Ok, here’s my big confession in regards to diets and lifestyle change (the food kind). I’m pretty sure there hasn’t been a day in my life that I’ve eaten less than 2000+ calories — except for on Survival. (Ode to ash cakes and TVP on rice, right, Melinda?). Even when I have fasted* for church (not a common occurrence in the past seven years of pregnancies and breastfeeding — in fact, there’s an argument for extended nursing if ever I heard one), I probably came close to getting those calories in the evening hours.
About a month ago, I read the most fascinating article about weight in (where else?) the New York Times. It reports on some studies done by a Dr. Hirsch, who is convinced that genetics play a big role in how much we weigh. He did an intensive study of obese people, who lost 100 pounds on a 600 calorie diet, maintained that weight for a month on a more normal diet, and then were released. All of them immediately gained all of the weight back. Dr. Hirsch experimented with more people and came to the conclusion that obese people, when “artificially” down to a more normal weight, have a metabolism like a normally thin person does when he’s starving. (along with starvation dreams and fantasies).
In another experiment, by Dr. Sims, thin people who’d never had a weight problem were made to gain 20-25% of their weight by eating a 10,000 calorie diet. The article goes on and on about how 10,000 calories is so much (I am thinking to myself, 10,000? I could do that easily). The subjects had a hard time maintaining their higher weights as their metabolism increased, and at the end of the study, effortlessly lost all their excess.
These findings are either really liberating or really depressing, depending on your weight and how you feel about it. For me, I feel lucky to be happy content with myself at a size 10-12, because I feel confident about maintaining that for life while eating mostly sensibly (with treats — I ‘m not in prison, here) and exercising 3-5 times a week, which I want to do anyway for the other benefits (mental, emotional, etc).
In other words, my goal is to be healthy, rather than to be a model, though naturally I want to not look “fat.” I feel lucky also because it seems that my genes are not going to make this an extremely hard goal for me: while it would be easier for me to be size 14-16, I can do the smaller size without feeling like I am starving (though I do sometimes have the food fantasies and stuff). Maybe someday after I’m done with the kiddies, I will make it down to a size 8, but I’m not holding my breath (or that one brownie!).
Tips for a Sensible (I’ll stay sane and relatively cheerful) Diet Lifestyle
- Dispense with addictions (you’ll be free)
- Drink lots of water (see water epiphany below)
- Look at serving (portion) sizes (if I have to have ice cream, but I know that 1/2 cup is a serving size, then, by golly, I can eat a 1/2 cup of Black Jack Cherry if I want to)
- Cut out simple carbs (substitute whole grains and vegetables for white bread, pasta, potatoes, etc; but if you must have them, occasionally, see “Look at portion sizes”)
- Eat like you have your kids eat (but not if you’re an unreformed twice-a-day drive-thru mom. I realized I was in the habit of making dessert after the kids went to bed for time’s sake, but also so they wouldn’t want any, because, duh, dessert is not so good for you. Isn’t my health as important as theirs?)
- Breakfast like a king, Lunch like a merchant, Dine like a peasant (I read this advice in a trashy romance novel; the protagonist was a supermodel. Sounds pretty good, though)
- It’s wasted on your hips or on your plate. (My mother-in-law told me this when Dick and I were first married and I encouraged him to clean his plate. Yes, there are starving people somewhere in the world, but it won’t help them if I’m overweight)
- Don’t go hungry. Find some vegetables, somewhere, that you like, and keep them on hand. When you get hungry at a weird time, stuff that face of yours with something good! (I like brussels sprouts and broccoli)
*Water Epiphany
In my quest to become caffeine-addiction free, I quit cold turkey one warm summer day and guzzled about two gallons of water a day for a week. I felt like there was an oppressive cloud hanging over me the whole time, but I realized a couple of interesting things (besides that I never want to get addicted again). Usually when I exercise, I drink 1 1/2 liters of water in an hour. I thought this was a good thing. In the week that I was detoxing, I was only thirsty enough to drink about a half liter during my workout.
I thought, hmmm, maybe I am not drinking so much water while exercising because I am now adequately hydrated all the time. And then I thought about fasting. Fasting (going without food and water for 24 hours) has always been exceedingly not my favorite thing (or even in the top 100 of things) to do. Now I wonder if it would be much easier to fast if I am prepared for it by eating healthily, being completely hydrated in the month before, and not addicted (to caffeine or sugar or chocolate; obviously, I’m not going to kick my addiction to FOOD). Well, I’ll let you know on that. Right now I have at least four more months of nursing in which to put it off.
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When I was pg with Max I failed the first blood sugar test (didn’t know gum was off-limits) and had to take the more intensive test. For four days before I was supposed to eat a 4,00 calorie diet (I think, it may have been higher, it was really high). They gave me a list of what I was supposed to eat. At first I was really excited because I was supposed to eat a tone of ice cream, cheeseburgers, french fries, etc. But after half a day I felt sick, I jus could’t eat that way or that much.
I totally agree with that study. Do you know that everyone who has come over to use the fancy scale at our house has been at a metabolic age of 12? Everyone except me. I’m my real age. All those skinny Wilks, but also Karin, so who knows if she’ll have the weight loss issues you and I have to deal with postpartum.
Thanks for the tips!
I’ve always done the dessert eating after the kids go to bed too! Shame on us!
I remember coming back from survival feeling great, except for the fact that I stank and really needed a shower. We were hiking all day and not eating that much, and I didn’t feel hungry (except for when we had solo time and I was kind of bored and my little bag of jolly ranchers was gone way too fast). Anyway, I guess that would be the ideal lifestyle of you want to be thin. (I do remember that you came back with a kidney infection though). I like your tips for a sensible lifestyle. I think they make a lot of sense and they are something you can maintain. I am not sure that I agree with everything that Dr. Hirsch says though. Of course those people who went on a 600 calorie diet couldn’t maintain their weight, and of course they all gained it all back. That is why it is so important that it is a lifestyle change that you can live with, and not something like a 600 calorie diet, which you will only be able to stick with for a while. I certainly think genetics has a lot to do with our weight, but I don’t think that means that some people just have to be fat and there is nothing they can do about it. Some people are genetically predosposed toward alcoholism, but that does not mean they are predetermined to be alcoholics. It is the choices they make. I think everyone can stay within a healthy BMI (Body Mass Index) if they make good choices concerning their food and eating habits. Not everyone has the genes to be a Supermodel or a body builder, but everyone can maintain a healthy weight.
Marie — i probably would feel sick too, but, it does seem a bit like a fantasy to me to be “forced” to eat lots of rich foods. but instead of all greasy stuff like what you list, i’m thinking of truffles (the chocolate kind, and maybe mushrooms too) and rich sauces over seafood and pasta and mousses (the chocolate kind again) and bananas foster and cinnamon crunch bagels with un-low fat cream cheese…
Marcy — at least you are your age and not older! i’m interested to try that scale out myself. is there a part in the program to input how many children you’ve had?
Melinda — i recommend the whole article (there’s a link in my post); it and other things i’ve read are pretty convincing for some people not having as much control over their weight as they would like. one big difference between alcoholism and obesity is that alcoholism is yes or no, right, whereas obesity is a spectrum. i am still obese by the BMI index (actually, i’m now at 24.5, and i think 25 is the cutoff between overweight and obese?) but i’ve read that bodybuilders are way up on the BMI thing; many health people consider it to be a very problematic indicator.
if some people can only stay within a “healthy” BMI when their body and mind are convinced they are actually in starvation all the time, then i think it is unfair to say that “everyone can maintain a healthy weight.” in the article, a few of Dr. Hirsch’s later subjects were able to maintain their weight loss, but they were the ones who became weight evangelists, like Weight Watchers counselors, etc, who spent all their time counting calories and stuff. maybe this is like alcoholism, maybe alcoholics do spend every single meal for life wishing for a beer, but i would hope it gets easier after a while.
i guess my point is that, with obesity so prevalent nowadays, maybe i should be a little bit nicer (in thought) to those who struggle on a bigger scale (haha) than i do. i’ve read that obesity is the last discrimination or prejudice that it’s okay to have.
and with my daughters growing up, i need to be a good example of loving my body as it is, and of always striving to be healthier through nutrition and exercise. i don’t want to ever hear avery repeat from me “i’m fat” (again).
Well I read the article and it was pretty interesting. With Dr. Hirsch’s study, I can’t help but think that it is not suprising that for someone who is obese who all of the sudden goes on a 600 calorie diet, that their metabolism would slow down because the body would think it was being starved. That doesn’t seem very groundbreaking to me, and the study is over 50 years old. In addition to this, losing mass amounts of weight quickly is very hard for you body to take and maintain, usually weight gain/loss is much slower and you get used to the change in weight slowly. I think that a more in depth study of the the variables involved with why people gain and lose weight would shed some light on the subject. The study that I thought was much more interesting was Dr. Stunkard’s where he found that adopted people tended to be overweight if their biological parents were, no matter what their adoptive parents were like. I think this study makes more of a case for the role genetics plays in our weight than the others do, and I would be interested in further research in that area. That doesn’t mean that I think that we have no control over what we weigh.
I also read a lot of the comments by readers to that article and the responses given by Gina Kolata, who is the author of the book that this article is from, and I think she fails to adequately respond to some of the questions posed. Genetics can not, by itself, explain the obesity epidemic in the U.S. and I don’t think there can be much argument about the fact that there is an epidemic. By the way, there is a difference between Obesity and Overweight. Overweight is defined as BMI of 25 and over, and Obese is a BMI of 30 and over. The BMI is not perfect and it has some limitations, especially with body builders and others who have high muscle mass, but when used for 300 million americans, those limitations almost disappear. Most researchers use this index, including the ones mentioned in the article. Everyone wants to be the exception to BMI, but most people are not the exception. Another thing these studies don’t explain is how an adult can weigh 135 in high school, 145 in college, and gradually keep gaining weight until they are very overweight later on in life. I don’t think it is all genetics. My father is a good example of this, and I worry about him because I feel that he is shortening his life span because of all of the health problems associated with being overweight and obese. I don’t want to give the impression that I think it is easy to just lose weight, and that it is as simple as eating carrots and running all day long. For people who are obese and morbidly obese, I think there are a lot more issues to losing weight. Many of these people say that the reasons they eat are usually not hunger but that they eat for a lot of other reasons, social aspects, emotional needs, etc., which need to be dealt with before they can lose weight. Oprah did a show about this (ok not a great source) about how many people who had gastric bypass sugery afterwards turned to things like drugs and alcohol to deal with their problems, when before they were turning to food. I have no doubt that losing weight is extremely difficult, and people with the best intentions and great will power can fail at it, but that does not mean that no one has any choice in the matter and that it is all in the hands of genetics. Most of us can do something about our weight, and we need to, because our health is important. The health problems associated with being overweight are many, diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, to name a few.
I definately agree that we can be nicer to those who struggle with weight issues. None of us can be the judge of why they weigh what they do, and it is a sensitive subject for many people. That said, people have to take responsibility for themselves. I guess what I don’t like about that article is that it says people don’t have any responsiblity for their weight, it is all beyond their control. For me personally, I know from personal experience, that if I lead a more sedentary lifestyle and eat more calories than I need to, then I gain weight, and I can do something about that. I agree with your last paragraph one hundred percent. Body image is something that most girls have problems with, me included, even when I was in high school and was probably the thinnest I have ever been in my entire life. I think that is a different issue though. You don’t have to accept being overweight, but it is not good to have an unrealistic ideal that you want to reach. Hoping to weigh 95 lbs is totally unobtainable for most people, but being in the healthy range for BMI (even if it’s in the top part of the healthy range) is something that most people can achieve. I hope I never hear my daughter say that she is fat, but I also hope that I help her establish good eating habits and a healthy lifestyle so that she never actually is fat either.
(From Brock)
P.S. – I don’t like the common misconception that you have to starve yourself to lose weight. I believe one of the causes of the weight gain in the United States (see the CDC link for a powepoint presentation that is eye-opening http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps/index.htm) is the increased availability of calorically dense foods. There are 26 calories in 1/2 a cup of cooked broccoli. That means we can eat 5 cups of cooked broccoli (or 5 small apples) to get the calories from one candybar. Yet i can plow through 3 candybars as a sitting if i’m not thinking about it.
dude! i am so excited–at 24.5, i am in the normal range. holy cow! i thought 25 was the overweight/obese cutoff, not the normal/overweight cutoff. still, it’s taken me a lot of work to get to just this side of the overweight line. and i feel like my genes are pretty average–not terribly predisposing towards thin or fat, you know? (so i can only imagine and commiserate with people trying to get to 24% with worse predisposition to contend with; of course, if they’re not trying, then i can’t really empathize).
yes, the twin study was more compelling. and i agree that personal/self responsibility is of supreme importance. to quote from the SWK lesson last Sunday,
as I read and taught the lesson last week I was so tempted to post great chunks of it in support of the “self-reliant” position in our discussion a while ago about government assistance. I think President Kimball (and the church leaders who selected and published these lessons for 2007) was inspired. (obviously).
Brock–i think eating broccoli (and i like the stuff) instead of candy bars FEELS like starving to some people, and this is where a huge shift in thinking/perceiving/feeling is needed, which is what i was trying to argue for in my “diet” rationale.
Shannon, I can totally agree with you on that front. Melinda and i were talking about it, if you grow up or get used to eating a certain way i feel there are very real cravings for those foods. Did you ever see Supersize Me (fantastic, by the way)? There was a scene where he was saying how crappy he felt because he hadn’t eaten yet. He felt totally miserable and as soon as he started eating the McDonald’s he felt just incredibly better. Not to such an extreme example, but by slowing eliminating one thing at a time you can change those craving without a crash diet where once you get off it you go back to how you were eating before and gain weight again.
Congrats on being below a BMI of 25. just as a side note, how they came up with the BMI was by doing studies on lots and lots of people in the United States and they found a very strong correlation between your BMI score and how many health problems you’re going to have later on in life.