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Is your New Year’s resolution to lose weight? If you are like millions of Americans, it is.
But, if you are like millions of Americans, you will gain back the weight you lose,
plus some. Studies have shown that more than 95% of people who lose weight will
regain the weight within five years. Some experts believe that this weight loss/regain
roller coaster does more damage to one’s psyche than the weight itself does on one’s
health.
Get Fit, Not Thin
How to prevent this from happening? First, don’t focus on your weight alone as a marker for
health and happiness. There are many other aspects to optimal health than just body weight.
In fact, many experts believe “metabolic fitness” is a better indicator of physical health
than body weight. Metabolic fitness includes your blood pressure, blood glucose, and blood
cholesterol level. Regardless of what you weigh, keeping these within normal limits puts
you at low risk for developing heart disease—the leading killer of both men and women in
this country.
Aerobic fitness is also a better indicator of health than body weight. Several recent
studies have found that it’s better to be “fat and fit” than skinny and unfit. One study
followed over 10,000 men for eight years and found that the overweight men who were
aerobically fit had a much lower death rate from heart disease than the thin guys who were
unfit. In fact, being unfit was more predictive of an early death from heart disease than
cigarette smoking, regardless of body weight.
Another study found that large women who walked on a treadmill at a moderate intensity for
45 minutes for six months reduced their blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and blood
glucose levels to normal levels, without a significant loss of weight. They were still
obese at the end of the study but were now metabolically and aerobically fit. Strength
training and flexibility are two other components of health that can be improved at any
body size. Strength training can prevent back problems and allow you to be more active in
general. Stretching can improve flexibility, which can help to prevent common injuries,
such as sprains and strains. But the real payoff is feeling stronger and having more
confidence in your ability to participate in the activities you enjoy.
Love Your Body
Feeling good and positive about yourself is another important aspect of health. You’re
more likely to take better care of yourself if you think positively about yourself and
your body than if you don’t. Complimenting yourself on a job well done or treating
yourself to a wonderful dinner at your favorite restaurant are good examples of positive
self-care.
Unfortunately, chronic dieting and obsessing about weight make it hard for most people to
feel positive about themselves. After all, most diet programs want you to hate your
body—they are based on producing shame. They use words like “ugly flab” or “unsightly
cellulite.” They show you “before and after” photos, implying that the body of the person
in the “before” picture is unacceptable and must change. But as psychologist Dr. Susan
Wooley once said, “If shame could cure obesity, there wouldn’t be a fat woman in the
world.”
In other words, don’t shame yourself into exercising or eating healthy. Tune out the
messages from society that “thinner is better” or that thinness equals health. Happy,
healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes and learning to like yourself the way you are
right now may be the best thing you do for your mental and physical health.
What if you want to lose weight? That’s OK—for some people, losing weight can improve
health as well. Just don’t think of weight loss as the only avenue to health or
happiness. Focus on making small, positive changes and concentrate on achievable goals
that are right for you and your
lifestyle.
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Tips to Deflate the Power of the Scale: |
- Re-define success as goals that are not weight-related, such as walking a 5k
race, eating a high-fiber food at each meal, or simply, drinking eight glasses of
water each day.
- Change negative “self talk” into positive self talk, e.g., change “my thighs are too fat,” to “my legs are strong and take me where I need to go.”
- Buy and wear beautiful, comfortable clothing that fits you now. Get
rid of tight, uncomfortable clothing that restricts your movement in any way.
(There’s nothing like good-fitting clothes to make you feel alive and sexy.)
The bottom line is this: don’t let the scale dictate your life—you can choose to
be happy and healthy now—it’s up to you. |
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