Obesity Rates and You

Hello, kids.  Let's talk about health and weight a second.  I was looking around on the latest news and I saw a new study that says that the obesity rate in America will rise to 42%  by 2030. Now I know this seems a little hard to grasp.   Most of us have a little extra around the waist and some spots here and there that could use some work.

Me, I have struggled with this my whole life.  I always felt like I was heavy, even if I wasn't. About three years ago, I stepped on the scale and hit a certain number.  It scared me, to be honest.  I decided then and there to stop feeling sorry for myself and do something about it. Here's my story.

First, I did a lot of reading.  I read about calorie counting, I read about fat content, and I learned about portions.   I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing, and that it was going to stick.

I looked at one meal I had eaten that day.  My father used to do a lot of cooking for me, and he's a southern kinda guy, so he's big on breakfast.  I had had two eggs, three strips of bacon, two pieces of toast with butter and jam, and a glass of milk.  Well, when I added all that up?  That was almost 1300 calories right there.  I couldn't believe it!

It wasn't easy at first, but I managed to get into a routine.  I was eating about 1500 calories a day and walking for maybe 45 minutes.   I knew I couldn't do anything too crazy workout-wise, so I just did what I felt was manageable.  I think that's the key here: people often go on these crash diets or use pills or something, and it's impossible to maintain!  So, of course you gain the weight back.

I stopped drinking soda, and I did some substitutions and removals here and there.   If I had a sandwich, I wouldn't put on cheese or mayo.  I'd just put on some turkey and mustard or something.  If I wanted something crunchy to go with it, I wouldn't have chips, but instead I'd have pretzels. If I wanted something sweet, I'd have some fruit or frozen yogurt.

That's actually a really great trick.  Eating sherbet or frozen yogurt can give you the same flavor and feel of ice cream, but at about half the calories.  I drank a lot of water.   I ate little things throughout they day.  Things like baby carrots, nuts and seeds, and maybe a cereal bar and there really made it so I wasn't ravenously hungry when meal time came.  Also, that keeps your metabolism going throughout the day without overdoing it.

Another key, my doctor said, was not to do the "eight glasses a day" thing.  After all, what is 8 glasses?  How does everyone need that much?  Well, maybe you do, maybe you don't.   What the doc said was to take your weight, divide that by half, and that's how many fluid ounces you should be drinking a day.   So let's say you're 150 lbs.  You should be drinking probably about 70 to 75 fluid ounces a day.  If you look at some of the water bottles that are out there, it's not that hard do drink that much, even though the figure might seem daunting.  Really, that's just about two big 34 ounce bottles a day.

I managed over the course of a year and a half to lose 80 pounds.  Then, well, I gained about thirty back when I got comfortable in a relationship, and with the subsequent break up.  So, I've decided to start again.  I have a Wii Fit, I have my water bottles, and I hopefully have my motivation.

What about you?  Do you have problems with weight?  Do you have any tips, or even questions?

Snackily yours,

Behka