If you're interested in shedding some pounds, and are a Netflix user, I highly recommend putting "You: On A Diet" in your queue. I just watched it this morning and I think I'll be thinking about it for quite some time. The video is an episode that was on the Discovery Health channel inspired by a book by that same title. The major thrust of this book is that we need to focus primarily on obtaining an optimal waist size rather than worrying as much about weight. The worst kind of fat for our body is the fat that's around the belly and so our focus needs to be getting rid of that. They say that the maximum healthy waist size is 28" for women and 35" for men. They measure right around the belly button, and they so it's OK to suck it in.
They talk at length about the health risks associated with obesity and at one point even show healthy organs in contrast to fat laden organs. The size of a fat human heart is twice as big as a healthy one. It was shocking to me, actually. And to see the aorta in a person that's obese as compared to one that is healthy was really disturbing!
Apparently with all this fat being lugged around the mid section, the liver is overwhelmed and sends toxins all through out the body that encourage cancer, the toughening of the aorta and early aging. That last one hit me. Just three years ago I hardly had any gray hair in what little hair I have left, or in my goatee. Now that I've gained about 80 lbs since then, I'm definitely salt and pepper. It makes me wonder what kinds of changes have taken place in my body that I can't see! I remember going to a bar with a buddy of mine who's a year older than me, a guy who's always been fit, and is as bald as a cue ball. This was about a year ago when he would have been 37. The bouncer let me slide on past, while he carded my buddy. When he saw my friend's age, the bouncer was visibly shocked and said something like, "life's been good to you, buddy!" He thought he was about 24, and I'm sure that's because he's always taken care of himself. I look my age, and I'm OK with that--I just don't want to look older than I am!
Watching the show was a good incentive to keep going down the path I'm on, and if you have Netflix, I recommend it.
The other thing I am becoming aware of is that the honest truth is that I really don't know how to eat correctly. Right now I'm losing weight doing the low carb thing, since it works so well for me. But what happens when I'm done with that? I need to really relearn how I eat and how I live when it comes to food and exercise. In a certain way, I'm in that mode where I'm afraid to eat anything other than what I know will help me lose weight, but that's no way to live either. Moderation in all things, right?
I think it's a matter primarily of portion control, which I'm slowly working on. And most importantly: EXERCISE!!!!
Anyway, just rambling thoughts today on the whole topic, but obviously you can tell this video got me thinking, big time, about what's going on in my body.
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If it helps inspire you at all, I got together last night for the first time in over a year with a girlfriend of mine, Karen (KMJ on the blog circuit), who has always struggled with her weight, going on and off a variety of diets. She did find herself losing a significant amount of weight doing the low-carb to no-carb thing a few years back, but she couldn't keep it off. In fact when she gave up on the low-carb, her weight ballooned higher than it had ever been and she found herself pre-diabetic.
Well, I am happy to report that she has lost, in the last year and a half, 95 pounds! She looks spectacular. She is not just down to her college weight--she is down to her high school weight. She blushed and we both giggled when we discovered last night that she is wearing a size smaller than me in pants.
She feels better than she ever has in her life; her health is great, and last weekend, she ran (not walked) in the local Komen Race for the Cure. She is continuing to lose and it is getting easier and easier. She is not feeling the stress of the weight sneaking back up on her; it's different this time.
Her secret?
"Eat less; move more."
Is it really that simple?
She insists that it is, and she's got the hot new body to prove it. Jeans smaller than mine. Karen!
At 38 yrs. old, she is thinking of starting to train to run a marathon when she turns 40.
Go for it, Dan. You can do this.
Dan, that sounds like an interesting DVD. I think I might pick up a quart of Ben and Jerry's and sit down and watch it.
I recommend Cherry Garcia.
Sherry--thanks for the words of encouragement. I lost 65 lbs on Atkins once before, but gained it all back, which is why I want to shift gears as I get closer to my goal weight. Plus this time I'm doing much more exercise, so I'm hoping this will be the ticket for me.
Gotta keep on keeping on!
A quart! A quart of Ben and Jerry's? - my wishful thinking, I suppose. Cherry Garcia is, I wholeheartedly agree, delicious.
Sorry about talking food during a diet post - just being a moron.
I need to lose weight as well and have been trying to eat better, but bad habits are habits. I also want to begin walking again - and stick with it. I just haven't been able to drag my sorry butt out of bed in the morning. Here's to doing instead of just talking.
This summer I was a size 22. Last week I bought size 16 jeans. After years of yo yo dieting and binge eating I said no more diets. I did cut out my binge foods - junk food, fast food, choclate bars and candy. One bite of those and it's the same as a drink to this recovering alcoholic. Other than that I finally listened to my cardiologist who told me a year ago to eat a low sodium diet for my blood pressure. Between those two the weight is just coming off. I walk a mile and a half a day too. It feels so good not to be obsessing about it, to not have that insanity of food bingeing and to be feeling better, too.
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