When I googled the word obesity I was astonished to find that I had 156,002,803 results.
What is Obesity?
- Wikipedia describes it as a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) describes obesity as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. A crude population measure of obesity is the body mass index (BMI), a person's weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of his or her height (in metres). A person with a BMI of 30 or more is generally considered obese. A person with a BMI equal to or more than 25 is considered overweight.
Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Once considered a problem only in high income countries, overweight and obesity are now dramatically on the rise in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in urban settings.
So my question is how does all this information help me?
- I love eating ... there's no question and I love eating foods which are 'bad' for me ... I can't help it - they are delicious.
- So why can't I stop eating?
- Why can't I change my lifestyle?
- How can I stop the delicious foods cravings?
- And, I know that 95% of diets fail ... 1 in 20 dieters will succeed.
We discussed this at work recently and decided that you can do without cigarettes and drugs; and, you can freely move around in society without ever coming into contact with them.
Unfortunately, you cannot avoid food. You have to eat - there are no two ways around it!
In all societies, we eat food for pleasure! We have restaurants, weddings, christenings, birthday parties, July 4th parties ... you name it we have a party and it all includes FOOD. Our mouths drool at the thought of all the delicious food we are going to eat.
If the food is bad then we complain and moan, for days, weeks and even years. We remember.
If the food is good we compliment that person, party, or restaurant, for days, weeks and years. We return to good restaurants for ever or as long as the food is good.
So how is it possible to lose weight and stay slim?
We read about success stories in magazines, newspapers and television.
We the OB's have to stay away from food because we can diet, and we do diet a lot, but we can't stop returning to the food which pleasures us!
I diet one year - lose 30lbs easily. I am almost starved to death whilst I am losing it. Then one day my resolve is broken ... just one candy, just one or two chips, a small bite of the cookie or the cake, an extra serving of potato and WHAM I am right back to square one! Then I feel comforted inside - Oh boy the food I am missing tastes soooooooooooooo ... it is not in my imagination it is real!!
I love the feeling of being slim I really do it is great but the problem is I love food more. The 30lb's I lost is now 50 lbs gain. How did it happen? I really don't know but who cares ... who really cares ... only ME.
Everywhere I go there is food! It's on the TV, there are cooking programs which make food look so yummy, movies and tv shows have everybody eating, at work people are eating, machines give us food, free samples in supermarkets ... you name it there it is!
I can change my lifestyle but I love my lifestyle. That's where the problem lies-it's not against the law to eat! You don't beat people up, murder or cause fights and arguments in the home, it doesn't make you abuse children or women. It is socially acceptable to eat, food is sold everywhere-you don't have to go down a back alley to deal food.
Honestly, it frightens me that I am killing myself with my weight problems-but I am happy and contented as long as nobody takes my photo.
I really don't know anybody who has weight problems and has kept off the weight! Every single person I know replaces the lost weight within a couple of years and puts more on.
This is the area we have to look at, not how to diet because I am sure every single person who is overweight knows how to diet! The problem is keeping it off. Yes! You have to change your lifestyle but I think the problem is we like our lifestyle-to change it means we can't go out every week to eat or to people's houses for meals, or go to the food parties because Temptation is why we return to our bad eating habits! If we were strong willed we would all be a size 6-10 I guarantee that.
So to all the diet companies out there...
We all know how to diet! We have been on a diet and most of us still exercise. We don't eat more, we just can't stop the weight from piling on. We need more than just salads, chicken, or fish no carbs, no cakes, no chips, choc, or candy. Give us something that is close to what we normally eat - allow certain treats. It's by no means the answer but it can help those who stray from their diets.
I want to stop this yo yo diet
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The only diet that works is a change of life style. You might be able to loss weight and stay off in a few months. However, you will bounce back if you stop dieting. A recent research found women that are frequently on yo yo diet ( if they gain/lose more than 10 pound for 10 or more time in their adulthood) are 2.5 time more likely to get kidney cancer than those who have stable weight (even if they are overweight).
Yo Yo diet - How typical dieter failed to lose weight and became heavier in long term
