Weight: A Heavy Topic

I'm overweight - actually obese according US Department of Health.   There I said it – funny how that was so hard since my weight is something that I really can’t hide.  Growing up, I stayed at a pretty healthy weight (probably because of my mom's 2-vegetable-with-one-being-green-at-dinner rule!)  The first time I remember really making an effort to lose weight was when I was getting ready for my wedding.  But back then at 21, I just ate fewer chicken nuggets and jogged a little and - boom, I weighed 133 by wedding day.  Well, since then I've accumulated a lot of things - a husband, a mortgage, two babies, a career, a couple of side hustles, some stress, and a lot of weight!   I remember during my second pregnancy, my doctor logged my 9 months pregnant weight and said, "Have you ever weighed this much before?"  I was a little shocked at the question, and said, "No and I hope I never do again!"  Well, I weigh more now than I did when I gave birth over 7 years ago, and I’ve tried harder than ever during that time frame to lose weight.  It’s frustrating and sometimes disheartening to try and fail over and over again.  I’m tired of the ups and downs. 

​My internal dialogue would be maddening to anyone who could read my mind.  I give myself a pep talk reminding myself I’ve lost weight before so I can do it again, and I make a plan.  Then I try real hard – for a couple of weeks - and when I don’t see the results I want, I give into a little self-pity and feed that with actual food.  I think I might as well just eat whatever I want since I’m already overweight.  I say to myself, “It’s not the number on the scale that matters, it’s what the inside that counts.”  I think I don’t look that bad, and I just need to learn to be happy with who I am and how I look.  But then I see a picture of myself and do a double take because that can’t really be what other people see when they look at me, right?  No, it’s just the camera angle – you’ve got to hold the camera higher.  It IS just the camera angle, right?  I don’t feel like that person in the photo – or in the mirror.  And then I start feeling down and realize that I AM that person, and that person seems lazy and incapable if she can’t do something as simple as control the food that goes in her mouth and the number of steps she takes per day.  The doctor even comments on my weight and tells me there's nothing physically wrong, I just need to eat better, exercise, get more sleep.  I want to scream, “I’VE TRIED THAT!”  They don’t understand my life and how stressed I am and how little time I have - and then insert excuse after excuse.  I finally crumple into the question, “If I can’t lose weight, am I really capable of much else?” 
 
I've told myself so many things about my weight - some are lies and some are truths, but I've lost track of which are which.  I’m speaking as a 37 year-old woman with no medical or psychological training – just my own experience and observations.  I’ve found that my weight is intertwined with so many aspects of my life which is why losing it is not as easy as simply eating less and moving more.

"I've told myself so many things about my weight - some are lies and some are truths, but I've lost track of which are which."

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​Weight and Relationships
I am blessed to have children who tell me I’m beautiful even when I don’t feel that way and a husband who has never made me feel ugly because of my weight.  My closest friends and family love me unconditionally, so I know that changes in my appearance won't make the people who matter to me love me more or less.  This makes ME the only person I need to impress, and it’s hard for me to do things for myself.  I find it easier to help someone else meet their goals than to take the steps that I need to take to get where I want to go.  I feel selfish when I try to eat differently than my family or take the time to exercise because in my mind, that takes something away from them.  My relationship with myself needs to rise up and take precedence so I can be my best self.  
 
Though I have confidence in my close relationships, it is very easy to compare myself to others.  When I start comparing, I feel bad about myself, but I often turn to excuses.  “If I was a stay at home mom like her, I’d have time to exercise and would be just as fit.”  “If I had as much money as her, I could afford to buy healthier foods, too.”  "If my job were as easy as hers, my stress level would be less, and it would be easier to lose weight.”  Instead of all of these, “If I had…then I would be” statements, I should be looking at the women I’m comparing myself to and learning from them.  I know not all skinny girls have it all together.  I should learn how they manage to get and stay healthy in spite of the struggles of their lives.  

​Weight and Health
I know, intellectually, that my weight does impact my health and that losing even just a little weight will improve my overall health and well-being.  According to the CDC, being obese can increase chances of all sorts of health problems including high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, mental illness, and body pain.  With all of these risks, you’d think that I’d really focus on decreasing my weight.  Instead, I continue to rationalize why MY weight problem isn’t all that bad.
 
I’ve always had good blood pressure – like, it’s my pride and joy.  No matter how much I’ve weighed my blood pressure has always been normal and usually below normal.  It was like my barometer of health, and I’d rationalize that even though I was overweight, since my blood pressure was good, it wasn’t really impacting my health.  Earlier this year at a routine doctor appointment, my blood pressure was high.  I freaked out because this threw my healthy-though-fat theory out the window.  I've since worked to get it back in the normal range, but it will take constant attention to keep it that way.

As I age, I think more about my own mortality.  I’ve heard people say they want to get healthy for their family, and that’s great – I want more quality time with my family too, but in all honesty – I want to live long and enjoy my own life for me!  I am guilty of the putting off healthy habits -  “I’ll start good eating Monday” and  “after I get through this, I’ll start exercising” and “I’ll start going to bed earlier after summer is over.”  Why do I keep putting it off?  As those of us who are over about 25 know, time seems to accelerate as we age.  I don’t want to miss out on NOW because I don’t have enough energy to enjoy life, and I don’t want to miss out on the future because of the bad habits I have now. ​

​Weight and Age
Between kids, I lost 25 pounds and kept it off for two years (until I got pregnant again.)  I read and followed the South Beach Diet to the letter.  I thrived with a strict program with rules and quick results.  I’ve tried to follow the same program several times since and failed.  Has my body chemistry changed now that I’m getting older and it’s just no use?  A New York Times article says, “Although it is possible to lose weight at any age, several factors make it harder to lose weight with age.”  That’s kind of depressing…The one good thing about the passage of time, though, is the improvements in technology.  A FitBit will surely do the trick or an app to track my calories, right?  Though these are great tools, they don’t do the work for us.  I’m living proof - I’m at the same weight I was before I tried those things.
 
The older I get, the easier it is to tell myself that there’s no one left to impress.  I’ve got a family who loves me, a career, and many great friends.  I’m nearing 40 and maybe my body has just found its happy place, and I need to accept it.  It’s easy to tell myself my body is different now and it’s not my fault that the weight is clinging to me (in all the wrong places, I might add.)  But then I think – I’m not even FORTY, I’ve got many, many years ahead of me – hopefully, I’m not even half done.  Do I want to live the last half of my life not meeting my potential?  I’m older, but I’m wiser and I have more resources and experience than ever.  I certainly know what doesn’t work, so why not use that to my advantage?  I want to make the rest my best!

​Weight and Stress 
Here’s a hot topic and one that we all like to argue about – stress.  What causes it, can we will our way around it, what does it do to our minds and bodies, how should we deal with it?  Stress is defined as “a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.”  We’ve all been there, but we can all think of someone in our lives who’s been there more or longer or in a more extreme way than we have.  I know others who cope in a much healthier way than I do even when they have much more stress.  Who am I to blame stress on every negative thing in my life?  I am blessed in so many ways, and I let the few negatives in my life outweigh all of those positive things.  I’m stressing about what stress is doing to me.  I am in no way denying stress can cause all sorts of physical and mental problems. I’m coming to realize that focusing on the problem instead of the solution is only exacerbating the problem.  Case in point, when my blood pressure went up, I became my son’s science fair project, “Can Yoga Decrease Blood Pressure?”    I did yoga for 15 minutes a day and my blood pressure did decrease.  Was it the yoga in and of itself, or was it that I slowed down, took time for myself, had some physical activity, focused on what I didn’t want for my body, and probably ate a little better?  Not sure exactly why it worked, but it did.  You’d think I’d have kept it up after the project ended, wouldn’t you? But, no, I saw even just 15 minutes a day as disruptive to my schedule. So I stayed in the same stressful state – it gave me something to blame.

"I'm stressing about what stress is doing to me."

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​Weight and Sleep
Research says that dieters who cut back on sleep over a 14-day period, lost 55% less weight from fat, even though their calories stayed equal.  A sleepy morning increases your chances of taking in more calories, losing impulse control to avoid junk food, and skipping exercise.  The answer to this seems so simple - sleep more.  Why is this so hard for me?  Under the guise of productivity, I stay up too late.  Sleep was one of my areas of focus for this year, but I’ve failed miserably!  I’m constantly tired, hitting the snooze button multiple times a morning, but yet I stay up late to get things done or just watch TV.  I rationalize the need for late night TV as down time after a stressful day.    I know that many experts suggest early morning exercise to jump start a healthy day.  I will never be able to accommodate that if I continue to go to bed so late!  I need to take my own advice and set (and stick to) a bedtime for myself like I set for my kids.

​​Weight and Priorities
My kids and family are my top priority, and I often use this as an excuse not to take care of myself.  My go-to quip when making light the fact I’m overweight is, “Well I love to eat, and I hate to exercise.”  I realized recently that at least half of that statement is a lie.  It turns out I don’t hate being physically active, but what I do hate is exercising when I feel like I’m neglecting another responsibility.  Spending time with my kids, cleaning my house, working, staying caught up with the paperwork of life always take precedence over exercise for me.  I need to make exercise a priority, and by re-framing what my responsibilities really are – setting a good example for my kids and helping them be healthy - I can give myself permission to take care of myself.  

"...by re-framing what my responsibilities really are - setting a good example for my kids and helping them be healthy - I can give myself permission to take care of myself."

​Weight and Organization
I truly believe that being organized can help me get to and maintain a healthy weight.  The times I’ve been successful with a healthy lifestyle are the times I had a realistic plan, I monitored my progress toward that plan, and had systems in place to help me be successful.  I’ve tried many different diets over the years, and have found it difficult to stick to them.  I need something that is realistic in the long term, can be measured so I can see progress, and can have “shortcuts” set up to help me stick to it.  As I said before, I love food, so depriving myself long term is just not going to work.  I need to measure things – weight, calories, miles, minutes, steps – so I can see forward progress.  I need it to be easy to maintain.     Standard meals or snacks, specific days or times that I do activities, a chart or an app to keep track of it all.  This sounds like the building blocks of success to me! 
 
Another way that being organized helps with weight loss is meal planning.  Going to the store with a plan and a list helps prevent buying on impulse.  Having a list of meals posted on the fridge helps me not to just run to McDonald’s.  Keeping a detailed calendar is going to be critical for making time for exercise.  Either a shared digital calendar or a family calendar on a white board in a central location can allow the entire family to know what to expect.  If you know what is coming up for the next day, you can plan ahead and set out the supplies you will need for exercising or cooking a meal or packing a lunch the night before.  

"Neither self-loathing or burying my head in the sand will work - only acceptance and continual improvement will really make me healthier and happier."

​My conclusions from exploring my weight loss struggle are this:  I need to go to bed earlier on a regular basis, plan for healthy foods in my house and lunchbox, set a plan about what I’m going to eat and how I’m going to keep moving and monitor my progress, find someone to be accountable to other than myself, schedule exercise even if that means cutting out another activity in my day, consider my quest to become healthier as a service to my kids through my good example.  I also need to love who I am right now, but not in a “you are what you are and that can’t change" way, but in a “you are what you are right now and have the potential to be what you aspire to be" way.  Neither self-loathing or burying my head in the sand will work – only acceptance and continual improvement will really make me healthier and happier.

Need some encouragement & accountability?   Click here to check out Achieve!

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Sources
​“Calculate Your Body Mass Index.” National Heart Lung, and Blood Institute, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm.

“Healthy Weight.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5 June 2015, www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/effects/index.html.

Weintraub, Karen. “Is It Harder to Lose Weight When You're Older?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 31 Mar. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/03/31/well/live/is-it-harder-to-lose-weight-when-youre-older.html.

“Stress.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/stress?s=t.

“Sleep More, Weigh Less.” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/diet/sleep-and-weight-loss#1.

Photo by Gesina Kunkel on Unsplash

Photo by Benjamin Voros on Unsplash