Weight loss tip

I watched the movie Spanglish last night and I had a thought come to mind about why dieting doesn't work that I wanted to share.

In the movie a Mexican mother and her daughter immigrate to the United States and live in the barrio with family. The mother gets a job as a maid for a very wealthy American family. The plot of the movie unfolds as the two cultures collide and stereotypes are broken down. In the movie the issue of money comes up quite a bit because the Mexican family doesn't have much and the American family has more than they know what to do with. The way people think about money in the movie compared to the way our body's manage energy consumption is the metaphor I'd like to share.

There is a scene in the movie when the Mexican daughter and the two children of the American family are all sitting out on the patio that overlooks the beach with the American father. The father is making a piece of art (I think) and he needs weathered pieces of glass that can be found on the beach. He proceeds to tell all three children that if they go look for weathered pieces of glass on the beach he will give them a certain amount of money for each piece depending on the size and the color. The two American children don't really care to look because they know that they have enough money to meet their needs and pretty much do whatever they want. The Mexican child, however, sees this as an opportunity to make more money than she's ever had in her life. She scours the beach day and night in search for the weathered pieces of glass and ends up finding enough to make a small fortune. In the movie the father is a little taken back by the amount of money that he owes but he pony's up the dough anyway and then gets in trouble from the Mexican mother for meddling with her daughter. Anyway, I think something can be learned from this in regards to weight management.

You see, our body's need to do something with every bit of energy we consume whether it be use it to perform necessary functions or store it as fat. Just like people need to do things with every bit of money we acquire whether it be spend it or put it in the bank. When people go on a diet that is like living in the barrio. They consume less energy than their body needs and the result is weight loss because their body has to get that energy from somewhere and the result is that it taps into it's fat stores. When people stop a diet, however, that is like the little Mexican girl that is given the opportunity to make money when she wasn't able to while living in the barrio (on the diet). The result is that the body naturally holds on to all the energy that it can because it anticipates that it might need it at a later date.

This is why it's so important to maintain a healthy lifestyle when it comes to weight management. If you are struggling with weight and you keep moving back and forth between the barrio to the beach house you are going to confuse the shit out of your body and in turn be more unhealthy than you would be if you just maintained a consistent lifestyle.

So this is what I recommend. You need to find out (or at least make an educated guess) what your resting metabolic rate (RMR) is. This is the amount of energy that your body consumes at rest. It's kind of like an idling car, it still uses a little bit of gas but not as much as it would if you were going 60 mph. Knowing your RMR is important because then you can easily find out how much food you can eat in a day in order to either lose or at least maintain your weight. Once you have this knowledge you need to structure your lifestyle around the amount of food that you've determined works for you. It is very important, however, that this be a lifestyle change because, as we've discussed, the moving back and forth between diet and overeating confuses the body and hinders healthy living more than it helps.

Everything I've discussed thus far is only a foundation for weight management. Once you've determined the right amount of food your body needs to consume, anything you add to your new lifestyle can also help. Some healthy additions I would recommend are drinking more water than you need every day and exercising. The types of food you eat are also a factor. Cut back on things like desert and sugary drinks.

Above all, don't stop using your brain. A healthy lifestyle is incredibly simple if you take the time to think about it. You know what's good for you and what's not and you don't need a book or therapist to help you. It's not easy. If it was, everyone would be thin but you are smart enough to do it yourself. I think too many people place the responsibility on things outside of their immediate control - I need to read that book and then I'll know what to do - I need to get a personal trainer and they'll make sure I'm doing the right things. Problem is that at the end of the day, it's up to you. Every time you have the opportunity to put a cookie down or not buy a half gallon of ice cream at the store, those are decisions that you need to start making. They're different for everyone but you know what they are for you.

This is about as simple as weight loss gets. Don't get distracted by all the stuff advertised on T.V. that makes weight loss look easy. Anyone who says it is easy to lose weight in a healthy way is trying to sell you something you don't need. The truth is that it takes a lot of work but the work isn't rocket science. You know what to do, you just need to start doing it, make a lifestyle out of it and not look back.

Oh yeah, and don't stress too much - that will kill you faster than food will ;) Hope you enjoyed this one.