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Achieving Real Weight Loss
Marjorie Geiser
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.
About the author:
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.
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