's not
easy, but it's something that millions of people have been
able to do. Learn from them and share their success, and
the benefits will be greater than you can imagine!
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