Recently, a wonderful patient and early supporter of HEALTHGIST shared with me how she attended a function and someone she knew had been working a weight loss program.
This dieter had exclaimed that she lost 60 pounds in 4 months ‘ without exercising!’
Now, my patient who has been very active and managing her weight well the ‘hard and traditional’ way for years by exercising and eating small and well for years, cringed inside and struggled with trying to be happy for her obviously happy friend but also knowing the stats- that most who try to trick their bodies into submission with severe manipulation diets will most likely end up even heavier within 18 months.
I cringed as well as I thought of all the others that this misguided person had talked to as well without meaning to or really even knowing it, she added to the sabotage message that’s already out there; “Lose weight quick and be healthy without exercising or giving up anything”.
Really? Then why is Americans more obese and unhealthy than ever before in history?
As I suspected, when pressed my patient didn’t really think that her acquaintance really looked that great since her weight loss was too quick and without exercise she’d merely lost water and fat weight without adding healthy muscle and her overall appearance may have been less plump, but she looked aged and sallow like a ‘chemo patient’ (no offense my dear cancer patients and survivors but we all know what we are talking about here)
We all can drop scale numbers with starvation, or tricking our bodies with the newest metabolic manipulation, but usually these are temporary and superficial results as we are all born with this innate survival trigger to conserve and store energy for that famine that never comes to us here in the developed world.
So what this excited dieter does not realize is that she is training and prepping her body to be even more recent efficient for the near future when she stops the weight loss program and fails to exercise and starts to ‘cheat’ and go back to her usual foods.
Thank goodness my patient knows this fact manages her weight as part of her lifestyle overall- in her sure and steady way she can be a testimony that counteracts the fallacies that are out there that we all wish were true but are at the best disappointing and at the worst harmful in the long run.
The truth is, we all have to eat small, mostly fresh plant based foods, unprocessed grains, beans and seeds and be as active as possible daily to stave off obesity and all the health issues that go along with it.
Dear Dr. Carol,
Your article is right on, and hopefully folks will take it to heart. I have heard of several people with medical emergencies due to surgical weight loss. My daughter was having lunch with a coworker who had had lap band surgery. She ate more than instructed and people nearby heard a “pop.” Needless to say, this was a medical emergency, and she was rushed to a hospital! Thank you for encouraging us to make healthy changes in lifestyle that we can follow for a lifetime.