There’s many different reasons why we diet. One all encompassing reason is that we don’t feel good about ourselves. It’s a feeling we have that for some reason we’re not the way we use to be. Sometimes this happens over a long period of time and because of our busy lives, we tend to ignore our feelings. We wait until our condition is out of control and then we see a doctor and hope he can fix it. Doctors treat symptoms. So they might put you on a diet, but they might just check your vitals and send you home with a prescription. I believe in watching out for warning signs, paying attention to you body and don’t ever put anything off. Having said that, I know that a lot of young people today go without health insurance because of the cost and I understand and that’s a good reason for self-monitoring. Keeping your weight under control will help your body work properly.
When a person first reaches adulthood (about age 21) your body is fully grown and your organs might take a year or so longer to fully develop, it depends on the person, but at that time that is the size your meant to be. Of course if your overweight at that time, losing some weight will probably do your body some good. I know that child obesity is a problem today, and this is something you should take up with your doctor, every case is different depending on age and development of the child. There’s no one answer that can apply to all children. And the reason I mention this is because adult problems with weight are much different than children. And because an adult is fully grown we can deal with weight problems in a similar manner, that’s not true with children. Just because your overweight doesn’t mean your child should be overweight. And a child can’t diet the way you diet just because they’re heavy.
I want to get back to adults and why we diet. The biggest reason and I mentioned it earlier is that your not feeling good about yourself. Sometimes this is more physical and sometimes you just want to look better. So when it’s physical, it’s generally because we’re tired all the time. It’s harder to make that flight of stairs, It’s harder to walk thru the mall or you just get tired too easily. And if this is your problem you need to ask yourself some hard questions. So many times people will blame these type problems on their age. “I guess I need to slow down. I’m overdoing it.” This is a typical response. We do nothing about our weight because we decided our problem is our age. I’m 70 years old and I can do just as much as my kids. I wash both cars in my driveway on saturday morning, I can work along side anyone over 40. I feel like 40 because I never gained any weight and I don’t smoke. I weight less now then I did at age 25, when I was in my best shape. Everyone has aches and pains, that’s normal, it comes with years of work and having small injuries over a long period of time, but if you stay active those little pains won’t bother you as much.
So, now the question is still “why do we diet”. Why do we do it. Subconsciously we want to feel better, look better and we know if we can lose weight then that will fix everything. And how do we do this, well we tend to take the easy way. “If I just eat less, I’ll lose weight.” Well starving yourself might work for a few weeks, but no one can keep it up. It’s not sustainable. So the weight comes right back. Some people have to go on a diet. The doctor says you have to. This is not unusual, this happens more than you might thing. So now there’s three reasons why most people diet.
Personally I believe that most of us who want to lose weight, just want to look better, want their clothes to fit better and want to ware the same type clothes as the others. Plus size clothes don’t have the same style as normal sizes and when you try and ware normal sizes everything bulges. You actually make yourself look bigger then you are.
So how do we do this the right way, so the weight stays off? You have to change your life. I don’t know If you watch The Today Show or The Weather Channel, but if you have you know Al Roker. Al’s story is a great example of how a person who struggled with his weight from childhood and how he finally got it under control after 20 years of struggle. Al wrote a couple of books about losing weight and there a good read. If you want some inspiration, his books will really work. He had to undergo gastric bypass surgery. I’m not advocating surgery, but that’s what his doctor prescribed.
Roker has often spoken about his struggles with weight. But in a column published on Today.com, Roker revealed that his weight issues took a toll on his marriage to size-four Deborah Roberts. His advice to the "thin half" of mixed-weight couples? Stop nagging your partner to lose weight. "Here’s the thing I say to the person in the couple who’s not struggling with their weight: Shut up. We know we’re fat. We know we need to lose weight," Roker wrote. "Your nagging us and pleading with us doesn’t help. In fact, in ways it makes it worse." Roker said nothing will change until the overweight spouse decides that it's time to get healthy. When he finally did (he has lost more than 100 pounds since undergoing gastric bypass surgery in 2002), he said he and Roberts began participating in healthy activities together.
"It’s not that we don’t love you; it’s not that we don’t care. It’s just that right now, we’re not prepared to deal with it for whatever reason, whether it’s emotionally or physically," he wrote.
A recent study found that mixed-weight couples, in which the wife is overweight and the husband is not, experienced greater conflict than other couples, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Another recent study revealed that those in happy marriages may gain weight, while those in unhappy marriages tend to lose weight.
I think it’s important that you know being overweight can cause many different problems in your life and those problems can carry over into the lives of your family. If you want a happy life, then you want to “get healthy” and set a good example for all the people around you. Even if you feel good today, being overweight will catch up with you. Being overweight will age your body faster then you. Being overweight is a young person in an old body. If you don’t want to be a walking drug store, someone who takes a dozen prescriptions very day, then maybe it’s time to start eating healthy and take control of your life.
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