Pleasingly plump….carrying a little extra baby fat….full figured….big boned…a little on the heavy side…chubby…curvy…voluptuous...statuesque.
It doesn’t matter how you “pretty it up” or what you call it, at the end of the day all those extra pounds add up to the same thing – unwanted (and unhealthy) fat.
Unhealthy levels of fat may affect your quality of life, self-image, and your overall health. The list of diseases that obesity contributes to reads like a laundry list of side effects from one of those pharmaceutical ads. That extra “baby fat” you didn’t lose or the "holiday 5" you kept each year for the last 10 years may lead to the development of some pretty serious and potentially life threatening diseases such as stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, gallbladder disease, certain cancers (uterine, cervical, breast, colon, and ovarian, for example), high blood cholesterol, infertility or menstrual irregularities, metabolic syndrome, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, skin problems, and heart disease.
In this writer’s personal opinion, when it comes to risk factors for heart disease, the leader of the pack has to be obesity. Not only is obesity an independent risk factor for heart disease, but it delivers a double-blow to your heart health because it leads to the development of other heart disease risk factors such as diabetes, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, and metabolic syndrome.
Heart disease is an equal opportunity killer. It kills regardless of age, race, or gender so it pays to know your risk factors and take action to eliminate them from your life. Obesity is no different and it’s to your advantage to know when those extra pounds go from being merely pleasingly plump to a potentially serious health condition. One tool used by physicians to determine healthy weight is the body-mass-index, or BMI, calculation. This is a simple calculation based on your height and weight. If your BMI is over 30, you’re considered obese. But, anyone with a BMI greater than 25 is considered overweight. If you’ve never calculated your BMI, or haven’t done so recently, consider doing so. The results may surprise you. For example, a 5 foot 3 inch woman weighing 140 pounds is normal but is overweight at 150 pounds. (BMI.net has a BMI calculator online which also provides information and recommended actions to take for each BMI weight category. Check it out at http://www.bmi-calculator.net/.)
If you are overweight, obese, or simply want to get rid of the extra pounds now before they compound with interest around your tummy, hips, and thighs, start with a modest, achievable goals such as committing to lose 5 or 10 percent of your total body weight. Once you make that commitment, look at ways to help you achieve your goal. Some things to try include:
Diet - Try to think of “diet” not in terms of going on a diet but rather as adopting a lifestyle of healthy eating habits. Avoid fast-foods, drinking high calorie carbonated drinks, eating heavy meals in the evening or late at night, and skipping meals. Do fill your daily diet with healthy foods like whole grains, fruits and vegetables, lean meats and fish, limited fats, and learn about appropriate portions. Many, including yours truly, find it helpful to keep a log of exactly what they consume each day. As you make a dietary lifestyle change, being honest with yourself and tracking your foods can be a powerful tool in assessing where you need to make changes. There are numerous diets available (South Beach Diet, Atkins, DASH, Heart Association’s diet plans, Mediterranean diet, Weight Watchers, to name a few). The important thing is to find one that works for your lifestyle.
Exercise – Let’s face it, extra pounds stick around when we eat more in calories than we expend in motion. You’ll find that you enjoy greater results in not only losing weight, but maintaining a healthy weight if you get moving. Try to incorporate 30 minutes of movement into your lifestyle daily.
Sleep –For those of us who’ve frayed the edges of our “superwoman” cape while burning the candle at both ends, may find that much needed sleep is the sacrifice offered up to meet the competing demands between family and work. Unfortunately, lack of sleep can make you fat--really! If you’re not getting enough sleep at night, you may find yourself craving more than a good night’s sleep. All the sodas, candy bars, and carbs that we eat on autopilot to keep our energy up translate into extra pounds. Burning too much midnight oil can also lead to an increased appetite due to hormonal changes. The goal should be to get at least seven hours of sleep a day.
Support - Okay, you’re committed, you’re ready to go, and you’ve eliminated the junk food from the pantry and have it stocked with healthy foods. You are on the ball and moving forward and then your husband/children/parent/significant other says, we’re-having-what-for-dinner? Nothing causes a train wreck quicker than key players who show up in your team colors but are really playing for the other team. If possible, get those around you on your team and enlist their support in reaching your goals. Children can be especially brutal in their honesty in keeping you focused on your goals! Explain to them what you’re trying to do and why. Let them know that one out of three women die of heart disease and you don’t want to be one of them. Also, consider joining a formal support group or creating your own group of women who are making the same lifestyle changes.
By some estimates, as many as 70 percent of all Americans are overweight or obese. If 70 percent of all Americans had the flu, we’d call it a major epidemic. The good thing about obesity is that unlike the flu, this is a risk factor that you don’t have to carry. It’s totally reversible and you have the power to eliminate this risk factor from your life. You have only weight to lose by trying, and a healthy, long life to gain.
Sources:
Obesity, The Mayo Clinic, 09 Oct 2010, http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/obesity/DS00314
Obesity Information, The American Heart Association, 20 Jan 2011, http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/WeightManagement/Obesity/Obesity-Information_UCM_307908_Article.jsp