I should be well qualified to write about weight control. Besides having a Masters in biology, I coached wrestling and taught judo. The biggest challenge of these sports is not your opponent, it is making weight. With wrestling and judo, cutting weight is a way of life. Taking off a few pounds is no big deal, but I had to come down from 300 pounds. In my competitive judo career, I went from the super heavyweight class to the 189 pound class. Later, when I ran marathons, my weight went into the 170's. Again, maybe no big deal, but I've controlled my weight for many years. Many people lose enormous amounts of weight, but few keep it off. How many people do you know who lost over 100 pounds and maintained the loss?
Controlling our weight is probably the biggest worry of Americans. Experts say we are a fat nation, destined for limited lives due to diabetes and other weight related disorders. We hate to hear our doctors tell us that we are heading for big troubles if we do not lose lots of weight real soon. We spend large sums for weight loss miracles: pills, herbs, diets, fat-burning enzymes, diet books, and exercise machines. Our big hips and bellies constantly remind us of our weakness for food. Our self esteem spirals downward as we fail over and over again with diets, believing we fail only because we are weak with no guts, no will power. Our society idolizes the super thin models and movie stars. If we get thin all our problems would disappear and everyone would like us, we believe. There is some truth to this as studies have shown that good-looking people are treated better by people of both sexes.
This article will review the biology of losing and controlling our weight. I have procrastinated putting these thoughts together because what I write about is not new. I encounter these ideas constantly from television, newspapers, magazines, and scientific journals. However, as a person who has fought a life-long struggle with obesity, I know a few twists unknown to most.
Being thin is unnatural. For many thousands of years, humans who did not have the ability to gain lots of weight for hard times died off. Life was quite hard when people lived in caves and huts. Today some people struggle like our distant ancestors. In many countries the per capital income is less than $2 each day. Starvation is common. Under those conditions, whenever calorie-rich foods are available humans must be able to eat large amounts to store up for hard times that are definitely going to come. Over the years our species developed a strong desire for energy-rich foods. Fats contain the most energy, so we crave them. We also lust for sugar. Sugars are easily to digest and absorb; consequently they give us quick bursts of energy. To ensure that we consume these foods our brains developed nerve pathways to reward us when we ate foods containing fat or sugar.
Females had to be really fat because their role was to ensure the survival of humans from generation to generation. Females need extra fat to build a new life during pregnancy and for making milk. We are talking about times when there were no baby formulas; all kids received all their nourishment from their mothers for a long time. Women often had babies at an early age and had many, many babies because most did not survive the harsh living conditions, and the lack of modern medicine. Women were baby factories. Today, we seem to want our females super thin, but that runs counter to our biology. Thin women would never have survived thousands of years ago. If all females were thin, our species would have died out.
Years ago our desire for fat-producing foods was balanced by both the lack of food and the large amount of effort needed to obtain it. For a time, few ever became overweight, since it was difficult, expensive, and/or time consuming to get the stuff we craved. Besides raising and butchering our own animals. We had to somehow preserve the meat. In the early days of our country, we generally had to prepare all of our food. Cooking the old fashioned way without microwaves and partially prepared foods took more time. There were few restaurants, and most people were too poor to go to restaurants. With all this work needed to prepare food, we did not have that much to eat.
I live in a small town. I can drive for a few minutes in any direction and buy all sorts of foods that would bulk me up in no time. Furthermore, I have enough money to buy about as much as I want of anything I want. That is the case for many of us overweight Americans. I can even walk less than a mile and do the same. All the schools around me sell sugar-rich drinks and a variety of sweet deserts. Every day kids eat these energy-rich foods then come home and snack on the same foods for hours while they sit and play video games. Our civilization is causing our obesity. Fattening foods are too quick, easy, and convenient to obtain. At the same time we do little physical exercise.
Thousands of years ago when evolution was shaping our biochemistry, almost everyone did physical work from sun up to sun down, each and every day. We walked everywhere and often had to run or fight to avoid danger. Today, we have little to do. We seldom walk. Look where we park our cars--we sometimes circle endlessly until a spot opens up close to the store. We seldom do much movement involving our whole body. Watch some people, especially heavy people, and notice how little they move. There are some exceptions especially us guys with ADHD. One study, published in 2005 in the journal Science, showed that people who maintain their weight do a great deal of fidgeting.
Whole industries pander to our weaknesses for foods that are bad for us and for our wish for quick, easy weight loss. Look at our the ads in magazines for weight loss gimmicks: pills, herbs, foods, rubberized sweatsuits. Such ads are also repeated over and over on radio and television. There are also numerous fitness machines that probably would be useful--if we used them. I've filled my basement with almost new exercise machines that I gathered from yard sales and during community clean-up days.
The weight loss industry understands that "there is a sucker born every minute." We all want an easier, softer way. We believe what we want to believe. Of course some of us do not understand some of the wording in the claims. "Clinically proved to lose weight" may actually mean just a slight loss of 2-5 pounds. For a while I had to take medication for my ADHD. One of the side effects was a lack of appetite; hence I thought I would finally get thin without much work. Well, I fairly quickly lost about 5 pounds, then my body, adjusted to the medication, and all weight loss ceased. My slight weight reduction with medication is the rule, not the exception. If you are 30-200 pounds overweight, will 5 pounds make that much difference? The experts maintain that no magic pills or potions have been invented that will produce the 25-50 pound loss that we all expect. So you don't believe experts. Think for yourself! How many people do you know that have lost great amounts of weight with some advertised substance? Have you ever taken something that was guaranteed to make you lose weight? What was the result? How about your friends and relatives? If some pill really worked wouldn't there be people all over, in every community who could testify to how effective it was? If there was a quick, easy, safe way to get thin, wouldn't Americans be thin instead of fat?
I do believe that controlling our weight in our society is very difficult. We need to understand and accept this. We do not accomplish much by just beating up on ourselves for caving in to the almighty donut.
A certain amount of overeating is related to stress levels. Eating can make us feel good. It can give us a mini-vacation from problems. It can shut off negative thoughts. Moreover, eating bad foods like donuts and baked goods is universally accepted. Everyone seems to nicer to everyone when they are eating forbidden foods. This happy effect can be like an addiction because there is such a quick surge of good feelings. We soon learn that sweet, fat-laden foods give us quick, guaranteed jolts of happiness. We need to be aware of this reaction and plan around it. The best time to eat these bad foods are near the end of a balanced meal that includes lots of fruits and vegetables. If we tell ourselves that we can never again eat anything that tastes really good, we will definitely fall off the wagon as self pity consumes us. The worst way to eat these foods is to make them the meal--like a Danish and coffee for breakfast. We can plan to have healthy snacks available most of the time. It is better to eat an apple and a donut then just a donut alone. I hide small bags of nuts all over such as in cars, gym bag, and near the television. It helps a great deal to not let us get too hungry. That means not skipping any meals, especially breakfast. I bet I've lost most of my readers at this time. You have all heard all this stuff before. These ideas have been known for decades, but somehow we will not or can not use them.
We may need to go beyond simple rules for healthy eating and really face some of our deep-rooted thought patterns. For some of us, our main reward for doing anything is food. Of course, we want something that tastes good; hence makes us feel great instantly. Celery and carrots are food, but they lack the happiness quotient of an brownie with icing. When I grew up, in my home and in most homes, eating was about the only form of family fun. We would gather around the kitchen table and stuff ourselves with homemade cinnamon rolls as they came out of the oven. Later in life I had to discover and adapt new methods of rewarding myself: renting a movie, reading a good book, doing yoga, listening to music.
Sometimes secret beliefs bring on depressed feelings. At some level I want the world to be perfect. I want it to be fair all the time. I do not want to have to deal with those complainers and energy vampires out there. I want only happy, positive clients. But reality dedicates that certain days it is my turn to deal with manipulators, perfectionists, and other types who just seem to have too much time on their hands. These guys usually do not do anything productive; they think their job is to point to our flaws and give us extra work even though we are already struggling to just stay afloat. I suspect that we all think this way at times.
ÒAccept Life on LifeÕs Terms,Ó my friends told me. Some people are not very nice. I can't change them. My automatic method of dealing with this irritation is to reach for a rich desert--my rationalizing thoughts are that a Milky Way or Reeses' Cup will take my hurt away, it always did in the past.
Another big trigger for stuffing is boredom. We think we are entitled to be entertained all the time. When I taught school, I was encouraged to make everything fun. It is hard to make everything fun. We will never experience real success if we quit and cut out every time we are bored with our jobs or school. A friend told me that if I'm bored it means I do not like myself, I can't entertain myself, and I hate the thoughts that rise up when I'm alone with nothing to distract me.
Eating quiets that negative voice inside of us that constantly tears us down. For a happy life, we need to spend time with ourselves--face our demons. We need to face our fear, anger, guilt, self-pity, and regrets. A healthy exercise is to write about the 10 worst experiences in your life. Looked at in hindsight, we will find that those experiences taught us lessons. Some bad events may have been difficult due to youth and inexperience.
Get a life. There is more to life than just food. When I eat a big meal of bad foods, I lose interest in everything else. I just want to sit somewhere and go to sleep. A big meal can dull you. Look over your life for your dreams. What have you always wanted to do? What do you daydream about? What kinds of dreams did you have as a child? If you were given a wish that would come true, what would you want? After you discover your passions, make a plan to go after them. Break everything into many tiny steps, then take that first step. When you are moving toward your dreams, you will have excitement in your life instead of just cookies and ice cream to muffle your senses. If you never try, you never know how close you can get to your dreams . Do you want to live your later years thinking and saying that you could have done this or that? Maybe we will not reach our exact fantasies. But, we might come mighty close and receive a lot of satisfaction with our quest. A few things like playing in the super bowl or writing a best-selling novel might demand exceptional gifts, but we are capable of more than we can imagine. Usually, we sell ourselves far too short.
Now lets assume, you have faced your demons and have filled your life with activities that make you want to really get up in the morning; you probably still have to work off some weight or do something to manage your weight. Most of what I will say you have heard or read a million times.
The worst way to lose weight is to go on some crazy diet that makes you lose weight very quickly. Although we may feel like we are doing good and will soon be thin forever, we are actually sowing the seeds for our destruction. Rapid weight loss causes one to lose large amounts of muscle tissue. Muscle keeps our metabolism up. After losing much of our muscle tissue, we will probably gain weight very easily because our bodies will require little energy. Our bodies will act as if they were starving--we will live obsessed about food, and our bodies will efficiently convert food into fat. Experts recommend a diet-exercise plan that allows us to go down 1-2 pounds each week. And from experience, I know if you deny yourself certain foods forever, you will crave them forever. We seem to always want what we can't have. This seems to be ingrained in our natures. Remember Adam and Eve had it all, but they had to have the one fruit that was denied them.
First, get off your butt, get active. Move as much as possible everyday. Park so that you have to walk a bit to work. Stand or walk around while talking on the phone. Always take the stairs. Try to get some physical fun in your life such as gardening, walking, biking, volleyball. Anything is better than nothing. Most important, pat yourself on the back for every little bit of effort you take. Be your own cheerleader. Eventually, you may want to get into something that really burns the calories like jogging, martial arts, mountain climbing, dancing, or stair machines. I know everyone says that it takes an enormous amount of exercise to lose weight. But, I believe in physics and math. The heavier a person is the more calories they burn. When I did judo at 300 pounds, I used up twice as much energy as two normal 150 pound men. I lost 100 pounds in a few years with only exercise, so I know it can be done.
Signing up for some sort of class is a good way to get started, especially if it is for beginners. Many kinds of exercise classes are available, pick a type you like--maybe dancing or yoga. While competitive sports like basketball or martial arts may burn a great deal of calories, they produce more injuries than solitary activities like walking or jogging.
Pick activities that are convenient. People do not usually go way out of their usual commutes for exercise. Some activities do not need special equipment. Jogging is the greatest--it can be done almost anywhere with just a pair of good shoes. There are any number of exercise videos--many can be borrowed from libraries.
Pay attention to your diet. Basically, all the foods that I crave are bad for me. I like fats, especially trans and saturated fats. I think they taste the best. Most people probably feel the same--at any rate a great deal of these foods are purchased by Americans. If they did not taste so good, why do we buy so much of them? Of course, like everyone on the planet, I love sweet things also. Keep in mind that honey and brown sugar also contain lots of calories.
Avoid places that stock your favorite bad foods. I am powerless over my desire for bad foods. I need to avoid where they are as much as possible, especially when I am hungry. I snack on some nuts if I have to go to a grocery store. Don't go where you can see nothing but your binge foods for as far as the eye can see in every direction--that's how it is in some grocery aisles. It has helped me a great deal to pay for my gas with a credit card at the pump. That way I do not have to look at the Krispy Kremes and candy while waiting to pay my bill. I grow almost all of my summer vegetables organically. Since I pick them right before eating, they are better than money can buy.
Be proactive in controlling our weight. First thing in the morning plan what type of exercise you will do that day and when. It's easy for the day to get ahead of us. You deserve to treat yourself well. Be sure to include one day without exercise each week to prevent injuries. Also, try to plan your meals, don't just sit down and graze until everything is gone. A good idea is to plan one or two meals that are about the same each and every day. People tend to eat more when there is a large variety to pick from. Choose fairly healthy foods for those meals. For example, eat oatmeal with raisons for breakfast each day. Oatmeal is good for lowering cholesterol. A few foods are just about totally without value: potato chips, soft drinks, French fries.
Eat complex carbohydrates rather than simple carbohydrates. Why is this? Complex carbohydrates (carbs) are slowly digested and absorbed. In contrast simple carbs like sugars are rapidly absorbed, raising our blood glucose level. To bring the blood sugar back down to normal, the pancreas secretes insulin thereby lowering the blood sugar, but usually the sugar level goes too far down. The resulting feelings are hunger and fatigue. To counter these spikes and dives in sugar levels; we should eat foods like cereals, fruits, and vegetables which all contain complex carbohydrates. Many of us consume a lot of candy, soft drinks, and baked goods that are loaded with simple carbohydrates.
Don't give up. You will experience set-backs as well as plateaus when no weight loss occurs. You didn't get fat in two months, so don't expect to reach your dream body quickly. My friends told me if you walk 5 miles into the woods, you have to walk 5 miles to get out. Weight loss is pretty much like everything else in life. You get out of life what you put into it. A good hard hour per day of running is far more effective than a slow 20-minute walk. But a walk is a lot better than the couch.
Study food labels. Compare labels from different foods. Learn what all the terms mean.
Ingredients are listed in order with the substance in greatest quantity first. Don't eat foods with sugar listed first.
High fiber foods are good for us, but often they are loaded with sugar. Make sure excessive sugar has not been added.
Examine the serving size. Many of use eat many servings. By making the serving size extremely small, manufactures can deceive us into thinking their product is low in Calories. Think of how much you eat, then do the math. If you eat three servings of something with 150 Calories, that39s 3 times 150 equally 450 Calories.
Protein is good--it helps keep you from getting hungry right away.
Cut down saturated and trans fats. They cause food to sit in your stomach for a long time, giving you a full feeling for an extended period of time. You will feel too full to exercise.
Unsaturated fats are generally good. You need some fat for normal body functions. Try to get it from unsaturated fats that are found in foods like fish and nuts. Unsaturated fats are also called monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and Omega-3 fatty acids.
Sugars are loaded with Calories, but contain little else. These added sweeteners to be avoided are also called corn syrup, honey, brown sugar, and with words ending in "ose" like glucose, fructose, and sucrose. Check the cereals you eat. Although cereals can be quite nutritious, many are loaded with sugar. A typical serving of some cereals contain as much sugar as a bag of Hershey's Kisses, a Kit Katt bar, or a Reese's cup (my lifelong favorite).
Fruit drinks are often just sugar water in disguise. Check the sugar content.
The terms "organic" and "Natural" do not mean much. The only praise that means grown without chemical fertilizers and pesticides is "certified organically grown."
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Hoeger, W and S. Hoeger. 2004. Principles and Labs for Fitness and Wellness. Thompson, Belmont, CA
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