I have been doing a great deal of research about obesity, over the past few years but particularly over the past few months.
It has become increasingly obvious that we are not getting the full story when it comes to the health consequences of being overweight. Books such as The Obesity Myth and Big Fat Lies, for example, might come across as slightly ‘conspiracy theory-ish’ but there is no doubt that they raise some pretty serious questions.
Perhaps most serious of all is their question as to why the media choose to almost exclusively report studies (or, more accurately, someone’s interpretation of a study) that link obesity with impending death – when there are so many that cannot find much of a link at all.
The answer is obvious: ‘Being fat WON’T kill you’ is just not a sexy headline.
From my reading, which is continuing, the answer is clear: When obesity has been linked to 'premature' death, it is the LIFESTYLE of the individual that is most likely the cause.
In other words, it’s not the FAT that kills you – it’s the sedentary lifestyle and the junk food, the smoking, the drinking etc.
You might think that this is stating the bleeding obvious – but surely you know someone who looks thin from the outside, but could quite easily be killing themselves with their lack of activity and other bad habits, such as smoking? I know I do. But society doesn’t look them up and down and decide they’re disgusting – unless they happen to be blowing smoke in their faces.
This is why I will never weigh my clients. If you have bad habits, and you get rid of them, you will probably lose weight. That should be seen as a nice bonus, not the main goal!
The only time I would advocate for a client to lose weight is if it is affecting their daily life – perhaps they are suffering from knee pain, they can’t put their own shoes on, or they find it hard getting in and out of their car. Even then, however, getting fit and strong is the answer – and they will probably lose weight along the way.
I can’t emphasise enough my belief that the main problem with being fat is a social one. Fat doesn’t equal bad health, just as thin doesn’t equal good health. Let's face it - we live in a society that thinks fat is ugly. Only now we feel smugly justified in telling people that we are worried for their health, in order to deny our own shallow prejudices.
Your body will find its natural weight, if you let it. It might look like something from the cover of a magazine, but it probably won’t. Once we start enjoying and focusing on what our bodies can do, the happier we will be.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
Are you your own best friend?
I’m not sure I’ve ever met anybody who was entirely content with their own body. This may be part of the Australian way where we would rather die than be seen as ‘up ourselves’. But it’s interesting that when we point out our flaws, they are things like ‘My legs are too short and stocky’, or ‘My chest is too flat’ – not ‘I can’t carry the groceries up a flight of stairs’ or ‘I’m about as flexible as a house brick’.
It’s interesting, but not at all surprising – because the first two can supposedly be seen by the whole world. The second two nobody need ever know about. Our bodies have become something for other people to look at, and we so very rarely think about what they can (or can’t) do.
The issue of body image is one very close to my heart. It makes me so sad and frustrated to think of all those people out there – mostly women – who are making themselves miserable by trying to live up to an ideal that doesn’t actually exist. So many times I’ve read of women who seem to wake up at 35 and not give a toss about what other people think about their looks. I’d like to shake the young women of 16yo+ and say ‘See? You’ll get to that point too! How about you cut out the next 20-odd years of angst and just love yourselves right now?’
I’m no stranger to body consciousness. I still have moments when I’m at the pool with my kids wondering why everyone seems to be looking at me, and whether it’s because my cossie is too small or some such. And occasionally when I see myself in photos I would prefer to see only one chin. However, there is a vast difference between wanting to make the best of yourself - through nutrition and exercise - and loathing the body you've got.
So, are we programmed to find a certain look attractive, through the mass media? Or has the media just picked up on what most people find attractive and run with it? Chicken or egg, I suppose. We often hear about the ‘rubenesque’ models painted by, well, Rubens … and that is supposed to make curvy girls feel better about themselves. But what about the thin women of that time? It seems to me that someone is always missing out.
So, I suppose if you happen to fit into the mould that is considered ‘beautiful’ in your time, enjoy every second of it. If you don’t, learn to love yourself and realise how fickle the world of beauty really is. To paraphrase, beauty is wasted on the young. They’ll always be too insecure to appreciate it. Don’t make that mistake – love yourself right now, and treat your body like the best friend it is.
It’s interesting, but not at all surprising – because the first two can supposedly be seen by the whole world. The second two nobody need ever know about. Our bodies have become something for other people to look at, and we so very rarely think about what they can (or can’t) do.
The issue of body image is one very close to my heart. It makes me so sad and frustrated to think of all those people out there – mostly women – who are making themselves miserable by trying to live up to an ideal that doesn’t actually exist. So many times I’ve read of women who seem to wake up at 35 and not give a toss about what other people think about their looks. I’d like to shake the young women of 16yo+ and say ‘See? You’ll get to that point too! How about you cut out the next 20-odd years of angst and just love yourselves right now?’
I’m no stranger to body consciousness. I still have moments when I’m at the pool with my kids wondering why everyone seems to be looking at me, and whether it’s because my cossie is too small or some such. And occasionally when I see myself in photos I would prefer to see only one chin. However, there is a vast difference between wanting to make the best of yourself - through nutrition and exercise - and loathing the body you've got.
So, are we programmed to find a certain look attractive, through the mass media? Or has the media just picked up on what most people find attractive and run with it? Chicken or egg, I suppose. We often hear about the ‘rubenesque’ models painted by, well, Rubens … and that is supposed to make curvy girls feel better about themselves. But what about the thin women of that time? It seems to me that someone is always missing out.
So, I suppose if you happen to fit into the mould that is considered ‘beautiful’ in your time, enjoy every second of it. If you don’t, learn to love yourself and realise how fickle the world of beauty really is. To paraphrase, beauty is wasted on the young. They’ll always be too insecure to appreciate it. Don’t make that mistake – love yourself right now, and treat your body like the best friend it is.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Good Food vs Bad Food
In the past few years, it’s become very politically incorrect to label specific foods as either ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Personally, I blame Oprah. I’m sure it must have been on one of her public quests for weight loss that this new mantra popped up.
Firstly, let me say that I believe that the idea of ‘everything in moderation’ is great. In fact, I believe that it’s probably the healthiest way to live – both physically and psychologically.
However, there are obviously some genuinely good and bad foods out there, and I think it’s a bit precious not to label them that way. If you put a lovely fresh apple side by side with a deep-fried mars bar, you’d have to be an idiot not to see that there is a good choice and a bad choice.
If there are certain foods that we shouldn’t be eating every day (those with too much saturated fat, for example), it stands to reason that these are probably not ‘good’ foods. There would be few nutritionists recommending their clients should avoid eating an apple every day, but most (if not all) would suggest their clients should avoid eating a jam donut every day. Therefore, it seems logical to suggest that the apple is a higher-quality food compared to the donut.
I know the thinking is that food is just food, it’s not good or evil or indifferent – unless we choose to make it so. I understand that we can make good or bad choices. However, the idea that all food is equal is quite obviously ridiculous. It’s now recommended by the powers-that-be that we label food ‘every day’ food or ‘sometimes’ food. I’d prefer to just call a spade a spade.
We don’t need to label foods consciously. We don’t need to stand in the chocolate aisle and say ‘No, I can’t eat that. It’s bad.’ However, we do need to understand that not all foods are created equal, and that different foods have vastly different effects on our bodies and our minds. If we want to eat the chocolate, we have to understand that although it may be good for our mind right then, it will never be the best choice for our body.
But who wants to go through life always choosing Brussels sprouts over Belgian chocolate? Certainly not me. As long as we are aware of WHY we are making that choice, and that we are also choosing the RESULTS of that choice. So by all means choose the chocolate, but we must accept the outcome as well. It’s no good eating fatty foods six days out of seven, and then throwing our hands in the air and wondering why we feel and move and look the way we do – as if one has nothing to do with the other.
Firstly, let me say that I believe that the idea of ‘everything in moderation’ is great. In fact, I believe that it’s probably the healthiest way to live – both physically and psychologically.
However, there are obviously some genuinely good and bad foods out there, and I think it’s a bit precious not to label them that way. If you put a lovely fresh apple side by side with a deep-fried mars bar, you’d have to be an idiot not to see that there is a good choice and a bad choice.
If there are certain foods that we shouldn’t be eating every day (those with too much saturated fat, for example), it stands to reason that these are probably not ‘good’ foods. There would be few nutritionists recommending their clients should avoid eating an apple every day, but most (if not all) would suggest their clients should avoid eating a jam donut every day. Therefore, it seems logical to suggest that the apple is a higher-quality food compared to the donut.
I know the thinking is that food is just food, it’s not good or evil or indifferent – unless we choose to make it so. I understand that we can make good or bad choices. However, the idea that all food is equal is quite obviously ridiculous. It’s now recommended by the powers-that-be that we label food ‘every day’ food or ‘sometimes’ food. I’d prefer to just call a spade a spade.
We don’t need to label foods consciously. We don’t need to stand in the chocolate aisle and say ‘No, I can’t eat that. It’s bad.’ However, we do need to understand that not all foods are created equal, and that different foods have vastly different effects on our bodies and our minds. If we want to eat the chocolate, we have to understand that although it may be good for our mind right then, it will never be the best choice for our body.
But who wants to go through life always choosing Brussels sprouts over Belgian chocolate? Certainly not me. As long as we are aware of WHY we are making that choice, and that we are also choosing the RESULTS of that choice. So by all means choose the chocolate, but we must accept the outcome as well. It’s no good eating fatty foods six days out of seven, and then throwing our hands in the air and wondering why we feel and move and look the way we do – as if one has nothing to do with the other.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
What’s YOUR healthy weight?
Currently, as it stands, I am overweight. This is according to my BMI.
However, it seems to me that a number shouldn’t be telling us how healthy we are.
Really, it’s not the BMI’s fault. It’s the importance WE put on it that is the problem. The BMI is a useful tool to tell us how we’re going as a society or large population – the WHO uses it to record statistics on obesity. It can also be a guide as to how we are progressing when at extremes of the scale. But really, if we are obese, or morbidly obese, or underweight, we probably don’t need a calculation to tell us we could do with adjusting our weight. Mirrors, the size of our clothes, and the random comments from strangers are likely enough of a clue.
If you want to know your BMI, simply divide your weight in kgs by your height in metres squared. For eg: 67 / 2.56 (ie 1.6 x 1.6) = 26.172. Or just Google it and find a calculator online.
Problems with the BMI include the fact that it doesn’t work on children, pregnant women, and most athletes. So that cuts out quite a proportion of the population. Also, it has nothing at all to say about the composition of our bodies – how much fat we are carrying, and where we are carrying it – not to mention the actual state of our bodies. Plenty of people in the healthy weight range are living very unhealthy lives. I’m sure the fact that their BMI score is fine will be a great comfort to them when they develop lung cancer from smoking, or liver disease from drinking too much alcohol.
I can’t stress enough that it is what we do that makes us healthy or unhealthy, not a number on the scale or a chart, and not the size of our clothes. These things are signs – a clue and a potential red flag, but certainly not the final destination.
When you think about why you want to lose weight, I’m guessing it’s not just so you can stand on the scales, look down and see the number 60 – as pleasant as that may be. So when you come to think about what weight you should be, have a think about what you want to be DOING and FEELING, not simply what you want the scales to say.
I will feel I am living a healthy life when:
My cholesterol is fine, I have it checked at least twice a year.
My blood pressure is in the healthy range, I check it every few months
I have given up smoking.
I can cover the 5km track at our park in 30 minutes.
I exercise every day, and I push myself a little bit harder each time.
I do resistance training 3 times a week, and can feel myself getting stronger.
I eat lots of fresh fruit, vegetables and low GI foods.
I have at least 3 alcohol-free days per week.
I can easily see out a full game of soccer/netball/footy.
I play active outdoor games with the kids a few times a week.
Your weight on the scales can be a good guide, and most people feel a bit lost without knowing what it is. If you are obsessed by numbers, there are other tests to do, such as your waist and hip measurements. I'll talk about those in more detail soon.
However, it seems to me that a number shouldn’t be telling us how healthy we are.
Really, it’s not the BMI’s fault. It’s the importance WE put on it that is the problem. The BMI is a useful tool to tell us how we’re going as a society or large population – the WHO uses it to record statistics on obesity. It can also be a guide as to how we are progressing when at extremes of the scale. But really, if we are obese, or morbidly obese, or underweight, we probably don’t need a calculation to tell us we could do with adjusting our weight. Mirrors, the size of our clothes, and the random comments from strangers are likely enough of a clue.
If you want to know your BMI, simply divide your weight in kgs by your height in metres squared. For eg: 67 / 2.56 (ie 1.6 x 1.6) = 26.172. Or just Google it and find a calculator online.
Problems with the BMI include the fact that it doesn’t work on children, pregnant women, and most athletes. So that cuts out quite a proportion of the population. Also, it has nothing at all to say about the composition of our bodies – how much fat we are carrying, and where we are carrying it – not to mention the actual state of our bodies. Plenty of people in the healthy weight range are living very unhealthy lives. I’m sure the fact that their BMI score is fine will be a great comfort to them when they develop lung cancer from smoking, or liver disease from drinking too much alcohol.
I can’t stress enough that it is what we do that makes us healthy or unhealthy, not a number on the scale or a chart, and not the size of our clothes. These things are signs – a clue and a potential red flag, but certainly not the final destination.
When you think about why you want to lose weight, I’m guessing it’s not just so you can stand on the scales, look down and see the number 60 – as pleasant as that may be. So when you come to think about what weight you should be, have a think about what you want to be DOING and FEELING, not simply what you want the scales to say.
I will feel I am living a healthy life when:
My cholesterol is fine, I have it checked at least twice a year.
My blood pressure is in the healthy range, I check it every few months
I have given up smoking.
I can cover the 5km track at our park in 30 minutes.
I exercise every day, and I push myself a little bit harder each time.
I do resistance training 3 times a week, and can feel myself getting stronger.
I eat lots of fresh fruit, vegetables and low GI foods.
I have at least 3 alcohol-free days per week.
I can easily see out a full game of soccer/netball/footy.
I play active outdoor games with the kids a few times a week.
Your weight on the scales can be a good guide, and most people feel a bit lost without knowing what it is. If you are obsessed by numbers, there are other tests to do, such as your waist and hip measurements. I'll talk about those in more detail soon.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change...
I think most of us with any interest in the subject have memorized the 21st century’s most popular weight loss mantra: It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change.
‘Diet’ has become a dirty word, because we all know they don’t work. If they did, we’d all be at a healthy weight and there would be no weight loss industry. (Hang on – I think I’m on to something…)
However, knowing that they don’t work doesn’t seem to be stopping us from trying them. Just in case. We all know someone’s sister’s best friend’s cousin Mary who tried it, lost 15kg in 3 months and looks fabulous. However, what we need to do is check in with Mary in 6 months to see how she’s getting on then.
The point of all weight loss diets that we see in the pages of the glossies, or in the latest best-selling book, is reducing calories. Any diet that has you eating less calories than you were previously eating will succeed in making you lose weight. Does this mean that the diet works? Well, that depends on your goal. Is your goal to lose weight by a certain date, stay there for a few weeks, then put on all the weight you lost plus a few more kilos for the road? If so, it’s probably a winner.
Because that is what happens in almost every single case of following a specific diet in order to lose weight. Your goal is not just to lose weight, it is to get healthy, get fit, lose weight and stay that way for the rest of your life.
So, dare I say it…..to make a sustained and sustainable change to your body, you need to make sustained and sustainable changes to your life. If you are overweight, unfit and unhealthy, you need to stop doing the things that are making you that way.
We also all probably know the reasons why diets don’t work. Firstly, what we go ‘on’, we usually come ‘off’ at some stage. It’s no coincidence that most diets have a time frame – lose 12kg in 12 weeks, for example – because they know that the thought of sticking to their rigid plan for longer that that would have most people sticking their chopsticks in their eye. So what happens if we go back to our old habits after that time? We go back to our old weight. Pretty simple stuff.
Secondly, why would you want some random ‘expert’ telling you what you should eat and when? What are you, five years old? The world of nutrition and how it affects the body is endlessly fascinating, so it’s absolutely worth finding this stuff out for yourself. Life is too short to eat food you don’t like. There are PLENTY of delicious foods out there that are good for your body – you need to do some homework to find out more about them. YOU need to be in control of what you eat. It might feel safe and easy to have someone tell you what to do, but unless they have met you, know your background, your medical history, your likes and dislikes, AND are qualified nutritionists or doctors – they are in no position to be telling you what you should eat.
Thirdly, many diets appear to want to leave out whole entire food groups. If that’s not a red flag right there, I don’t know what is! Any diet that advocates avoiding fruit because of the carbohydrates is insanity on a plate.
Finally, when we lose weight on a diet, a good proportion of is it muscle mass. Resistance exercise and weight training will help to avoid this. However, the bottom line is that when you lose weight, you’ll inevitably lose some muscle mass – but when you gain it back through going back to your old unhealthy lifestyle, you will put on fat. That is the reason why we often bounce back to a weight ABOVE our original weight – we’ve got even more fat on our body than before we started. Not very fair, but there it is.
So, think twice before you start the ‘next big thing’ in the diet world. Diets just don’t work.
‘Diet’ has become a dirty word, because we all know they don’t work. If they did, we’d all be at a healthy weight and there would be no weight loss industry. (Hang on – I think I’m on to something…)
However, knowing that they don’t work doesn’t seem to be stopping us from trying them. Just in case. We all know someone’s sister’s best friend’s cousin Mary who tried it, lost 15kg in 3 months and looks fabulous. However, what we need to do is check in with Mary in 6 months to see how she’s getting on then.
The point of all weight loss diets that we see in the pages of the glossies, or in the latest best-selling book, is reducing calories. Any diet that has you eating less calories than you were previously eating will succeed in making you lose weight. Does this mean that the diet works? Well, that depends on your goal. Is your goal to lose weight by a certain date, stay there for a few weeks, then put on all the weight you lost plus a few more kilos for the road? If so, it’s probably a winner.
Because that is what happens in almost every single case of following a specific diet in order to lose weight. Your goal is not just to lose weight, it is to get healthy, get fit, lose weight and stay that way for the rest of your life.
So, dare I say it…..to make a sustained and sustainable change to your body, you need to make sustained and sustainable changes to your life. If you are overweight, unfit and unhealthy, you need to stop doing the things that are making you that way.
We also all probably know the reasons why diets don’t work. Firstly, what we go ‘on’, we usually come ‘off’ at some stage. It’s no coincidence that most diets have a time frame – lose 12kg in 12 weeks, for example – because they know that the thought of sticking to their rigid plan for longer that that would have most people sticking their chopsticks in their eye. So what happens if we go back to our old habits after that time? We go back to our old weight. Pretty simple stuff.
Secondly, why would you want some random ‘expert’ telling you what you should eat and when? What are you, five years old? The world of nutrition and how it affects the body is endlessly fascinating, so it’s absolutely worth finding this stuff out for yourself. Life is too short to eat food you don’t like. There are PLENTY of delicious foods out there that are good for your body – you need to do some homework to find out more about them. YOU need to be in control of what you eat. It might feel safe and easy to have someone tell you what to do, but unless they have met you, know your background, your medical history, your likes and dislikes, AND are qualified nutritionists or doctors – they are in no position to be telling you what you should eat.
Thirdly, many diets appear to want to leave out whole entire food groups. If that’s not a red flag right there, I don’t know what is! Any diet that advocates avoiding fruit because of the carbohydrates is insanity on a plate.
Finally, when we lose weight on a diet, a good proportion of is it muscle mass. Resistance exercise and weight training will help to avoid this. However, the bottom line is that when you lose weight, you’ll inevitably lose some muscle mass – but when you gain it back through going back to your old unhealthy lifestyle, you will put on fat. That is the reason why we often bounce back to a weight ABOVE our original weight – we’ve got even more fat on our body than before we started. Not very fair, but there it is.
So, think twice before you start the ‘next big thing’ in the diet world. Diets just don’t work.
Monday, April 20, 2009
We are what we repeatedly do.
I chose the name of my blog after reading what Aristotle had to say about human excellence. He’s been dead for quite some time now, so I don’t think he’d mind me pinching his idea. According to his writings, excellence is something we DO, not something we are:
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation: we do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have these because we have acted rightly.”
In other words, our behaviours make us who we are. If we have the habits and we live the life of a fit person, we ARE a fit person. However, we won’t become that way by trying it out for a month or two. We have to become that person to become that person.
So many people, myself included, know exactly what they need to do to lose weight and to get fit. But all the knowledge in the world is useless if we don’t put it into action. Have a think about your habits. What do they say about you? Fit and healthy people are not that way by accident. Do you really believe they eat what you eat, exercise how you exercise, think how you think?
We can have all the knowledge in the world, but unless we start walking the walk we’re not going to get very far at all.
I had to break some deeply-ingrained habits to lose the weight I have lost. Probably the most valuable change was swapping sitting on the couch, eating in front of the TV to hopping on the exercise bike in front of the TV. I didn’t even go very hard (at first), but simply the fact that I was spending calories, not banking them, made a HUGE difference.
So, what habits are holding you back from your goals? How can you change them? What do they mean to you – what will you gain from breaking them, and what will you lose?
Live the life and form the habits of a healthy and fit person, and you cannot fail to become one. You may feel like a fraud for now, and maybe for the foreseeable future, but your body and mind will catch up, I promise!
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation: we do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have these because we have acted rightly.”
In other words, our behaviours make us who we are. If we have the habits and we live the life of a fit person, we ARE a fit person. However, we won’t become that way by trying it out for a month or two. We have to become that person to become that person.
So many people, myself included, know exactly what they need to do to lose weight and to get fit. But all the knowledge in the world is useless if we don’t put it into action. Have a think about your habits. What do they say about you? Fit and healthy people are not that way by accident. Do you really believe they eat what you eat, exercise how you exercise, think how you think?
We can have all the knowledge in the world, but unless we start walking the walk we’re not going to get very far at all.
I had to break some deeply-ingrained habits to lose the weight I have lost. Probably the most valuable change was swapping sitting on the couch, eating in front of the TV to hopping on the exercise bike in front of the TV. I didn’t even go very hard (at first), but simply the fact that I was spending calories, not banking them, made a HUGE difference.
So, what habits are holding you back from your goals? How can you change them? What do they mean to you – what will you gain from breaking them, and what will you lose?
Live the life and form the habits of a healthy and fit person, and you cannot fail to become one. You may feel like a fraud for now, and maybe for the foreseeable future, but your body and mind will catch up, I promise!
Allow myself to introduce myself...
Hi there! Welcome to my blog, I’m very glad you stumbled across me. My name is Carmel, I’m a personal trainer and mother of two small children, and I’ve started this blog to get some ideas out there about weight, eating, nutrition, exercise and - most importantly - body image.
It occurred to me that not many people who have struggled with their weight are personal trainers, and that not many personal trainers have struggled with their weight. So I thought it could put me in an advantageous position on both sides of the weight equation.
Of all the ‘health’ issues in our society, weight loss surely has the most myth and misinformation floating around it. A lot of it is from well-meaning people just trying to do the best they can, but a great deal is from people and companies trying to make a dollar out of peddling dangerously misleading advice to the rest of us. And don't get me started on the so-called 'beauty' industry.
Mostly, however, I would like to try to help people learn to stop loathing their bodies and to work with them, not against them. You've only got one life (I think) - don't spend it abusing your body and hating yourself for it.
Forget about what your body looks like for a minute - and challenge yourself to see exactly what it can do!
It occurred to me that not many people who have struggled with their weight are personal trainers, and that not many personal trainers have struggled with their weight. So I thought it could put me in an advantageous position on both sides of the weight equation.
Of all the ‘health’ issues in our society, weight loss surely has the most myth and misinformation floating around it. A lot of it is from well-meaning people just trying to do the best they can, but a great deal is from people and companies trying to make a dollar out of peddling dangerously misleading advice to the rest of us. And don't get me started on the so-called 'beauty' industry.
Mostly, however, I would like to try to help people learn to stop loathing their bodies and to work with them, not against them. You've only got one life (I think) - don't spend it abusing your body and hating yourself for it.
Forget about what your body looks like for a minute - and challenge yourself to see exactly what it can do!
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