Weight maintenance a lifestyle choice
Weight control is a serious issue, with health implications beyond appearance, but weight gain and loss can result in loose, saggy skin. Not a very pleasant outcome. In the next few columns, we will discuss weight loss and weight control strategies.
About 40 per cent of Canadian adults are reported to be overweight, and a bit less than half of that number are actually classified as obese. The calculation used to determine these findings is a formula called the Body Mass Index, or BMI.
The BMI was devised in 1832 and modified over the years. Based on height and weight, the formula was adopted by the World Health Organization in 1995 as a measure of obesity. You can easily find a BMI calculator on the Internet. Use it and see where you stand.
Of course, so simple an index never tells the whole story.
Overweight is not simply overweight. In addition to not compensating for muscle mass, the BMI cannot differentiate between excess subcutaneous fat, which represents what is primarily an esthetic issue, and internal abdominal fat, which is associated with a higher incidence of disease.
Despite these issues, and the arbitrary nature of the index, it still gives us a good overview of relative obesity.
Lots of things happen to our bodies as we age. None of them very good. And the tendency to become sedentary always adds to the problem.
My attitude is that weight maintenance is a lifestyle choice. For metabolically normal individuals in normal situations, there is no justification for significant weight gain. Most of us gain or lose five per cent of our body weight without consequence. More than that and one’s skin simply doesn’t bounce back into shape when the weight is shed.
Any level of weight loss in adults who are not massively obese should be gradual. I always suggest jump-starting weight loss with severe calorie restriction in an effort to lose two or three pounds in the first week. This is a big psychological win, and sets the stage for a slower, more easily sustained pace with the goal of losing a pound a week.
There are all manners of effective diets. All work initially, and are soon unsustainable. Yes, these gimmick diets work, and maybe that is what you need you make the leap. But weight maintenance is what really counts, and weight maintenance is truly about lifestyle alteration. There are plenty of tricks that make this re-education easy.
Exercise is crucial to good health and good looks, but you should not plan on losing weight by exercise alone. Walking a mile (1.6 kilometres) burns about 100 calories. Running a mile burns about 140 calories, depending on body weight, speed and other variables. An hour of tennis singles consumes about 500 calories, and an hour of vigorous sex can burn up to 300 calories.
On the other side of the coin, a tuna fish sandwich clocks in at 600 calories; a Coke at 140; and a Snickers bar at 250 calories.
Losing weight and weight maintenance are a function of calories taken in versus calories expended. Next week, we will deal with simple strategies for weight control.