It’s time to break out the summer attire. How are those shorts fitting? How are you looking in that bikini? Are you dismayed by an extra bulge or three? Feeling the need to slim down? It’s a common sentiment this time of year. Winter flab is so out of season. You will look and feel better if you can get your weight down into a normal range.
Normal weight depends on your height and is measured as body mass index, or BMI. You can figure out your BMI easily using tables online, such as bmi-calculator.net. A BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is normal. 25 to 29.9 is overweight and anything more than 30 is obese. Overweight and obese people have more health problems than normal-weight people, such as diabetes, heart disease or sore joints from carrying extra weight around. Not to mention the whole bikini thing.
The basic formula for weight loss is really quite simple. You have to burn more calories than you eat. Period. No fancy drink or frozen meal or television show can do this metabolic math for you. It’s a matter of in versus out. Simple does not mean easy, however. Losing weight can be incredibly difficult. Like all things worth doing, it takes work. My suggestion is to take it slow, stick with it and be reasonable rather than rabid.
If you have ever tried a “crash diet,” you know they don’t work.
Why? The answer lies in evolution. We are programmed for alternating feast and famine. Back in the day, when it was feast season, we put on weight and kept it on. When winter bore down, the food supply dwindled and our bodies slowed their metabolism, trying to conserve energy. Muscle takes more energy to maintain than fat, so when you starve or hibernate, your body hangs onto the fat and jettisons the high-cost muscle.
That’s not the kind of load you want on your fanny, right? So don’t starve. Don’t hibernate either. Get that rear in gear and move it! Exercise is crucial for weight loss and general health.
Find something you enjoy doing and make it part of your routine.
We’re also evolutionarily programmed to be eaters of plants, lean meat and whole grains, and our bodies haven’t caught up to the modern way of life. Our caveman metabolism doesn’t know what to do with a drive-through fried meal of fat and carbs except rejoice in the feast and pack it away as flab. Go back to basics with low-calorie, unprocessed foods. Vegetables are your best flab-fighting friends.
By far the most effective way to lose weight is to take the long view and make gradual changes. You know what they say: Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was that belly. It’s going to take time to shed it. Slowly decrease your calorie intake and slowly increase your activity level. Give yourself time to adjust to each new level before you make another change. And allow yourself an occasional treat or you might end up giving up on the whole thing.
If you need help or if you think you might have a medical problem contributing to your weight, contact SHAC at 505-277-3136.
Peggy Spencer is a student-health physician. She is also the co-author of the book “50 ways to leave your 40s.” Email your questions directly to her at pspencer@unm.edu. All questions will be considered anonymous, and all questioners will remain anonymous.
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