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The state of health in America is not very positive. As of today,
according to the Center for Disease Control, an estimated 65% of adult Americans
are considered overweight and 30% of those are considered obese. Cancer – much
of it preventable -- has now surpassed heart disease as the number one cause of
death and the number of people who know they have diabetes is now up to
14.6 million.
But what are the causes of increased weight gain, what is science telling us
about this ‘condition’, and most importantly, what can people do about it?
It’s no surprise that most Americans are eating more than they need and are
less active than they were meant to be. According to recent findings by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, the average daily caloric intake of Americans is
2,757. Compared to 1970, this is an increase of 523 calories per day. It takes
roughly 3500 calories to gain or lose a pound of weight. If a person increased
or decreased their daily intake by 500 calories a day, there is the difference
in weight – you can gain or lose in a week with that difference. It’s very easy
to add an extra 500 calories a day to a person’s diet. Just a large order of
French fries will do it! The same is true with NOT eating that extra order of
French fries, however.
Although some statistics show that there is a slight increase in leisure time
activity across the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),
physical activity drops in children from 69% at ages 12 and 13 to 38% for young
people between 18 and 21. Between 1991 and 1997, the CDC reports that the
percentage of students who attended a daily physical education class dropped
from 42% to 27%. If adults are not staying physically active, and children are
not getting physical exercise in school, the message they receive is that
exercise is not important. Studies show that if children do not learn healthy
eating habits and exercise habits when young, they will likely struggle with
healthy habits as adults. Could we be killing our kids by not taking care of our
own health, setting healthy examples for them, today?
But not all people struggling with weight are just sitting around, not
exercising and eating ice cream and French fries. Could there be something more
going on? Researchers are now looking at what genetics can tell us about weight
gain. Some people suffer from the need to eat large amounts of food, no matter
how full they feel. Researchers are looking at a substance in our body called
Leptin. Studying mice, they find that those mice who have very little Leptin in
their bodies tend to eat more, thus they gain more weight, suffering from
obesity.
But there still is no real solution available for people suffering with large
amounts of weight. Although supplement companies have quickly jumped on the
bandwagon to capitalize on what preliminary research is telling us about Leptin,
these supplements are still false promises that just guarantee emptying the
pocketbooks of the hopeful who feel there is no other help for them.
What about the claim that some people just can’t lose weight, no matter what
they do? I have a program that requires clients to document their intake of
everything they eat for 30 days, sending me their daily report. What
consistently has developed from this is a new awareness to the client of
‘hidden’ times they eat. It’s common for a client to say, ‘I had no idea I
grabbed ice cream when I was mad at my husband’, or, ‘I had no idea I was eating
that bag of chips while working at the computer!’ As a consequence, every client
who goes on this program loses weight. Many people state, as a matter of fact,
that they just can’t lose weight anymore. Many claim it’s their age, menopause,
you name it. However, when real changes are made, the body does still respond,
no matter what the age.
In every case that a person’s intake is closely monitored, and the calories
are decreased, people have lost weight. Even in the case of a 1000 pound man. At
home, all he did was gain and gain. By the time he was over 1000 pounds, unable
to breathe or move, he was hospitalized. In the hospital, he was put on a strict
1200 calorie diet. While there for six months, on this diet, he lost 600 pounds.
Although in later interviews he claimed he never ate much at home and didn’t
know why he couldn’t lose weight at home, the facts speak for themselves. It
still is just a matter of calories in versus calories out.
So what does a person do? According to the National Weight Control Registry
(NWCR), there are three keys to permanent success to weight loss. The NWCR was
established in 1994 by two university professors and is the largest prospective
investigation of long-term successful weight loss maintenance in the country.
Currently the NWCR has over 5,000 people who have lost at least 30 pounds of
weight and kept it off for at least a year who are eligible to join the ongoing
research study. What researchers have discovered is, regardless of how people
have lost the weight, keeping it off has included several necessary consistent
steps: Success for these people have included following a low-fat, low-calorie
diet and regular exercise. However, let’s look at a few more details; many
successful NWCR participants exercise for a total of 60-90 minutes a day,
regularly. Many break it up through the day, and almost all claim they hated it
to begin with, but now it’s just a part of their lives. They made a choice to
avoid regaining their weight and love their lean and active lifestyles. Another
consistent aspect of participants is they all eat breakfast. This is another
habit that many had to get used to, but realize how important it is to eat a
good meal at the beginning of the day in order to avoid cravings and high
calorie snack foods later in the day. Three-quarters of all participants weigh
themselves on a weekly basis, just so they can catch any increases that may
slowly be developing, and take corrective action before it’s out of hand.
Support is critical to success. Many people who struggle with weight already
know that they just can’t do it, themselves. They have proven this. However,
often they are unwilling to admit they need help, thus they struggle for their
entire lives. First of all, when someone has emotional eating issues, it’s
critical that they seek the help of a qualified therapist they can work well
with. Someone they can share their feelings with, who they feel they can confide
in and trust. Next, it’s important to also find a Registered Dietitian (RD) to
help them learn how to apply the wealth of nutrition knowledge they already know
to their own lives. There are many people who call themselves ‘nutritionists’
and many ‘food coaches’, but these people are not educated in all aspects of
nutrition the way an RD is. The third important piece of the support team is to
find someone who can help them learn how to become more active. If a person is
very overweight, it’s important to find someone experienced in this population,
not a ‘hunk’ who now likes to train others to look like ‘hunks’ or competitive
body builders. Most people are not interested in looking like they just won the
Mr/Ms America pageant; they just want to lose weight, feel great and feel they
can enjoy shopping for clothes again.
The ultimate key is to eat fewer calories than the body needs. However, with
exercise, the need for decreased calories will be less than if a person tried to
lose weight by dieting alone. The topic of TOO few calories is beyond the scope
of this article, but if a person ate too few calories, they then will burn their
own body muscle tissue for the needed fuel, thus defeating the purpose of
exercise, which is to increase lean body mass so the body will burn more
calories at rest. However, once a person learns to listen to their own body
cues, they can learn how to tell when they are eating too little, as well as too
much. So, first they control their calorie intake. Then they do some type of
physical activity. As we have seen above, this must be consistent. It could be
as simple as taking a walk, but it should be every day, every month, for the
rest of their life. Most of the participants in the NWCR site walking as their
primary exercise. Not a day here and there, then skip a week; it has to be
consistent. Once the walking gets easy, then there should be some type of
activity that increases muscle endurance or strength. Weight training isn’t the
only activity that can do this, although it’s the most common. I challenge
everyone who is reading this article to think of what activity you would like to
do if your weight was not an issue; it may be wall climbing, it may be hiking a
mountain, it may be snow skiing, maybe Pilates or Yoga.
It’s a hard road to travel when a person has a large amount of weight to
lose. They feel like there is just no hope and it’s too hard to even attempt it.
Most in this position have tried more times than they’d like to admit. Or, they
have allowed life to get away from them, and they now look in the mirror with
disgust, but just feel overwhelmed and don’t understand how to get their old
body back. They feel they have no control over their life. It is possible! Read
through some of the success stories from participants in the NWCR, http://www.nwcr.ws/stories.htm. Just
as with anything else in life, though, if you want to make it happen, you have
to work through the struggles to achieve the rewards.
Marjorie Geiser is a nutritionist, registered dietitian, certified
personal trainer and life coach. Marjorie has been the owner of a successful
small business, MEG Fitness, since 1996, and now helps other health
professionals start up their own private practice. To learn more about the
coaching services Margie offers, go to her website www.marjoriegeiser.com or email her at
margie@megfit.com |
