Obesity is Costly and Getting Costlier

Eighteen months ago, I wrote about the high cost of being overweight or obese.  George Washington University researchers had estimated the cost of being overweight for women as $524 annually and for men as $432. (While overweight and obese women earn less than those at a healthy weight, men are not disadvantaged this way.)    Their estimated annual cost of obesity was outright alarming: $4879 for women and $2646 for men.

Let’s keep those figures in mind and consider a national perspective.  Recently the USA Today reported that Duke University researchers predict that the adult obesity rate may increase from 36% in 2010 to 42% in 2030.  Think your health insurance premiums are high now?  Obesity raises an individual’s risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, many forms of cancer, and other chronic, disabling illnesses.  This increase would cost the U.S. $549.5 billion in weight-related medical expenditures in the next 18 years. 

The good news is that we are not helpless!  Diets and weight loss supplements do not work.  Just earlier today I heard a DJ suggesting we drink a combination of grapefruit juice, apple cider vinegar, and honey before every meal to “burn 30% more fat.”  My mantra in response to such advice is “there is no evidence to support that claim.”  Instead, read food labels and pay attention to serving size.  Gradually change your diet so that ultimately you routinely have fruit at breakfast, two servings of vegetables at lunch and dinner, and a fruit or vegetable with every snack.  Let’s keep the weight off and our money in our pockets!

Must You Exercise?

In a word, yes.  If you want to be healthy, you really must exercise.  You may manage to be disease free without it, but you cannot be truly healthy - experiencing physical, mental and emotional soundness, vitality, and proper functioning.
 

While there are many, many reasons why exercise is essential, let’s consider just this one: between age 25 and 65, a typical person gains an average one pound of weight per year.  But they also lose 0.5 pounds of lean tissue (muscle) each year.  This means they have actually gained 1.5 pounds of fat annually.  Over a 40-year period, this accumulates to 60 pounds more fat and 20 pounds less lean mass!

 
The good news is that this is preventable.  One and a half pounds equals 5250 calories, so eating about 100 fewer calories per week would stop the fat from accumulating.  Weighing yourself once a week will help you stay on track.  To circumvent the loss of muscle, exercise is the solution, and it doesn’t take hours in the gym.  Hand-held weights, exercise bands or tubes, or your own body weight can provide all the resistance needed to maintain muscle mass.   Two 30-minute or three 20-minute workouts per week on alternating days will do it.
 

To get started, check out these links at WebMD or give me a call.  The sooner you start, the longer you’ll have to enjoy the benefits of being physically fit, strong, and energetic.  Exercise will help you look, feel, and be your very best!

Alignment Enhances Wellness

“Alignment” is our theme for the week and the definition is: the correct position or positioning of different components with respect to each other or something else, so that they perform properly.  When it comes to wellness, the concept applies to many things.    
Consider eating and activity.  When calorie intake equals calorie expenditure, there is alignment, and we maintain our weight.   The Law of Thermodynamics, the only scientifically proven method for reducing weight, is all about getting out of alignment by expending more calories than are consumed.  While most of us know this, the problem for most Americans is that they tend to overestimate how much they exercise and underestimate how much they eat - a sure formula for weight gain.  The good news is that this issue is easily resolved through some simple measurement and tracking techniques.

We also need alignment in our rest.  Too much sleep can make us sluggish (seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it?), cause headaches, and exacerbate back pain.   Increased risk of heart disease and death are also correlated with oversleep, according to WebMD.  Getting too little sleep is far more common, however, and results in fatigue, inability to concentrate, impaired decision-making and delayed responses, and weight gain. 

To really be well, we need alignment in other things too, such as work and play, strength training and aerobic exercise, and the composition of our diets. While it sounds overwhelming to achieve all this balance, our bodies have wonderful feedback mechanisms built in.  We get numerous indications that we’re out of alignment.  Sounds like a good topic for another time…

Eat Less, Lose More?

The idea that the less you eat, the more weight you’ll lose has been around a long time. So has the opposing starvation mode theory. In the early 2000s we in the weight loss industry used to talk a lot about starvation mode, the idea that eating too little slows down the metabolism, because the body feels starved by the calorie restriction. The theory was that less weight, not more, would be lost.

According to Weightwatchers.com, the latest research suggests that with severe calorie restriction, weight loss is slowed, but not halted. While we may expect eating 500 fewer calories a day to result in a one pound weight loss per week, we cannot assume that a 1500 daily calorie reduction will mean three pounds lost. Researchers believe that the greater calorie restriction causes the body to become more metabolically efficient, needing fewer calories to perform basic body functions. So while weight loss continues, the rate is not as high. The good news is that they also find that this slower metabolic level is not permanent, once weight has stabilized.

It’s not necessary or even advisable to restrict calories to the point of chronic hunger in order to lose weight. Dramatic dietary restrictions are difficult to maintain and are typically associated with bouts of overeating, hampering weight loss efforts. To lose weight, strive for cutting 500 calories/day, and combine this with exercise most days of the week. There are lots of ways to accomplish this; the key thing is to make dietary and exercise choices you can live with for the long haul. Think of adopting a healthy lifestyle, not dieting.

False Ideas about Fat

There are many misconceptions about obesity, such as most people can’t lose weight.  The problem most Americans have is not losing weight, it’s keeping it off.  However, just because most people aren’t successful maintaining a healthy weight doesn’t mean it can’t be done. 

Just as the alcoholic in recovery knows it will take a daily effort for the rest of his life, so too must the overweight commit to daily weight management.   Think changing your lifestyle, not going on a diet.  Examine the choices you make, both in terms of what and how you eat.  Too many healthy calories will still cause weight gain.  Start today making healthy choices.  As you do, start to see yourself as someone who makes healthy choices (even if you’re not actually experiencing good health yet).  Congratulate yourself every time you make a healthy choice that you wouldn’t have made in the past.  When I was a Weight Watchers leader, one of my favorite things to celebrate was when we chose to pass up food: the bowl of candy in the office, the banana bread a co-worker brought in, or our toddler’s half-eaten ice cream cone.

 

As you make healthy choices and change your thinking, your health will improve, most likely along with your mood and self-esteem. Then you can start to see yourself as a healthy person.  With that identity, making healthy choices just becomes what you do naturally, because that’s who you are.

In Wellness Terms, the “F” Word is “Fat”

In my world of wellness consulting, “fat” is the bad word no one wants to hear.  We don’t want be fat, eat fat, or have our fat measured.  We’d rather not look at it on our plates or in the mirror.  And perhaps most of all, we don’t want to be called “fat.”  So health experts use the word “obese” instead. 

Whether the term is fat or obese, we occasionally need to talk about it, so let’s begin with a definition.  When most people learn that they’re considered obese, they’re surprised.  “Obese” sounds exceptionally big.  With 60% of the American population weighing above their healthy weight limit, we’re used to seeing big people.  To be obese, a person must have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more.  For someone 5’5” (male or female), that would mean weighing over 179 pounds and over 202 pounds for someone 5’9”.  It’s about 30 pounds above the upper end of their healthy weight range.  According to the University of Rochester Medical Center, “An individual is considered morbidly obese if he or she is 100 pounds over his/her ideal body weight, has a BMI of 40 or more, or 35 or more and experiencing obesity-related health conditions, such as high blood pressure or diabetes.”

There are many other false ideas about overweight and obesity that I’ll cover in the next few weeks.  Let me offer you one related new finding to keep you with me:  obese people are much more likely experience pain than thinner people.  A survey in the journal Obesity attributes this to arthritis, back and other musculoskeletal ailments, inflammation, and depression, all painful conditions.  Join me next time: the news does get better!

Closer to the Goal

I recently heard a variation of the adage, “practice makes perfect.”  It went “practice makes progress.”  This new version appeals to me because perfect sounds very intimidating and something we may never achieve (or sustain anyway), whereas progress can be experienced daily.  I also relate to practice and progress because they are what creating new habits is all about: practicing a new behavior until it’s effective and part of our routine.  
  
While it helps to focus on progress rather than perfection, it’s still not easy to stay on track in our practice.  One technique I like to use is this: when I’m considering a choice, I ask myself if the action will bring me closer to my goal.  Choosing fruit rather than a cookie brings me closer to my weight and cholesterol management goals, while skipping my exercise session would not.  I’d like to point out that sometimes the answer is neutral; the choice wouldn’t move me in either direction.  In that case, if it’s something I really want to do, I ease up and do it.  
   
An important aspect of my wellness coaching is helping people make these choices and learn to be flexible and compassionate with themselves while making progress. That’s why I call my business Nurture You. If the thought of being nurtured is attractive to you, give me a call!