Am I Lazy?

Is the reason that there has been an increase in obesity due to the fact that adults in today’s society are lazy? Are we all just a bunch of lethargic couch potatoes that don’t do anything but sit around and eat all the time? I say no. Instead we are a product of our revolutionary, technological society. I am not saying we can blame technology, rather I am saying that as with our youth, the adults are also a reflection of the society that surrounds them. It isn’t an excuse, but it is a thought I pondered based on my typical day.

     I get up in the morning, not to the sound of an aggravating buzz, beep, or the blaring of the radio. These alarms would get my blood racing right from the start, but I would hit snooze to stop the insanity. Then it would happen again, and again, the snooze bar. After a few times of this I am would now be late for work, rush to the shower if I even had time, rush to the car, and speed off to work. Not in today’s world. Instead, I wake to the soothing sound of the ocean on my Homedics radio and slowly wake peacefully. No blood pumping, no increased heart rate. I just have a nice and slow, easy awakening. Next I head to the shower where I put turn on my shower CD player and listen to something that I enjoy while I take my time letting the water almost run cold.

     During my toweling off and getting dressed period of the morning, I can hear my coffee being made on the coffee maker that is set to make me a cup every morning with me not having to do a thing. While I sit and drink my coffee pondering the day ahead of me, I notice that it is almost gone, so I gently push a button on my key ring that starts my car and gets it nice and warm for me before I even get to it. I can then take my leisurely stroll to my car, get in, and have a nice peaceful drive to work (barring any unforeseen road rage).  Nothing like before when I had to run to my car because I was late most of the time due to the annoyance of my alarm or run because it was cold and then get in and shake and shiver for 10 minutes until it warmed up.

     Once at work I find myself taking out my PDA and seeing what is on my agenda for the day. Nope, no more flipping through pages of my pocket calendar or scheduler. My work day is simple and uneventful, but instead of having to run back and forth through the office to get messages to everyone, I can now simply send an interoffice email with the push of a button. When it is time to leave, I again start my car from my office and drive home.

     Arriving at home, I put in a microwave dinner that doesn’t have to be chopped up, cut up, stirred, blended, kneaded, poked, or even prodded. Push a few buttons and five minutes later I am sitting in front of the TV watching the shows I recorded on my cable’s digital recorder and eating my five minute, nuked meal. Would I have done this in the past? The answer is no, because I would have had to physically make something to eat, and there wouldn’t be anything on TV worth watching, so I would eat and go do something like yard work, clean the house, play with the kids, whatever, just something else to occupy the time. Oops, while I was eating, I got some crumbs on the floor and then dropped some more on the way back to the kitchen. Oh well, I will just push the button on my robot vacuum cleaner and let it clean the whole floor as it is preprogrammed to do.

     Finally, my day is coming to an end and instead of doing something really constructive before I go to bed, I can’t resist the opportunity to surf the Internet for a little while, maybe chat to some friends or relatives, and check my email. Besides, I have to plug in my PDA to the computer anyway. Now my lazy or technologically dysfunctional day is complete.

     This whole story brings me back to my question that started the whole thing. Am I lazy or am I just a product of my environment. It is this author’s opinion that I am both. Years ago, even the simple things like making the dinner would be exercise, but now it is too easy because it is done for you in a box. Everything today is easy and most adults are on the heavy side, because things are easier and don’t take as much energy. That doesn’t mean we in society are lazy, it means we don’t have to exert ourselves as much to accomplish the every day routines that are needed to complete the day. However, I could stop by the gym on my way home, or go for a walk after dinner, so I am also lazy too. The Internet just pulls me in night after night and I can’t seem to make myself do anything else after dinner. Shame on you technology for holding that gun to my head!

Brad G. Morris

After A Diet, Why Does The Weight Come Back?

Before many Australians recently, a devastating story unfolded on a popular current affairs program. We watched with compassion as the fattest man in Australia told of his most recent, serious attempt to lose weight. Approximately 12 months earlier and weighing close to 300 kilos, he under went life threatening surgery to lose weight.

I doubt there would have been one person watching not moved by this man's depression and plight. Despite undergoing the surgery, today he could barely get through each day, both physically and mentally. He shared with us his sense of hopelessness and wanting to end it all.

It was not only his size that was causing his depression. He had to deal with a heart broken by disappointment.

You see, the surgery had been a success.

He soon lost well over 50 kilos post operation and he and his family rejoiced. But then the unthinkable happened.

The weight came back. Today he weighs well <i>over</i> 300 kilos - more than before the surgery.

This is an extreme case, but nonetheless raises a question that so many people continue to battle with.

After a diet, why does the weight come back so quickly?

To answer this we need to understand how much energy a body requires. For each pound you weigh, each day you need 12 calories to maintain your body weight. If you weigh 120 pounds you will need 120 x 12 calories, that is, 1440 calories per day to maintain that body weight. If you eat or drink more calories than your body requires, the excess energy is stored as fat. It takes 3,600 excess calories to make one pound of fat.

In this example, if your typical daily calorific intake is 2000 calories, in around 30 days you would put on between 4-5 pounds of fat!

Let's say, you then decide to go on a restrictive diet and halve your calorific consumption to 1,000 calories per day. You stay on this diet for around a month and lose 10 pounds and now weigh 110 pounds. You feel fantastic about losing the weight but can't keep up such a restrictive regime because you are irritable and have no energy.

So you go off your diet and go back to your usual routine of 2,000 calories a day. Remember you are lighter now and your body requires less energy to maintain its new weight. You would now require 110 x 12, that is, 1320 calories per day.

In this instance, by consuming 2000 calories daily, because you are lighter than before, you would put the weight back on in just 24-25 days!

If you want to keep the weight off you must develop a consistent change in eating habits to ensure you do not consume more than your body requires. You cannot continue to eat the same quantities and/or combinations of foods that caused you to be overweight in the first place. This will require developing an understanding of the nutritional content of food and raising your body's metabolism through increased muscle mass and exercise.

(c) 2003 Kim Beardsmore

10 Real Life Diet Tips

Are you tired of diet tips handed out by someone with apparently unlimited income and time? For some of us, it may just not be practical to spend half of our Sunday preparing carefully portioned meals for the rest of the week, or financially feasible to buy all our meals prepackaged in just the right portions. And there are those of us who cringe at the thought of weighing food to achieve 'optimal portion sizes'. Here are ten real life diet tips for the rest of us.

1. Eating out? Restaurant portions tend to be enormous, and if it's on the plate, we tend to eat it. If it's possible, order from the kid’s menu, where portions are more reasonably sized.

2. Keep healthy snacks around and easily accessible. A bowl of fruit on the kitchen table, a container of celery or carrot sticks in the refrigerator, or a couple of pop-open cans of fruit salad in your desk at work will help you grab for something healthy when those first hunger pains begin. In other words, you'll be more likely to grab something low-calorie and good for you if it's easy to eat.

3. Substitute frozen vegetables for canned. Canned veggies tend to be high in sodium, which you don't need, and low in real nutrition, which you do. Buy economy size bags with zip closures to make it easy to pour out a single serving for a meal.

4. Buy a vegetable steamer. Steaming is one of the healthiest ways to cook vegetables. The food retains nearly all of its natural nutrients instead of leaching it out into the cooking water. Even better, it makes your veggies taste great - which means you'll be more likely to eat them instead of filling up on fatty foods that pack on weight.

5. Never eat standing up. One of the easiest ways to sabotage your diet is to 'eat without thinking'. Treat eating with the respect that it deserves. Fix yourself a plate. Sit down and eat properly. You'll be less likely to just pop food into your mouth without paying attention.

6. Spread your meals out. When you eat three meals a day, your body tends to store whatever it doesn't need right that moment. By adopting a 'grazing' habit, you'll keep your metabolism working throughout the day. Have a small breakfast, a piece of fruit with crackers or toast at mid-morning, a light lunch and an 'after school snack' mid-afternoon. Just remember that you're breaking up the same amount of food into smaller meals, not ADDING more food into your daily diet.

7. Grab a fruit juice or flavored water instead of soda. Soda is nothing but empty calories. No nutrients, lots of sugar. Instead, grab a bottle of 100% fruit juice, or water flavored with a spritz of fruit.

8. Drink water. Even the FDA recommends at least 8 full 8 ounce glasses of water a day to keep your body working right. When you're dieting, you should drink even more. It's not just that full feeling - water helps your body digest foods properly and cleans out your system.

9. Can't afford a gym membership? Make a pact with friends to exercise together. Make a date at least three times a week to play volleyball, take a walk or spend half an hour doing something active.

10. Skip the potato chips. Fatty snacks fried in hydrogenated oil like potato chips contribute fat and calories and not much else. Instead, grab a handful of dried fruit or a cup of yogurt for the same amount of calories and a lot more nutritional benefit.